snip

And just how do you keep a hole in the ice on a remote pond? It seems
that we don't get the cold winters we did years ago here but still the
ice can easily get to six inches and stay frozen for many weeks. I
could poke a small hole in the ice but it would freeze up within a
short time. We don't get enough wind to do any wind-powered trickery.

(I think this reply got lost?)

You could try an Ice Guard, see:

http://www.greenideasltd.co.uk/

We have one in our pond and it seems to work quite well.

John.