Help, Heron

[blackkitty]

I woke up at five am hearing a weird barking type noise, I went into the back room which overlooks the garden and there was a heron on the fence. It took off quickly when it saw me but I've checked and we've lost a couple of fish What do other people do about them? This is the first time in four years I've seen one. Will it come back now it knows the ponds there? do they generally fish in the early morning? Thanks

[Strepsy]

My friend has lengths of drain pipe at the bottom of the pond so the fish can hide inside and the heron can't get to them.

[blackkitty]

That's a really good idea, I had been thinking about netting etc over the pond but was worried about the frogs getting in and out. Thanks

[Lesley Jay]

The heron used to come to our pond any time of the day from morning to dusk. You can buy plastic herons to sit at the side of the pond which is supposed to deter them because of the territory - only one heron per pond. However, the heron that visited our pond would stand next to the plastic one - so that doesn't work. You can put up heron wires - these do work. Put stakes around the pond and using thin wire put two or three circles of wire around the pond about 12 inches apart. The heron can't see the wire and walks into it when trying to get into the pond. They use this system at our local garden centre that has alot of ponds with big fish in. We've been forced to net ours over as we have a small fence along one side of our pond and the cheeky heron sits on the fence, next to the plastic heron and just jumps in. It still visits just incase the net has gone. It is a damn nuisance.

[sewer rat]

Herons will fish and feed at any time of day. In addition, don't bother with a plastic heron - I've seen up to a dozen of them fishing in one small pond, so the lone predator bit just ain't true. I would try the fishing line deterrent and see how you go.

[blackkitty]

I went to see the local aquatic centre tonight on my way home and the chap there said the plastic herons do work but you need to move them every day or so and apparently some of the mail order ones don't have the right markings. I'm now the proud owner of one plastic heron. I'm also putting some wide gauge pipes (made by duct taping bottomless plant pots together) in the pond for the fish to go into and will see what I can do about heron wires but our pond is in a funny position. Apparently the wires stop the heron wading into the pond but urban herons have learnt to land straight in the water. There's no way it could wade into our pond because of the shape and depth. Still I thought if I go for all three ideas something should work.