I'VE always admired herons for their guile ever since I saw one several years ago on the Dollar Burn at night using the orange luminescence from the nearby street lights as an aid to see fish in the tumbling pools.

It wouldn’t surprise me if other herons similarly utilise the soft white glow of the full moon for nocturnal forays in areas away from our towns and villages.

They are adaptable birds in other ways too and in spring will feast upon newly emerging frogs.

Such thoughts came back to me last week when down at Cambus on the estuary of the River Devon where I came upon a heron fishing by the weir.

The tide was nearing its height and the heron had stationed itself on the lip of the weir to catch any trout that might be ascending the falls.

A clever tactic and no doubt one that the heron has learnt over the years by trial and error.

There was plenty of other wildlife out on the estuary too, including a family of mute swans with their small downy cygnets and a group of young goosanders, whose mother shepherded them away when she deemed I had approached too close.

Right by the mouth of the Devon, the narrow waters of the River Forth were unusually quiet for birds, although my eyes were drawn to the frilly purple blooms of knapweed by the trackside, as well as the yellow orbs of tansy that were on the verge of flowering.

In the reed-beds at the nearby Cambus Pools, I could hear the winnowing calls of moorhens and even briefly caught sight of one as it paddled quickly into cover.

It’s great to see the pools at this Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve having been reinvigorated by management work over the last year or so and the wildlife is clearly benefiting.

Cambus is one of my favourite wildlife hotspots in the Wee County and rarely do I come away disappointed. This visit was no exception, and as I made my way back to the car, the heron was still perched atop the weir; a lone sentinel waiting for its dinner to arrive.

@BroomfieldKeith