Any fish-keepers out there?

Lost all my fish to a heron a couple of years ago and it sat in the field,just over the wall digesting them!So re stocked the pond and covered it with a net.Came home from weekly shop today and a heron was sitting on the net!!!it hopped over the wall and sat in the field for an hour.2 hours later it returned!!!So I "had a word with it and it flew to the middle of the field sitting there for a good 1/2 hour before taking off again.I would post a couple of photos if it was not for the size restriction on here!

up-date......the heron has been back a few times (including 5.30am today.)It came back again at 10am and sat in the field.....one of the cows spotted it and ran towards it...when the cow came close the heron took off and flew 50 yds or so and landed again,said cow  ran at it again and the heron flew away! absolutely brilliant to watch!!!

Get yourself a cow!

Seriously, I have had pond fish for years, they disapear and go off feeding while they are spawning, that's also the reason for the black fish, that's what colour they are when they hatch, they turn gold/silver at about two years old.

This morning it was on the garden wall and then flew to sit on top of a tree 100 yards away.It was then attacked by 2 gulls who chased it away.So....if you have a pond with fish and a visiting heron you need cows and gulls to keep it away!

Unfortunately Herons don't give up until they have cleared a pond.  At one house we lived at we came home late one night it was dark and we put the patio light on to check the pond and spotted a heron roosting in a tree in the playing field next door, in line with the pond,  waiting to have an early morning breakfast   At the home we have now we have been cleared of fish by the Heron several times and also had a Little Egret visit, Reluctantly I decided enough was enough and I wasn't going to keep buying fish to feed the Heron, we left the pond as a wildlife pond for a while but it sprang a leak so we took it out and didn't replace it, I do miss having a pond and fish though, I used to enjoy watching the dragonfly and hawker larvae hatching and flying, also the newts and frogs..

Our pond is now just for any wildlife that needs a home or a birdbath ,      

Today I have been watching a large red Damsel fly laying eggs in the pond on the plants, it was being watched by two frogs, 

When clearing "duckweed off last week managed to get a newt in the net

Had a leak back awhile, had to allow water to drain out enough to repair. Finished up with forty odd gold/silver fish, (all have bred in pond), & over 100 newts in large buckets! completely emptied pond, cleaned the silt out, (cabbages now growing in it), found the leak and repaired it. As the newts climbed out of the buckets, it was a full time job stopping the blackbirds taking them for food, we got most of them back in the pond while it was re-filling, (with saved water and all the water from our 6 x 200 litre barrels) topped up with mains water! Lovely to see it full and hear it when the pump is running. Nice sitting outside with a glass of ????, while we're locked down!

About 14 years ago I installed an automatic watering system to water the greenhouse, some staging outside, a raised bed with various small trees and various pot plants. I also added two 4mm feeds to the pond. One is on all the time that the system runs and the other has an on/off valve. From late march until probably october at least the system is set to come on for two 20min sessions 7am and 7pm. Usually just have the one feed running and whilst my neighbours pond has dropped around 2'' over 5 days to a week (maybe less) ours had dropped hardly at all with the one feed. When we go away July for 6 or 7 weeks I turn on the second feed, and even in a hot summer it keeps up with evaporation. Our pond is about 44 square feet. 

No big digs when I fitted the system (unlike the pond). I ran the 13mm feed under some flags and then under the lawn along with tee offs. except where I needed to fit tees I put a spade in to near full depth and levered over to leave a slot (might have put another spade back to back) when the pipework was in I simply levelled out with the back of a spade. where the pipe junctions to 4mm were made I used an angle to bring the pipe above ground. No more pots of dead plants. 

Following previous heron raids our pond is now totally dedicated to wildlife. There are several strategies you can adopt to limit predation of fish from garden ponds though. Yes, many include providing hiding places and depth in the pond to prevent stalking herons and egrets enjoying snacking on your pets but this means the ornamental fish are far less obvious and observable. Latterly, after what seemed like a total wipeout we only stocked native rather inconspicuous breeds like rudd, roach and sticklebacks, the latter appearing of their own accord somehow, maybe the moorhens assisted, I don’t know. We did acquire these fish from a farmer whose pond dried during a drought period but I’m not absolutely sure that rescuing and transferring fish in this way was totally legal. They were going to die though and we saved them in ignorance of the law.
Not particularly showy species any of our fish but patience and a love of nature still makes for interesting observations throughout the year. They, the fish, have since spawned as do the amphibians and somehow a natural balance has been maintained. Strangely one fantail must have survived and added to the gene pool as several of those cyprinids now inhabiting the pond have rather elaborate and elongated tails. We also delight in the life cycle of both dragon and damselflies. I’m sure their nymphs predate some of the fish fry but hey, that’s nature. What’s more we love it, I’d love to think we could transplant some of our fish back to their original home in future years but that unintentional crossbreeding and the associated legalities may preclude us in doing so.