- Lifespan
- 15–20 years in the wild, with some individuals recorded living over 25 years
- Size & Weight
- 90–98 cm tall, wingspan 130–160 cm; 1–2 kg
- Habitat
- Found around freshwater and coastal wetlands including rivers, lakes, marshes, estuaries, and occasionally garden ponds.
- UK Distribution
- Widespread resident throughout England, Wales, and southern Scotland; northern populations supplement with continental migrants in winter. Year-round presence, though numbers increase in winter.
- Diet
- Primarily fish, particularly carp, pike, roach, and eels, but also takes frogs, newts, small mammals, and occasionally crustaceans and insects.
- Prey
- Fish (especially carp, pike, roach, eels), amphibians, small mammals, crustaceans
- Predators
- Foxes and mink may take chicks; occasionally golden eagles and white-tailed eagles take fledglings; eggs vulnerable to corvids and gulls
- Mating Season
- December to August, with peak activity February to April
- Breeding
- Clutch of 3–5 pale blue-green eggs; incubation period 25–26 days; fledging at 52–56 days. Usually one brood per season; colonial nesters in heronries.
- Behaviour
- Solitary hunters that stand motionless for extended periods before striking with rapid precision. Highly vocal at breeding colonies, producing harsh croaking calls. Often return to traditional heronries year after year.