Earlier mention of Cranfield in the context of Navy Herons reminded me of an incident when I nearly collided with a Heron at Cranfield. I was ferrying a glider from Dunstable one evening, arriving at Cranfield after hours and in the middle of a thunderstorm. As the airfield was closed I decided to descend over the airfield while I could still see it and lost 3000' just crossing to the far side of the main runway to land near the hangars to await help to put the glider away. As I crossed the runway, at about 300', a Navy Heron passed underneath me, having just landed. He dropped someone off and then taxied past me on his way back to the runway for take off.