Has anyone seen any Herons on the River Don.
I have seen one on the weir at Ladys bridge.
This is a sign that there are fish in the river.
I know there have been fish in a while now but it would be nice to once again get Salmon in there.
It has a long way to go for that but its a sign that the river is coming clean again.:)

ive spotted a heron in the don next to meadowhall its been there since november time

Not on the Don but I regularly see one on the rooftops of houses on Mosborough Moor near the Ridgeway Arms

Originally posted by Mo
Not on the Don but I regularly see one on the rooftops of houses on Mosborough Moor near the Ridgeway Arms Strange place to see a Heron Mo.
Does the pub have a flat roof.
If so he might have an unexpected abudance of water on it, mind you can't see how the fish can get up there.:D

ROFLMAO.

I am sorry if my laughing seems out of place but myself and others associated with magik and the occult have picked up on this.
They are not only appearing in the don but in places where you would not expect - trees in a housing estate? Flying parallel with the a drivers window on the motorway.

What it may mean to you guys I don't know but to us it is quite fascinating!

If anyone is interested I will have a nice article on the folklore surrounding the heron shortly.

Moon

If youuve seen one on someones roof, it usually means that someone nearby has s pond in their garden with fish in it. Bloke I work with lost 3 of his koi carp to herons.

Originally posted by Cycleracer
Has anyone seen any Herons on the River Don.
I have seen one on the weir at Ladys bridge.
This is a sign that there are fish in the river.
I know there have been fish in a while now but it would be nice to once again get Salmon in there.
It has a long way to go for that but its a sign that the river is coming clean again.:)

I've seen a heron down there quite a few times, not sure if is the same one, but I first saw it in 1999.

Before the whole Whitbreads site was developed, there was also a kingfisher a little further along Nursery St.

I used to go for a smoke standing on the old disused bridge there (the Loading bay at Aizlewoods Mill was a bit depressing) and I used to see this Kingfisher on a fairly regular basis. I say "see a kingfisher" but apart from once when I got a good look at it, it was usuallly just a flash of turquoise out of the corner of my eye.

The Don is full of trout. :) yum

I quite often see a heron lingering around my way - comes from Rother Valley Country Park - quite often see a pair of them flying round there, and one perches on the cable ski ramps every so often looking for fish going past him/her (not when people are skiing though obviously !) :P

There are a pair of herons just below norfolk bridge where the five weirs walk passes, i have often cycled the five weirs and seen them swooping over the river going towards meadowhall.

There is also a heron in the shirebrook valley nature reserve at woodhouse where it patrols the ponds.

I saw one in ecclesall woods, and one at totley bents by the cricket pub.

I live very near meadowhall and have had a heron land on the garden fence.

I must admit that I was keepign my fingers crossed that it wouldn't see our goldfish in the pond but it was a lovely and very surprising sight - first time I've ever seen one in the wild, although we do see alot of wildlife here!

Wendy

I work down the East End by the Don, and i've seen heron a few times swooping around the river.

It's either one heron I keep seeing, or a number of herons that I am seeing.

The word heron sounds ridiculous now.

Don Heron.


Sounds like the head of one of the 5 families from The Godfather trilogy.

Wendy, SLH73,

If you/your friends are having trouble with Herons taking fish out of ponds, try getting a Heron Decoy (from a garden centre) Herons are highly agressive when un-paired birds are feeding together. A decoy next to your pond will discourage real Heron from landing and making a meal of your fish.

Originally posted by johnjo
Wendy, SLH73,

If you/your friends are having trouble with Herons taking fish out of ponds, try getting a Heron Decoy (from a garden centre) Herons are highly agressive when un-paired birds are feeding together. A decoy next to your pond will discourage real Heron from landing and making a meal of your fish.

We had thought about that but haven't found one that doesn't look too plastic yet. Also we don't want to scare off all of the other birds we get in the garden.

Wendy,

I'm guessing it wouldn't have to be too lifelike to ward off Herons. Try the following link

http://www.trap-man.com/decoy-bird-scarers.htm

i used too work near the river don used to see herons all the time an the odd kingfisher.:thumbsup:

Originally posted by johnjo
try getting a Heron Decoy .

I noticed a guy down the road has a big plastic heron stood at the edge of his pond. I thought it was supposed to be ornamental!

just been for a walkl along the don near the wardsend scrapyard towards the rear of bassetts apart from sighting a heron i've also seen two kingfishers, brilliant.
a bit further up under the service bridge to bassetts there,s usually two or three people fishing and catching. :)

I keep seeing the heron every so often when I run along the tinsley canal from the Arena to the Magna. I also used to see it along the far perimeter of the airport where theres a long dyke two years ago, it can get about.

There's a Heron who seems to live on the river around Kelham Island. Right outside me window actually.

Originally posted by Cycleracer
Has anyone seen any Herons on the River Don.
I have seen one on the weir at Ladys bridge.
This is a sign that there are fish in the river.
I know there have been fish in a while now but it would be nice to once again get Salmon in there.
It has a long way to go for that but its a sign that the river is coming clean again.:) yes ive seen the heron you mention,it usually hunts up by the wier and my son and i watched it quite a few times late last year when we were fishing down on the river don.

theres also a pair of kingfishers that often flash down stream hunting minnows,the don is now a healthy river and has been for a number of years,it contains trout,pike,chub,perch,roach,dace and even grayling,they only live in clean water.

i did hear that salmon parr were released further up river near oughtobridge to see if they would return,if you visit the don on a warm summer evening you will be amazed at the beauty of it with fish rising,ducks,coots etc,it really has returned to what it used to be ,apart from the odd dumped house -hold rubbish, & cars,bikes etc.but the environmental people are supposed to be looking into that side of things

do'nt know how true it is but i heard that they were going to clean up and extend the riverside walk from ladys bridge to oughtibridge,anyone throw any light on this?
it would be a damm good walk if it comes off.

