I new it was a matter of time as I see them flying over the house daily. Makes me sad that several of fish that were not eaten are injured now. :( I have fishing line criss crossing the pond but that doesn't seem to be enough anymore. I'm going to have to net the whole thing now. Poor fish..... What does everyone do to keep the herons away? Across the street from me is a big creek so they tend to really be thick in this area.
Heron hit pond
This is what I did !
http://www.pestproducts.com/scarecrow.htm
datdog...I had the same problem for a while, I'm surrounded by lakes (so why they come to my little pond is beyond me)
It's heartbreaking to lose your fish when they've become hand feed friendly and large. I put several heron statues around the pond, not knowing if it would deter others or lure others in. It seems to have worked. I also added a few more water lilies, so the fish have places to hide, and the herons can't see through the water as easily. (I also let the cats and dogs out a little more often) The herons tend to hit my pond at night, so I also added a few solar lights around the edge, it puts a shine across the surface, and any ripple makes it harder to see through the water.
Kristi, what a bummer! I see them flying over here but they have not landed. The did at my other house!
Someone just told me th e other day, to put a fake one next to the pond, like Mary said. They told me that Herons look for areas where there are not other Herons. A fake one sounds a whole lot better than a real one!
Target has some great looking ones for around $49. They're about 30 inches high, and very nice looking.
Wonder if it would be cheaper to take the actual fish eater to a taxidermist. chuckle
I hope your injured fish recover. I've never had a heron problem even with lakes nearby, but my pond is pretty small.
Here is my solution for tonight. I ordered the scare crow water thing. I also put up some more fishing line. The umbrellas only cover the deep part of the pond and I'm hoping the fish will stay under them.
Another view...
The umbrellas look kind of artsy! Watch out, your neighbors will all be doing it tomorrow. :)
Those umbrellas look like they would go nicely with night lights underneath.
Datdog, what a beautiful pond :) What is that blue glass thing sitting on the ledge of the waterfall?? I love the umbrella look too :) My pond is about 180 ft. X 65ft. right now as the water has receded back for awhile! Not only are there the dusky blue and then white herons, but I also have the darn bormorants!! They sit in the trees and then dive down intot he pond and come up with my fish in their mouth :( We live on the bay here and when we take the boat out to the island we see all the trees on it just filled with the cormorants nests!! It used to have sea gulls! I have put up several owls on steaks around the pond, but I was looking at that irri-tape, and wondered if I go to the dollar store if I can find some plastic kite material with that same shinny coating I can just cut it up in strips and attach it to posts? HMMMMMMM or just the wrapping paper and then spray it with that silicone spray?? HMMMMM...I just might be on to something????
Thanks for the informations :)
I have lost fish to both heron and snake. i finally got tired of it and netted my pond with deer netting. Keeps snakes, heron, and leaves out. May not look quite as nice, but I got tired of the casualties.
Time will tell but so far my scarecrow has worked and if it is hot when you are cutting grass you can ride by to get squirted too !
Towards winter...before freezing temps I will take up my scarecrow and either net the pond or put some type of cover in there..
Thanks again for all the advice and nice comments. The umbrellas worked like a charm. I also had the scarecrow water thing come in yesterday. Not sure if my husband set it up right so I put my umbrellas in the pond too just to be safe. The injured fish is doing well and appears to be back to normal. I'm keeping a close eye on him just to be safe.
Chele- maybe we should market the umbrellas for ponds? Think we'd get rich? The we could both hire a nanny and spend all our free time in the garden.
Tootsie- that blue thing is just a round glazed blue ball. Over the years I've suffered a terrible addiction to all things glazed and blue for the garden. LOL...
rylaff- love your pond.
Here is a picture of the pond minus umbrellas.
Kristi, I think we need a line of metallic umbrellas, pastels, primary colors, with lights, without lights, built in foggers...........This could be fun and profitable! Yours actually look really cute!
Y'all better patent the idea now, before somebody else starts making a profit on it!
I rescued a wolf about 7 years ago. She does a pretty good job of keeping critters away, sometimes too good. I wouldn't recommend this though.
A rescued wolf! You have to post a picture of her.
Fireant13- how do you post a picture?
Thanks
My daughter explained it to me, but I am not sure that I can explain it. When you write your message, there's a button that says browse. If you click browse, you'll get a window that has your documents, select the folder with your pictures. Then select the picture you want, and click the button. It'll transfer. You then hit preview on the DG site and wait until the picture loads. After you've previewed it, click send, and it will post. If you have thumbnail pictures and know for sure which picture is posting, you could skip preview.
