Forget the mouse - worry about the Heron !

OK - so Mr Mouse and his family are not occupying the garage any more .......... that's one pest problem out of the way.


Now we just have to worry about - the Heron ........


About 3 years ago we had a full fish pond with some fairly large fish - the king of the pond then was Riley - a large English Carp - a beautiful fish (if you like that kind of thing ...)


We had only created the pond in 2007 and were still learning about pond management so had not really thought about protecting the fish during the winter months ..... protecting them from the Heron that is !


We left the pond "open" and one day I just happened to mention to Greg that I couldn't see some of the more colourful goldfish ..... we surmised that maybe they were at the bottom of the pond ..... yet several days later we still had no sight of them and even when feeding the fish in the later spring - they did not reappear ...... we assumed then that "a Bird" had got them.


So by the winter of 2008  you would have thought we would have done something about it- like put netting over the pond...... but ..... you know how it is .... we just didn't get round to it - we still had many fish in the pond .... and we still had Riley- but all we did  was to buy one of these plastic Heron models to place at the edge of the pond, which is allegedly a good deterrent ......... NOT !


I woke up very late one Saturday morning - Greg had gone to work - and I opened the bedroom curtains - I looked down at the pond and initially thought -  although almost subconsciously - "the Heron has moved across the pond " ?????????????


I did a double take - this bird was SO still ....... then I looked slightly to the side and saw the plastic Heron - knocked over sideways .......  


I was struck between the devil and the deep blue ....... "what a beautiful, elegant, majestic bird" ......... and ..... "leave my fish ALONE !"


I opened the window and shouted ... the bird casually took its time, slowly spread its wings and eventually flew off, in all it's glory!


At that moment Greg  popped back home, so I explained what I had seen and we both went down to the pond, primarily to fix up the plastic Heron, when we noticed a movement ......... a flapping by the side of the pond - Our Riley was injured and at the side of the pond - the Heron must have flicked him out but we reckon that Riley was perhaps too big for the Heron to carry off - even we were amazed at how he had grown - he was the size of a dinner plate !!!!


We quickly placed him back in the pond but sadly, within a week the shock and an infection to his wounds must have got to him and ... he died.


We were gutted - we had gone from being impressed that we had managed to nurture a fish so big - to genuine sadness that the one fish we had actually named (there were too many Shubinkin goldfish to acknowledge) had now died and we could have ...  should have ... prevented it.


So, in the spring we re-stocked (but did not get another English Carp) and then ..... by the next winter we sorted a net to cover the pond and protect the fish. 


This worked for the winter of 09/10 and 10/11


BUT this year .... even though we thought that, with the weather being milder we would probably not even see the Heron ..... he seems to have plucked up some sort of courage and returned with a vengeance ..... I really need to Google how intelligent these birds are - there are several holes in our netting and I saw him again the other day "pecking at the pond -  I am convinced he has pulled some of these holes !!!!!!!!


So now we are on a mission to upgrade the netting and ensure that all the fish remain safe - we may not have another Riley but the pond is full and we have some very colourful inhabitants that we hope to keep and enjoy watching, for a little while longer !!!