I'm trying to find an aesthetically acceptable (to SWMBO) way of protecting the fish in my pond from herons. The pond is surrounded by paving, so whatever we use will need to be fixed to a hard surface.
One possibility is to construct a reasonably decorative fence using something like this:
We would need more than 20 of them to go right round the pond. The spikes are meant to stick into the ground - which we can't do with a paved surface - and the extra height would be useful as well - as long as the herons can't get underneath.
In order to mount these panels, I figure that I need some suitable sockets - each consisting of a flange which can screwed to the paving, with a vertical tube to hold one of the spikes and possibly with a thumb-screw to clamp the spike into the tube. Something like a parasol stand but *very* much smaller. Since the panels hook together, I figure that I could could cut one spike off all except the end panel - so the number of sockets required would be the same as the number of panels +1.
A possibility for the sockets would be to use metal conduit fittings - using flanges like this
- which I don't have, and even to hire would be pretty expensive.
So, does anyone have any bright ideas? Preferably something off the shelf which will do the job straight off without breaking the bank, or something reasonably easy to DIY.
Many thanks.