Grey heron

I visited Bolingbroke Stock Pond today to check on the cootlings (well, mostly to see whether they'd survived the drooling heron...).
When I arrived, I was slightly disturbed to notice that there were two herons on the pond; hum, escalation...
But, phew, the cootlings are both still alive and screaming, and have grown a baffling amount. It was nice to see them (alive), but they remained pretty close to their nest which made it tricky to photograph them.

The two herons don't get along: they were initially sharing one of the two islands on the pond, but then one chased the other away... This was the one that didn't keep the island; it landed on the edge of the pond (in the corner where The Heron Incident took place). I took my opportunity to sneak up on it, and it was pretty calm, so I got quite satisfyingly close. They are beautiful at any distance, but up close I noticed details and textures that I'd never appreciated before which was wonderful.
It flew off shortly after I took this picture; I love the way their flight looks so lazy and loose limbed with their legs dangling down below their bodies

I felt quite intimidated at the pond though: one member of a gang group of four youths approached me (they'd been watching from a bench while I crept up on the heron) and asked, "What are you doing?"...
Me: "I was photographing the heron"
Him: "Why?"
Me: "It is beautiful; I wanted to get close-up shots..."
Him: "Is that camera good then; can I see?"
I had the neck strap on, but still worried that he'd grab it...
Me: "It is tricky to see the screen in this light"
He peered around, and his friends laughed; I was sooo nervous.
He turned and beckoned his friends over to look, but only one came and peered (the screen really isn't good in direct sunlight...)
Me: "I'd better make a move; enjoy the sunshine".
Scarpers.

Was I just being prejudiced; was the situation entirely innocent but I assumed that a gang of youths was going to cause trouble? I think it was the "What are you doing?" "Why?" and his friends watching and laughing that made me feel ill at ease...