On 15/3/07 16:33, in article , "Charlie
Pridham" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
On 15/3/07 12:40, in article ,
"Pete
Stockdale" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
A wretched heron has been to one of the ponds this morning and either
it's
cleared it out or all the fish are hiding! I feel sure it's the latter
as
it's a well-stocked pond but while I don't begrudge it one or two fish,
we'll be furious if it takes the koi. And we *are* furious that it's
taken
a mass of frog spawn. ;-(
--


Sorry to hear about your loss.

We now electrify the sides and net over the top of our pond to prevent
the
herons here.
They still have miles of adjacent canal to go at - so they wont starve !
Regards

We can't electrify because the public wouldn't appreciate it. ;-) We
might
be able to net, though the fountain/pot in the middle would make that a
bit
more difficult. In the end, I think we'll either have to net, or move all
the fish to a different pond which has no wading access at all.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

Try a few overhead wires, they are big clumsy birds coming into land and
prefer a large landing area and walk to the water, its surprising with your
trees you are having the problem. I have also heard it said that the stone
cats some people put by their ponds discourages them.
Think your self lucky the Otters have not found you yet!!
(and I have replied to your last short email let me know if its gone missing
again)

It has! ;-( I don't know what's going on - anyone else 'losing' emails both
outgoing and incoming or is it just my luck?
When you next come up you'll see changes to the garden which almost
incorporate your overhead wire suggestion but appear to make no difference!
The hedge beside the path to the tea room has gone and that's where we've
put up the posts and rope swags. They would do the overhead wire job if
anything would but it doesn't seem to have deterred this heron! In fact a
year or two ago I was up very early one morning and a heron was sitting on
*top* of the now rooted out hedge, gazing thoughtfully at the pond!
The culprit of yesterday was seen by Ray the evening before, looking at the
new pond in front of the house but it couldn't wade into that, so presumably
it decided to try its luck with the 'old' fishpond. As it has three ponds
to choose from, it's quite busy but the ex-duck pond has no fish in it, so
no luck for a heron there!
The fact that it bothers to come here makes me wonder what the fish stocks
must be like in the River Dart which, as the heron flies, isn't at all far
from here.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)