In the next couple of weeks we are seriously "upgrading" our garden pond to be approx 15m^2 (is/was about 3 m^2).
Local herons seem to feed well from garden ponds, so historically we had fruit cage netting covering ours to prevent them harvesting our fish. A complete eyesore.
Any ideas/suggestions for a less visually intrusive method for making the pond unattractive to herons (and for that matter wild ducks)?
I see here
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that there are quite a few commercial options none of which have any great aesthetic appeal.
I am thinking that a grid of taut fishing line on 1 foot-ish centres will unobtrusively "cut the mustard". Is this likely to be effective?
We have just finished (it took about a year!) a pond which is a very similar size to yours and we too have lots of local herons, we've lost fish to them before.
We were going to go the "fishing line" way but think we now have a better/easier solution. While laying the slabs around the pond I embedded lengths of galvanised wire (wire coat hangers straightened would be fine) in the gaps between the slabs. At the end where the wire pokes out over the pond these wires are bent into a hook. We now have some very lightweight bird-cage netting stretched across the pond using the hooks, it's very nearly invisible and can be removed and replaced very easily so if we want an 'unadorned' pond while we sit there it's easy enough to take it off.
This may not help but... when we moved into this house there was a 3m^2 pond which soon lost all its fish to the herons. So we built an additional 35m^2 pond. The herons visit daily, but get no fish, or not enough to matter: we started off with twenty golden rudd in there and we now have many hundreds. I suppose the species might make a difference but I've always put it down to the depth: one metre in the middle, so that the fish can lurk down there out of reach.
You can buy dummy herons to stand by the side of the pool and 'claim' the territory. It works.
I was working, looking out of an upstairs window one day, and noticed that next door had bought a rather nice heron statue, standing just by their fishpool. In fact it was a real heron which had just taken all the 19 fish in there, some of them quite large.
After having the same problem, I went to rec.ponds and found all sorts of advice, some good, some not so good... But I would recommend the post at
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some advice and a good laugh.
We put a couple of lengths of heavy, arched clay ridge tile in the pond for the fish to hide under. The fish are still there and have been joined for another year by their seasonal little mates, the newts.
We had our pond uncovered for 5/6 years and never had any troubles. We live right in the heart of Broadland, so herons abound! We had one start to pay an occasional visit three or four years back, although I think we always managed to startle it as I wasn't aware of losing any fish. That prompted me into making a cumbersome and unsightly timber frame with black netting stretched over.
That has just finally collapsed, and reading up for heron protection, it seems they land and walk upto the pond. Putting stakes into the ground about a foot or so away from the edge and running a line around the top of the stakes will stop them approaching the pond.
The various kits sold for the purpose seem to cost far more than the contents warrant - I used a dozen black-coated metal plant stakes, 21" or so long, at £1.25 each. I also settled on a single thread of green polypropylene garden twine about 12 to 15" off the ground, rather than fishing line. It's quite easily visible to humans and pets alike, and doesn't look at all out of place IMO.
The other thing which is well worth doing, if you have sufficient depth (3ft or so in centre) is to place a small plinth in the centre of the pond. Mine is made from black plastic, about 2'6" square and supported on a simple frame made from waste-pipe fittings. This leaves a space of about 6" or so under which the fish can retreat if they feel threatened. I just stick a water lily or two in containers on top of the plastic sheet.
I have a 25m2 pond, and use fishing line round the edge and a few stands across where I can. The pond is also deep (32"), and vertical sided. The real saviour for the fish though seems to be lots of good hiding places, I have lots (a few dozen) paving slabs as shelves, supported on with piles of bricks or on-end clay pipes. Two tiers in many places,
2'x2' slabs on 12" long pipes, and a top layer of 18"x18" slabs on varying stacks of bricks. I've seen the local heron around occasionally, but I don't think I've lost many fish when the fishing line defence is in place. Garden backs onto open fields and woodland, and I'm near the River, so all good (bad?) potential heron country.
Same here happened yesterday! I was taking pictures of the kids playing outside and suddenly one of the kids yelled pointing his finger at the roof opposite our street. This huge heron stood there. I first thought that it wasn't real, but it was. It later plundged into the garden below and disappeared. We are 1 1/4 mile from Manchester city centre. It's really reassuring seeing herons around here which tells us that the environment must be getting just right for them and therefore for us. Unless off course there was some nice koy carps in the pond below ...
You woose. We get very large owls here too, because of the old houses and poorly maintained roof. Once one landed on our bedroom bay window roof and the landing was so heavy and noisy we rushed out thinking our chimney had either collapsed or a burglar was up there only to find this owl staring at us for a few second and whooosh ... flew away quietly.
Oww... A friend lives by the river Dee near Chester, literally her feet in the river (but half her house under water in winter ...). She has lots of herons around because there's a fish farm less than a mile away. The fish farm are alowed to kill the herons going to their farm and my friend got one to eat (she eats road kills too). She said it was very tender but a bit fishy ...
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