Heron and Pond !

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Brian Lacey

Joined
26 Sep 2007
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Location
Rutland
Country
United Kingdom
We are in rural East Northants, Nene Valley area, lots of open water around and the herons !
The pond should look like the first picture but after cutting the reed/iris/rushes back ( a mistake in retrospect) we had to take drastic action after the local bird spotted the goldfish. The stakes and rope seem to keep it away from the edge but this morning it was perched on the back of the chair, just waiting.
I really don't want to use netting as our cats are stupid enough to get entangled in it, they are into everything.
The heron in the background is a plastic one, came with the pond pump from auction ! Hides in the reeds !
I saw this on ebay and wondered if anyone had tried it and did it work ?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-Piece...484534?hash=item1f13483176:g:cNYAAOSwQtZfEU8H
It's the hexagonal 'spiders web' plastic grid that floats on the surface.
Any other ideas welcomed.
Thanks
Brian. DSCF4106.jpgDSCF4612.jpg
 
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Wind powered bird scarer
Tin foil
Don`t know what they are called but it is a childs toy which has bright shiny sails (like a windmill) pined to a stick.
 
The fake Heron attracts Heron's to a pond, they think it's a mate.

You can get a thin wire that goes around the edge of the pond approx. 150mm high to stop them walking into the pond. It also is very hard to see, so it does not cause an eyesore.

Andy
 
I was told herons do not fish close together, and on the cut bank they do seem to spread out, however Chester weir you will see 6 herons within a meter of each other.
 
Our pond (we inherited when we bought the house 15 years ago) is surrounded by a low brick wall.
I have had a net over that ever since we got goldfish. I have it held taut across the pond using screws in the side of the low wall every foot or so. Because of that, our cats can't get caught in the net and can't fall in, even if they're daft enough to set foot over the pond, which they never have.

Having said that, we still regularly have visits from herons. They're too thick to realise that they can't get through the net and the water level is several inches below the net too. Despite that, they keep coming.

We did see one just a couple of weeks ago which, to our horror, managed to grab a frog which must have been in among some plants above the level of the net. Before we knew it, it was gone down the heron's gullet.

More recently, I did buy one of those false herons and planted it on the pond wall, just where the real heron(s) preferred to stand. I fastened it down with a screw through its feet, as I found the slightest breeze would blow it over. Happily, it seems to have worked so far, as we haven't seen a heron since. We have a security camera covering our back, so whatever time of day a heron would have come (it was usually early morning), we'd have known about it.
 
My FIL used to have a pond with koi carp in it. He got some thin green plastic grating and cut it to shape. He then inserted log plastic tubes, about 25mm diameter, pushing them down around the sides of the pond between the liner and the soil. He then simply laid the grating over the tubes inserting it into slots he had cut in the ends. Fish were able to be fed and swim around safely from predators. He had this in place for about 6 years before he had his bungalow re-built and the fish were sold to a local enthusiast.
 
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