"Nick Cramer" wrote in message
...
"Martin Harran" wrote:
[ . . . ]

I'm very sorry to hear of the loss of your fish, Martin. 24 fish!


Where
were you?

Don't know how long it would take a heron to catch/eat 24 fish - goldfish,
shebunkins, commets and golden orfes - but he may have been there for a
while

Had you taken any steps to protect your pond from predatory
birds?

My pond is 2' deep which I was told a heron wouldn't wade in and water is
usually about 10" below surrounding rocks. There's a shallow ledge at one
side where I got a heron a couple of years ago - only lost about 3 fish that
time - so I put a board across that to keep them out and have had no trouble
since then until now.

We've had a *lot* of rain here (Ireland) recently so my pond is a bit higher
than usual - about 6" below surrounding rocks so I suspect it was feeding
from rocks.

If you had enough vegetation, some of the fish might still be hiding
under it. I had one goldfish that hid for several years.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Get some garden
sunscreen at HD or wherever. I found it to be great for reducing the
sunlight and keeping the pond temperature lower.

The pond is in a very natural setting - I'll take a photo at the weekend
(if the rain stops!) and post it to tinypic - and I don't really want to
spoil that appearance.

Do you ever clean your UV?

Every year.