Young Grey Heron

The young Heron met me at the entrance to the park this morning. I don't know what she had been up to but the crest feathers were sticky and sticking up. The shot shows this quite well. The shadow to the right is from the gate to the park. Once she had eaten her fish she took off back to the loch. This afternoon the park was busy again but she flew over. She had got rid of whatever had been sticking her feathers up but it still looked a bit sticky. I gave her the mackerel which she seems to like. After I had fed her I made my way up the hill, when I turned round she had flown up behind me. I continued walking until I got to the other entrance at the top of the hill. She was still there. I left the park and was a bit down the lane, when I looked back she was on the fence surrounding the park. She then jumped down onto the pavement outside the park. I couldn't leave her there or take her any further from the park so I turned round and walked back. She proceeded follow me. I walked back down the hill with her circling me in the air and landing just ahead of me. Lots of people were staring at her and me, not knowing what to make of it. I finally got her down to the drainage area of the loch. Where she stood watching me. A couple of tourists were taking photos of her one of them asked if she was OK with the dogs around her. I said she would be fine and if the dogs got close she would be over the fence like a shot. I had no sooner said it when she jumped over. I waited a few minutes and left turning just in time to see her flying back to the nest area. If it were to happen again I would just walk her back to the water and wait until she flew back to the nest.