Mr Heron has dined here!!

I see several posts regarding herons, nets etc. I suppose we got a nasty wake up call yesterday...we went down the garden to see no fish in the pond and a film of what looked like oil on top of the water. An eerie shadow then passed overhead and it was an enormous heron! Talk about shutting the stable door...off whizzed my other half to buy a net. Today some fishes have appeared from the depths so he didn't eat them all. Maybe , as we've been lucky up to now, this is the time of year when they get braver, or hungrier?
Think we were just too complacent..thinking it would never happen to us!
Thankfully whatever fish he did get were only large goldfish..makes me think twice about ever spending loads on koi...that would be an expensive lesson and I'm sure, now he knows about our pond the net will only serve as a slight challenge.

 

I used the line of cotton thread trick. I read or was told that they land next to the pond and then wade in. So you get some canes and position them round the pond. You string black cotton thread from cane to cane but it must be tight. The heron lands, walks towards the pond to get his breakfast and gets an almighty fright.
I tried it and it seemed to work - found a heron feather on the thread and lost no more fish.
However i then got bored with goldfish. In my new pond I don't have fish, just frogs, newts, dragonflies, beetles. Much more interesting to watch.

 

it works with my little girls...they get entangled all the time!

 

We gave up on fish (goldfish and orfes) after the heron kept visiting us and clearing our pond of fish. One orfe was so big that the heron just speared him and then left him on the shingle for us to find.

We tried the trick with the string but it didn't really work.

Like Geoff, we now only have a natural pond and there is always so much going on in, around and above it that we don't miss the fish.

The neighbour in back of us found a large koi on his lawn last year, so someone nearby must have them.

 

I have 2 ponds and one of them is "natural". I must admit we've lots of inhabitants..frogs, newt etc. Trouble is I've heard herons will eat them too. Suppose it's nature and you're either lucky or not! Don't want to get too paranoid..we've put the net over so at least we feel a bit better!..though it probably won't make a ha'pence of difference.

 

Yes herons love frogs as well the problem is with our ponds we like the water to be cristal clear the herons spot the fish a mile away, put some cover on the bottom they can hide under waterlillies for surface cover but i'm afraid a decent net is the only answer.

 

There's detterent on the market at the moment that comprises a sensor that triggers a water jet and loud clicking noise, designed to scare off most pests. Does anybody have any idea as to whether these are actually any good or not?

 

I read on another post that they don't work either. We'll stick with the net over winter..to be honest though it looks ugly so we may remove it in the spring/summer and hope the fish stay hidden under plants etc as mentioned by Walnut.We'll put up the "trip wire" as that looks less intrusive... Can't be too obsessive about it..it's "nature"!

 

Does anyone remember them selling plastic herons saying that a heron would not fly down if there was one already there? Somebody reported a heron perched on his plastic one and I have seen herons in the wild standing shoulder to shoulder while fishing.

 

I always thought that they would attract more herons, just like plastic ducks would attract more ducks. If I thought that the plastic ducks would keep the real ones away, I'd put the two back in that our neighbour played a joke on me with last year.

 

the only way is a net we have such problems but we put a very fine net that allows you to watch the fish with little or no intrusion of the pond whatsoever and in our case cllects the leaves at the same time,we have had this in situ for the last 20 years,the heron dose come down and sits and watch the fish but he hasnt been able to catch any,as for the decoy herons,they are a waste of time

 

by the way hi KG

 

Fish long gone, no need for a net now, pond probably too big anyway.

I might try the plastic ducks next year, in the hope that real ducks think the pond has already been occupied by another pair.

Hi Keith, it's nice to have you back with us again. xx

 

you dont want ducks in your pond, they look nice but they do create a lot of mess.

Regarding the thing that shoots water, they do work, cats don't like them, birds just fly away, but bear in mind they need to be connected to a garden hose, and they can't tell if its you or a cat.

they are called "scarecrow"



no, i don't have one

you may like to see this clip

 

watergarden, that is absolutely awesome :D :D