Just sitting in the garden watching a heron fishing below. All of a sudden, 2 feet from the shore, it hauled out a protesting flattie that I would have been pleased to catch. It struggled and struggled to swallow the fish but it was obvious this was not going to happen. The heron eventually walked away along the shore with its catch so I don't know the story ended.
Must dust off my flattie rigs!
It's amazing the size of fish they can take. Not only fish, I've seen them taking large rodents.
I was in the Glenbrittle Hut on Skye looking out at the rain and watching a heron standing beside a ditch over the road. It suddenly stabbed down and came up with a fat eel near two feet long. The eel whipped about the heron's head and swung the bird from side to side and a serious tussle was going on for quite a few minutes before the heron presumably had cut off the air to the eel for long enough. The heron walked off into the rushes with its prize so I have no idea how it got on trying to swallow it. I assume it wouldn't have gone for the eel if it couldn't then swallow it. It was a mighty impressive performance.
Here is a fine photo at just the moment giving the appearance of the side-on heron having two eyes just the same.