Originally posted by Moon Maiden
ROFLMAO.

I am sorry if my laughing seems out of place but myself and others associated with magik and the occult have picked up on this.
They are not only appearing in the don but in places where you would not expect - trees in a housing estate? Flying parallel with the a drivers window on the motorway.

What it may mean to you guys I don't know but to us it is quite fascinating!

If anyone is interested I will have a nice article on the folklore surrounding the heron shortly.

Moon Just registering my interest, Moon :thumbsup:

There are definately Herons on the Don in fact Ive even seen them in Meadowhall car park.
One can usually be seen each morning under the weir at Leveson Street between Attercliffe Road and Effingham Road.
Whats more surprising is that there are Kingfishers regularly seen on the five weirs walk on the section between Washford bridge and East Coast Road.
Whats even more surprising possibly the easiest place to see a kingfisher in Sheffieldis on the canal on the section between Staniforth Road an Worksop Road.
Mickyboy

A mate told me a funny story about salmon in the don. He used to work in a foundry at the riverside near salmon pastures. One of the lads who worked there "aquired" some whole salmons and tried to flogg them to the other lads. After an unsuccesful sales attempt he chucked them over the fence in to the river. three days later the sheffield star headlines read HAVE SALMON RETURNED TO THE DON? or words to that affect. Apparantly it took the rivers authority weeks to find out the facts.

Originally posted by jackthedog
Don Heron.


Sounds like the head of one of the 5 families from The Godfather trilogy.

Yes - Relatives of mine :heyhey:

If you walk the short path from The Bridge Inn, Brightside Lane, to the end (joins Carbrook Hall Rd eventually) along the river you will see the heron & kingfisher. There are ducks too and, if you are lucky, on a summer's eve you'll see the tench jumping for flies. :thumbsup:

Similarly the walk to Rotherham following the river/ canal from Meadowhall is beautiful; not too busy either.
Takes about an hour and half & brings you out into Tesco Car Park Rotherham, next to bus station.

nice

Originally posted by Don_Kiddick

If you walk the short path from The Bridge Inn, Brightside Lane, to the end (joins Carbrook Hall Rd eventually) along the river you will see the heron & kingfisher. There are ducks too and, if you are lucky, on a summer's eve you'll see the tench jumping for flies. :thumbsup:



Used to often walk that way to work.and can confirm your bird sightings. The most unusual bird I've seen along that stretch of the river was a Dipper - just the once on the island below the weir, but I've heard Dippers have also been seen up by Wharncliffe Side

Occasionally there is a heron in the river at Hillsborough corner. It just stands there much to everyone's amazement and always sparks a debate as to whether it's real or not!

We've also seen one in Hillsborough park pond on a few occasions. It's wonderfull watching it, as still as a statue, then suddenly dive for a fish.

We've seen it fly over from rivelin way so I assume it spends most of it's time up there. (assuming it's the same one of course!!)

Sorry, I read it as Heroin on the don and got the wrong end of the stick

problems with crank cocain too mate, terrible really :hihi: :hihi: :hihi:

I wouldn't put too much faith in putting a dummy Heron next to your pond to scare off real Herons.

Some years ago the fish disappeared from a small pond at Normandale and the owner called the police thinking thieves had taken them during the night.

The police said there was little they could do as they had received similar calls in the area and it was Herons who were fishing the ponds in the early mornings.

They recommended that a dummy Heron was placed by the pond to deter the real Herons from visiting.

The owner restocked her pond with Koi Carp and fixed a realistic looking dummy next to the pond.

The first morning after she awoke early and had a walk down to the pond to see a Heron stood on the back of the dummy scanning the pond for fish.

The next day she had mesh fitted over the pond and it is still there protecting the fish.

Happy Days

Yep,

Am lucky enough to live looking out over the Kelham Island wier (brooklyn works) and most days one (or more rarely both) heron(s) is at it's base stalking fish - not always lit'luns either. I can vouch for the fish content (though not much idea of diversity) - trout seem common and are rising fairly frequently. We see fly fishers pulling out fair sizes.

I try to maintain that bird watching could never make it onto my list of acceptable past-times but funny how long you can watch that heron for - waiting to see if it spears something. Geese are always just down from the bridge and a few different types of duck (I'm obviously an expert!!) resident all year round. Summer usually brings the kingfisher, squirrels on the island and even a fox (seen last year walking the whole length of the wier top at night - possibly looking for ducks) - with seagulls coming in I imaginge when coastal weather is less to their liking.

This small indstry-clad rural ecosystem seems to be disrupted only by the annual appearance of crows - always in pairs who hound away all other bird life (even many of the ducks) and especially the heron(s) both on the river and in flight - like 109's round a Lancaster! Something may have to be done about that before long!

Cheers.

i work on salmon pastures (on the site of an old school so i've been told), just next to the washforth bridge our car park runs paraelle to the path along the river. i've seen a couple of herons on the don here, my window faces the don, i see quite a few birds around this area altho i couldnt name most of them.

i know there is a herron on westwood dam at high green, i used to take my parents dog for a walk down there every evening & sit on the dam wall & watch it fish, they are elegent birds.

Here's another one interested in heron folklore, Moon!