# Ways to deter a Heron?



## Kizzu (Nov 10, 2009)

Hey guys, last year we built a large pond in our garden, we put around 10 fish in there after it was built with plans to add the majority in this coming spring. 

Unfortunately, over the last few months, we've had several visits from a Heron and now only have a couple of fish left, so we're just curious of the best way to deter Herons from our pond before we add more fish? There's going to be several hundreds of pounds worth of fish going in there, so we definitely don't want any more visits from any Herons!

Here's a couple of pictures of the pond for anybody who is interested! 






Unfortunately with the way that the pond is built and the liner is fastened, a net would be difficult to fit. We've read about Heron alarms, that when something nears the edge of the pond it emits a sound like a shotgun or a bird of prey, how effective are these? We also have quite a lot of wild birds in the garden, so we'll want to keep the disturbance of these down to a minimum.

Are there any other solutions that we may have missed, that you could recommend?

Thanks,
Rob.


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## Berber King (Dec 29, 2007)

Stretch fishing line around and over the pond,a couple of stakes in the ground will give you tying posts.


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## donnay5 (Jan 6, 2011)

a good quality net:lol2:


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## lionfish (Jul 15, 2009)

Herons fish by standing in the water , they're the arch enemy of fish farms , ( I have friends in that industry) . I would put some stakes in the ground around the pond and attach fishing line , as a trip wire ( herons hate this , the wire has to be high enough so the heron can't simply step over it , so 2 - 3 feet off the ground ) , also a net over the pond attached to a framework - a friend uses trellis with wire mesh nailed over it and lifts it on and off for feeding time . Another option would be a pergola with a net over it or the old fashioned tried and tested net stetched over the e pond surface and held in place with plastic pegs /tent pegs.


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## donnay5 (Jan 6, 2011)

do not believe that a statue will work either cos i lost a 300 quid koi with a statue.It couldnt take him whole but took a nice chunk and he died later


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## pauliewalnuts (Mar 18, 2010)

Pellet gun.........:whistling2:


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## lionfish (Jul 15, 2009)

pauliewalnuts said:


> Pellet gun.........:whistling2:


except herons' are a protected species ....


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## Podarcis (Mar 1, 2010)

Remove the fish for a week in the summer. Replace with _Palaeosuchus. _Allow organic heron removal to take place. Remove deterrent. Replace fish.


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## lionfish (Jul 15, 2009)

Podarcis said:


> Remove the fish for a week in the summer. Replace with _Palaeosuchus. _Allow organic heron removal to take place. Remove deterrent. Replace fish.


Lmao , Isn't yorkshire too cold for crocs ?


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## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

My uncle keeps and breeds koi, we have had to cover his largest pond entirely with solid netting, after he lost around £800 worth of adult koi, including one he'd had for 30 years to a heron. We'd never had herons in the garden before, but last summer one found the feast and unfortunately koi are a very easy meal for them.


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## lionfish (Jul 15, 2009)

Athravan said:


> My uncle keeps and breeds koi, we have had to cover his largest pond entirely with solid netting, after he lost around £800 worth of adult koi, including one he'd had for 30 years to a heron. We'd never had herons in the garden before, but last summer one found the feast and unfortunately koi are a very easy meal for them.


Once heron find a food source ( ie a well stocked fish pond in this case ) they will return and return and return , until they have fished it out , it's in their nature , so all you can do is cover the pond with netting .


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## JurassicParking (Nov 20, 2010)

They hate movement. Get thick netting though. Or mesh.


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## daftlassieEmma (Oct 23, 2008)

try using harsh language



i kid, bad luck though  weirdly, we regularly see herons (there's a burn in the field next to us) and we've never had problems


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## johne.ev (Sep 14, 2008)

Build a pergola over the pond.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

buy a tiger; it might scare the heron away and eat your fish as well BUT a tiger is way cooler than some fish.


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## lionfish (Jul 15, 2009)

Meko said:


> buy a tiger; it might scare the heron away and eat your fish as well BUT a tiger is way cooler than some fish.


like goldfish :whistling2: Although it seems I'm not the only one who thinks that .


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## gazz (Dec 9, 2006)

Grid fishing line over the pond, Herons don't like it coz they can't stand in the water, If they stand in the water they get stuck due to not being able to open there wing to take off, It make them feel unsafe.

Not mine.


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## Victor Creed (Aug 25, 2010)

Podarcis said:


> Remove the fish for a week in the summer. Replace with _Palaeosuchus. _Allow organic heron removal to take place. Remove deterrent. Replace fish.




