I obviously can't comment on the British perspective, but since you're asking about other cultures as well... According to some Russian fairy tales my parents used to read to me, herons (female creatures in Russian thanks to the grammatical gender of the word) are quite arrogant, egotistical and often also a little empty-headed. And of course one might call someone a heron just for bearing some physical resemblance to the bird. Either way, personally, I wouldn't be very happy to be called цапля, to be honest. But I've never seen a heron in my entire life, maybe I'll change my mind after seeing one :)

Ksenia says that herons in Russian are female creatures. It is funny. In French, we say "un héron", and totally dismiss the possibility that a "Madame Héron" could exist.

Idem en allemand : ein Reiher. In Dutch : een reiger. I'll check later on if I find quotations.

I have a heron friend here, close to Paris. It (???) comes back every year.

Thanks so much John, Kseniia, Adrian, and Dan!

Dan: Yeah, their call definitely takes some getting used to.

Kseniia: Huh. I never would have thought of herons as vain, but I guess I can see it now. It would be easy to compare the length of time they spend gazing at the water to the myth of Narcissus.

I see that you are a US-ian yourself. I'm not aware of any folk significance of herons in US culture. I've seen Great Blue Herons a few times and I personally regard them as mystical and majestic... until they open their mouths and make a sound like "FRAWNK" which I regard as ridiculous and comically incongruous with the bird.

I'm not aware of any symbolic significance of herons in English culture. If I am lucky I will see one standing motionless on the mud banks of the river Thames at low tide. It is a good sign that the river is clean and has fish.