Grey heron

The stately and solitary grey heron (Ardea cinerea) is one of the UK’s biggest and most unmistakable birds, and is a familiar sight to Osney residents. They are graceful and gangly in equal measure, with long legs, long beak and grey, black and white feathers.  

Herons feed mainly on fish, but also eat waterbirds, crayfish and small mammals, even moles. They don’t migrate, and so can be seen at any time of year looking for food in rivers, lakes and even garden ponds. If you see a heron standing in a field, it is probably digesting rather than hunting, because they sometimes eat large prey such as eels, which can take a long time to go down.  

Herons nest in colonies called ‘heronries’, often in the tops of trees. Here, they make their large and slightly clumsy nests out of twigs. They lay three or four eggs. The young will fledge from the nest after about one and a half months. 

Herons have special feathers on their breasts called ‘powder down’, which they crush with their feet and spread over themselves to keep clean. The powder soaks up the muck and grime from their feathers, and also helps to keep them waterproof. 

Despite this cleanliness, anglers once believed that herons’ feet gave off a scent that attracted fish, and often carried a heron’s foot to bring them luck (although not much luck for the poor heron). Once a regular dish on the medieval banqueting table, the heron is now a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, with hefty fines or prison sentences for anyone attempting to kill one. 

Weeping willow

Native to northern China but found all round the world including along the River Thames, weeping willows have unique physical characteristics and practical applications, as well as a well-established place in culture and spirituality throughout the world. 

The scientific name Salix babylonica is a misnomer. Salix means ‘willow’, but the species name babylonica was derived by Carl Linnaeus because he thought weeping willows were the trees found by the rivers of Babylon in the Bible. It turns out those were probably poplars, but babylonica has stuck.

Weeping willow is a medium- to large-sized deciduous tree, growing up to 20–25m  in height. It is rapidly growing and has a short lifespan of 40–75 years. Willows are among the first trees to grow leaves in the spring and among the last to lose their leaves in the autumn. In the spring, weeping willows produce silver-tinged green ‘catkins’ that contain flowers. They are ‘dioecious’, which means their flowers are either male or female, and appear only on a male or female tree respectively.

They like standing water and will clear up troublesome spots in a landscape prone to pools, puddles, and floods.

Young deer rub their new antlers on the bark to relieve their itchiness, thanks to the aspirin-like substance it contains. Weeping willows get their common name from the way that rain looks like tears when it drips off the curved branches. Shakespeare uses the willow’s mournful symbolism in Hamlet – Ophelia falls into the river when the willow branch on which she is sitting breaks. 

Willows are not only an inspiration for art – they are used to make it. Sketching charcoal is often made from processed willow bark and wood. Their flexibility also makes them excellent for basketry and for making coracles – small, circular boats that have been used in the UK for thousands of years.

Freshwater shrimp

The freshwater shrimp (Gammarus pulex) is typically greyish with markings in dark brown or green. Most common freshwater shrimp vary in length between a tiny 14 mm for females to 21 mm for males. 

Freshwater shrimp can sometimes be found in garden ponds as well as in rivers and canals, as they are frequently carried as eggs or tiny babies on the feet of birds. 

These miniature marvels played a starring role in the campaign back in the 1880s to provide fresh water to Oxford. When a new pumping station was installed in n Lake Street (where South Oxford Community Centre now stands), local social campaigner and photographer Henry Taunt challenged the mayor to prove that the water pumped from New Hinksey Lake was fit to drink. Taunt himself had claimed that in less than 3 hours of running the city water from his household tap, he had caught no fewer than 37 freshwater shrimps, which he later displayed at Oxford Town Hall under a microscope.

Our native freshwater shrimps are now being challenged by invasive, non-native species. These invasive species tend to reproduce more quickly, are omnivorous and have a better tolerance for a range of temperature, salt and pollution levels than the native kinds. As a result they are successful invaders and can be disruptive to ecosystems.