An invitation to get up close and personal with Verulamium Park s own dinosaur birds has come from the RSPB. The park provides a safe springtime haven for a colony of herons and while they are normally still and statuesque birds which sit or stand by th

An invitation to get up close and personal with Verulamium Park's own "dinosaur birds" has come from the RSPB.

The park provides a safe springtime haven for a colony of herons and while they are normally still and statuesque birds which sit or stand by the water's edge, they undergo a character change in the spring.

Then they become leggy, ungainly and noisy show-offs as they perform courtship dances.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) will have its Date with Nature team in the park from tomorrow, Friday, February 19, to show visitors the Jurassic-looking birds.

Binoculars and telescopes will be available to get a close-up view of the herons and an RSPB team of staff and volunteers will be on hand to provide information.

The Date with Nature team will be in the park between 10am and 4pm from Fridays to Sundays until April 25.

The viewpoint is located just past the entrance by the Fighting Cocks pub, opposite the lake's largest island.

The project is being run in partnership with St Albans council and the Friends of Verulamium Park.