It has been very noticeable over the last 12 months, that mirroring the number of people flying drone aircraft on the playing fields near to the Home Reserve, there has been a marked reduction in the number of herons using the reserve as a place of safety to live in the treetops.

Even more so this Spring, when on 10th April the first of the heron chicks were heard in the nest, followed the following day by the cries of the second. Alas, this joy was short-lived, as the nest fell silent within the following five days, and clearly the chicks were no more.

This is not to say that the drone operators have directly killed the chicks (this year I suspect the continued frosts late into the year may have claimed their fragile lives), but clearly the herons airspace is no longer the place of sanctuary it once was. In 2020 alone, we found 11 drones (or parts thereof) having crashed onto the nature reserve. Stern words have been had with the operators (where known), and they each now know of the damage they have caused. This is the first year in decades that we do not currently have any heron chicks on the reserve; we can but hope that the parents will lay a fresh clutch and that people will keep their aircraft away from the wildlife - and the Reserves in general.

Nigel