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Keeping birds from getting entangled in the protection strung across my pond

elderberryelderberry Posts: 114
in Problem solving
To keep the heron and seagulls from raiding the pond, I stretch fishing wire over it. This is effective, because the birds should see it and fear it, but once in a while a bolshy gull chances his arm, or wing, and tries to land in the pond, which means I need to disentangle it. So, how do I stop this happening? My first thought is to tie something to the wire to make it even more visible, so what is best? It could be that this won't deter all the gulls, since there's always going to be a daft one, so what else might I try?

Posts

  • pansyfacepansyface PEAK DISTRICT DerbyshirePosts: 21,173
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/PondXpert-Protector-Floating-Interlocking-Netting/dp/B00E6R7HBI

    Other suppliers, brands, sizes, shapes are available.
    Apophthegm -  a big word for a small thought.
  • hogweedhogweed Central ScotlandPosts: 4,053
    Not sure how that will protect the fish from herons - they will still be able to reach in from the edge and nab them through the grilles. 
    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • pansyfacepansyface PEAK DISTRICT DerbyshirePosts: 21,173
    edited April 2019
    We have herons. We have fish. We have this type of netting. Before we installed it we lost a load of fish.

    Not lost one since. Have a CCTV camera on the pond. Have seen herons arrive, stalk fish from the edge of the pond, try to walk on water, look extremely unnerved (really, they do have expressions), and fly away.

    Worth every penny. The secret is to put enough of them out to cover the surface of the water.
    Apophthegm -  a big word for a small thought.
  • barry islandbarry island Posts: 1,596
    edited April 2019
    I have slightly thicker metal wire than fishing line over my pond to keep herons out, the gulls don't bother the fish. A couple of weeks ago I fed the fish and they were quite happy the next day they were hiding so I knew that something had frightened them. As there are small 3" pots around the pond and none of them had been knocked over I assumed that it couldn't have been a heron or even a cat but each day the fish were scared and hiding. The other saturday I had just popped out of the back door and I heard a crash, I looked around to see what had made the noise, something looked wrong with the pond the fiberglass waterfall had slipped into the water and the pipe was pumping water out of the pond, if I hadn't have been there I would have had an empty pond. I was still no wiser to what had caused this until later that morning I saw him, a big ugly heron perched on the garden fence. So the wire hadn't worked as well as I though it had been doing. I have now strung netting over the entire pond and after a week the fish are back to their normal happy selves. In short I don't want the netting up for long so I will be stringing even more metal wire strategically placed over the pond area to stop the heron landing. Metal wire is thicker and less liable to get caught around birds legs, it is thin enough not to notice but thick enough for birds to see, it may not be enough in all situations but worth a try. I think that I got it from Wilkos. https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-green-garden-wire-12mm-x-30m/p/0299027
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