I really shouldn't be laughing at this cuz it's just so wrong and evil.......


...but ROFLMAO!!!


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## Kizzu (Nov 10, 2009)

Ah okay, thanks a lot! The fishing lines seem like a good idea. The water is too deep in the pond for the Herons to stand in, so we'd need to stretch the line over the walls too. The only problem with this is that we also have 2 dogs who are in the garden pretty much everyday, we don't want tripwires set up for them near the pond :lol2:


Does anybody have any personal experience, or just general input, on the alarms?


Thanks again,
Rob.


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## Doodle (Aug 7, 2008)

I have a next door neighbour who had a heron problem. He also had a rat problem and tried to shoot the rat with a 12-gauge. This clipped the heron and unfortunatly both the heron and rat died... :whistling2:

Im not endorsing killing any animal to stop the fishing, BUT he had tried nets etc and it just kept ruining them as well...


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## Victor Creed (Aug 25, 2010)

Doodle said:


> I have a next door neighbour who had a heron problem. He also had a rat problem and tried to shoot the rat with a 12-gauge. This clipped the heron and unfortunatly both the heron and rat died... :whistling2:
> 
> Im not endorsing killing any animal to stop the fishing, BUT he had tried nets etc and it just kept ruining them as well...



Either that story is false, or just the way you told it makes it seem totally unbelievable....wth ?? He aimed at the rat which was standing close to a heron and ACCIDENTALLY hit the heron? Right.


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## lionfish (Jul 15, 2009)

Victor Creed said:


> Either that story is false, or just the way you told it makes it seem totally unbelievable....wth ?? He aimed at the rat which was standing close to a heron and ACCIDENTALLY hit the heron? Right.


 
"Accidently" on purpose I suspect . Herons are a protected species in the U.K so if DEFRA ( Department of Enviroment Food and Rural Affairs ) find out your "friend" will find himself prosecuted and on the recieving end of a massive fine ....


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## gazz (Dec 9, 2006)

Kizzu said:


> Ah okay, thanks a lot! The fishing lines seem like a good idea. The water is too deep in the pond for the Herons to stand in, so we'd need to stretch the line over the walls too. The only problem with this is that we also have 2 dogs who are in the garden pretty much everyday, we don't want tripwires set up for them near the pond :lol2:
> 
> 
> Does anybody have any personal experience, or just general input, on the alarms?
> ...


If your pond is to deep for Herons to stand in then it's easy, Just build a fence about 3ft high fence around the pond, 
Close to the water edge as possible. like in the picture below, But also use wire mesh in the fence so the Herons can't put it's head through the gaps.


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## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

one method that WON'T work, is a replica heron. it supposedly works on the basis that herons are terratorial & won't tolerate the presence of another- but that's a myth, & herons will fish together. so, a replica is more likely to attract herons than deter them.


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## caribe (Mar 21, 2010)

[email protected] said:


> one method that WON'T work, is a replica heron. it supposedly works on the basis that herons are terratorial & won't tolerate the presence of another- but that's a myth, & herons will fish together. so, a replica is more likely to attract herons than deter them.


I lost pretty much a VAT of pond fish in 2 days to a heron. We tried to use a replica and i found the heron sitting beside the plastic one....

I used the fishing line technique and that seemed to help.

Wind chimes by the ponds as well helped as well....

But to be honest as stated before they do have a habit of getting what they want.


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## Doodle (Aug 7, 2008)

lionfish said:


> "Accidently" on purpose I suspect . Herons are a protected species in the U.K so if DEFRA ( Department of Enviroment Food and Rural Affairs ) find out your "friend" will find himself prosecuted and on the recieving end of a massive fine ....


It isn't illegal if it is an aciddental kill, as stated he had aimed to kill the rat but unfortunatly the Heron was hit as well. He instantly reported the incident and it was fine. Again, I am not condoning breaking the law or killing animals when other options are availiable, however there are certain loopholes that you may exploit (if you are such a person) which would allow you to kill the Heron.

Again as stated, this unfortunant accident was following 6 months of trying every other option to extreme lengths, and having lost a lot of money in fish that were killed/eaten.

Again to stress, it IS illegal to intentionally kill a Heron, and NEVER kill anything for amusement.


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## carpmandan (Feb 20, 2011)

Can't say I've seen a heron alarm, but I've seen the cat ones, and they work well, so alarm might work op. But personally I have a net over, got it from aquatics shop came with pegs, i made holes in my sleepers and pegged it. Can hardly see it. 

Sent from my X10i using Tapatalk


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