In uk.rec.gardening vortex2 wrote:
Hi,

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 http://www.wildwoodsonline.co.uk/aca...eterrents.html
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.

--
Chris Green