Garden heron shows himself as a New Age male

Meet Ron, the garden heron.

Ron, the garden heron, (so named by a daughter-in-law), will welcome us home — the fact is, Ron will welcome anyone who comes bearing fish, so long as they’re not tinned, fried or battered.

While we were away, our neighbours, Dara Gannon, his primary-school-going son Sé and daughter Niamh, were the volunteer ‘minders’ (i.e. fish suppliers), walking to our house to feed him each morning before school or work. If he was there, they’d feed him sprat with hand-held tongs; otherwise, they’d have to leave the sprat (taken from the freezer and thawed overnight) somewhere available to Ron but safe from being snaffled by grey crows or magpies.