Special advisor Ramsey Jones snapped a picture of the feathered visitor as it perched quietly on the Prime Minister’s front door Thursday afternoon about 2:30 p.m. local time.
Jones couldn’t help tweeting, “Guess what just flew into No 10?” Perhaps a bit tongue-in-cheek, he added, “Not so much #herongate as knock knock knocking on #heronsdoor.”
It was just one of those times when everything in the universe lined up to provide the perfect opportunity. It was a warmish day, and the front door to No, 10 was left open. The heron just happened to be strolling around outside when a rascally crow decided the bigger bird was invading his territory and attempted to move him on his way.
I suppose if I was a heron and had been so rudely made to go on my way, I would have taken refuge at No. 10 Downing. Isn’t that what you would do? Needless to say, staff rushed to close interior doors so the heron would not go deeper inside the residence. But the heron, perhaps deciding there was not much of interest to see, hopped out the front door a few minutes later.
In some regions, heron have acquired the nickname, “shitepoke,” for their natural (Ahem), reaction to being disturbed. But the carefully maintained black paintwork was not impacted by the avian interloper. Jones said, “It did not lose its deposit.”
The Telegraph quoted a government source as saying, “Everyone was just enthralled. For a lot of people, it’s not often you see a huge bird in an urban setting. There wasn’t too much of a flap.” But the incident has many people wondering where Larry the cat was during all the fuss. Perhaps he was taking care of the crow.