Do herons just stand patiently in the shallows in the hope that a fish will come within range? The odds, you would think, would be on them going hungry. No, Andrew Lawson told me, as we stood scanning a pond for the fry I told him were there. Herons, he had heard, attract fish with a substance secreted in their long thin legs. I can find no reference to this, but being on balance pro-fish and anti-heron, I would be fascinated to find out more.