Gray Heron

Ardea cinerea

The grey heron is a long-legged wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia, and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more northern parts migrate southwards in autumn. A bird of wetland areas, it can be seen around lakes, rivers, ponds, marshes and on the sea coast. It feeds mostly on aquatic creatures which it catches after standing stationary beside or in the water, or stalking its prey through the shallows. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 619,870 times across 117 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 23°C (typically 20 to 27°C, from 25 areas).

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Europe ranged from 48°N in September to 59°N in January, about 1,100 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.