As for getting the pictures into a folder, that may vary according to computers and software. My computer came with photo organization system, but my daughter sells Creative Memories and gave me their software program. Pictures can be taken directly from a digital camera or from a CD and put into the folder.
This message was edited Jun 20, 2006 3:00 PM
Here she is, she's very sweet. It's hard to get a good pix of her.
Thanks for helping me with the process!
I use bird netting over my hostas to keep the deer from eating them and it does the job of protecting the plants without a lot of fuss.
Nice picture--I'm glad the directions helped. I guess a wolf would be a good deterent for critters, although my dog does a pretty good job when he's outside.
I am very new here at DG but been with GW for years. I lost a lot of kois with the herons and so iwe had to net ours. it is heart breaking and very expensive. Hree is a picture of 3 year netted pond as well as my 2nd pond a preformed.
another picture!! Bellie
picture of the New pond. Bellie
Nice pond bellieg, other folks that have a heron problem have mentioned a scrarecrow gizmo that shoots water when it detects movement. I'll try to find out what it's called, I've seen it advertised in gardening magazines too.
I have to rty repostung the new pond
datdog, beautiful pond :) Not a weed to be seen anywhere LOL Billie, great pics, looks like a painting!! fly_girl, your lil girl wolfe is soooooooo pretty!! Was she talking you to when you shot this one??
Thanks tootsie, she always has alot to say! If you're not paying attention to her she'll plant a big kiss, (on your mouth) which is really pretty gross.
They wolfie has such a sweet looking face! My ex BIL had one named BoDiddly. He took him to work and everywhere else with him. His favorite stop was the morning egg and cheese sandwhich. LOL
I have to laugh about the kissing too. We bought a chocolate lab last year and hubby thought we should buy the friendliest one and the only one that would kiss him. Now that dog has a nose the size of a softball and a huge tongue to go with it. When she is shoving him around kissing him and he fusses, we all remind him he picked that one!
Billie, your pond is beautiful! You have a nice collection of plants and stones and it is easy to see the work you have put in. It's a shame you had to cover it. Darn critters!
I had problems with herons when we lived down the bayou in South La.
They ate my fish as fast as I could buy them. I took care of the problem by putting a stump in the middle of the pond and adding water hyacinth. Both additions gave the fish a place to hide. I quit losing fish after that.
fly_girl, it was posted further up in this thread. Here it is again.
http://www.pestproducts.com/scarecrow.htm
I am thinking about getting one also. We had a heron problem a few months ago. Both us and our neighbors were loosing fish. We both netted our ponds with the 1/2" black net that we use in the fall for leaves. After about a month not seeing the heron, we have removed the net. I haven't seen a return as yet, but I would love to know if he did, they would be alerted by the water, even if it didn't deter the heron. When they were being targeted, the water lilies had not yet filled in a shade area. They are hidden now since they are growning nicely. But they will be dying out come cooler weather, and I need another plan.
This message was edited Jul 14, 2006 9:20 PM
Just a quick note, I went to the dollar store(everything is either one dollar or two for a dollar), and bought some of the wind banners, "YEA" they have worked so far :) these had pink flamingos on them, they are silver and when the wind blows boy do they flutter, and when the sun is out, it is almost blinding, the darn herons have just flown over, but have kept on going :) I went back and got another few pkgs. before they started taking them off the shelves for the summer! These have tiki masks on them, but still silver and reflective! If my chance I do see one of those darn birds land, I AM GOING TO HURRY UP AND ORDER A SPITTER :)
That sounds like a good and colorful solution. It probably looks pretty cheerful there.
Colorful, yes, thats what I would say too!! Evidently "colorful" is not the word hubby used to describe what he saw, LOLOLOL
LOL, I guess not. We want peaceful serene ponds that are as natural as possible, and then flags, nets, etc.
I use water lilies and net before and after the lilies fill the surface. BUT if all else fails I have a recipe for "STUFFED HERON." Plenty of nearby lakes and rivers , but they still stop and try to fish
The Pest sprayer is good to, keeps the neighborhood pets away.
Is'nt ponding wonderful!!!!!
Hi Kristi! Sorry to hear of your loss. I've been using the umbrellas for a couple years now just to shade my pond. I don't care if it looks dorky, it's my pond! Watch for end of season sales, I got several for $7 each. They help with the algea and keeps the water a bit cooler--it's been a long hot summer.
Lovely to see you restored your pond, I remember posting years ago about it!