It is similar in appearance to the more common grey heron but is slightly smaller, more slender and has darker plumage.

It hunts for a range of prey including fish, rodents, frogs and insects, either stalking them or standing waiting in ambush.

Adults have the forehead and the crown of the head black, with a dark stripe down the back of the neck that terminates in a slender, dangling crest.

Unlike that bird, it often adopts a posture with its neck extending obliquely, and even nestlings tend to use this stance.

The range of the western race extends from Portugal eastwards across much of central and southern Europe and parts of North Africa as far as Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan.

[7] Between August and October, birds of the western population migrate southwards to tropical Africa, returning northwards in March.

Purple herons often overshoot their normal range on their return, and are vagrants to northern Europe including Britain.

The eastern population is largely resident, though some birds from the northern part of the range fly southwards to Korea, Thailand and Malaysia.

It may frequent mangrove swamps on the coast but it usually chooses freshwater habitats, particularly locations with Phragmites reed beds.

It is a secretive bird, spending less time out in the open than the grey heron and tending to skulk in reed beds.

The diet consists mainly of fish, small mammals and amphibians, but nestling birds, snakes, lizards, crustaceans, water snails, insects and spiders are also eaten.

The site chosen is generally in reed beds, canebrakes or low bushes close to large lakes or other extensive wetlands.

[1] The purple heron is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.