Do herons actually land on water ?

can they ??

the one that visited me, used to land on a small lawn, then walk across to the pond and fish. I found there landing to be very eligant and could land almost vertically between trees and fencing, but amusingly the take off is a little farsical

I have seen plenty of picks of herons cuddled up next to decoys, I will see if I can find one and post it as proof . .

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There is no such thing as a Heron scarer :mad: :mad: :mad:

B.A. Never seen one land on water myself, like you I've only ever seen them walk to a fishing position. This is the idea behind the fishing line around the perimeter of your pond. They reckon the Heron won't step over it...not to sure myself.

my pond is presently covered with 3*2 lengths coloured in garden green, with nylon coated mesh to form complete cover.

It looks beautifull - not, but living so near to two reserviors (about 2 mins away by foot) I can not risk leaving the tops off.

I lost a carp of around 10 inches, but not sure where.

I was thinking of giving the wires another go . . but have to agree with Greg . . and the note about the heron crawling under the net worries me further . . think the same will go again this year . . come and feed for free herons . . but bring your trolley jack

when they get a fish, do herons eat it at the bank or fly off, do they leave tell tale signs like mink do ??

I lost a 10 inch carp, but not sure if a heron would take someting so big, or is it ??

Smith and Wesson .38 blank firing revolver is the best scarer i found

[ 04. January 2003, 01:40 PM: Message edited by: Apache ]

I lost 2 3lb carp and one 4.5lber, they just killed and left them when they couldn't swallow them. they can swallow 10inchers.

A TWELVE BORE .
Dont go along with the decoys.Having lost fish out of two ponds over the last 3 winters,have now netted them until plants reappear.
Both ponds are pretty close to the house and it does not deter the s**s at all.At least 4 other ponds(neighbours) in close proximity to me have also been wiped out on more than one occasion.
Since netting them I have not seen a heron in the garde mind you there aint much left for them!! :mad: .
chris

A minimum depth of 3foot, plus sheer sides goes a long way to putting off Herons. They don't like to stand too long by garden ponds preferring to wade into the water to fish.

There's usually a fair amount of evidence left behind if you've just been tangoed by a Heron!

Quite amazing how many fish escape the beaky horrors as well, usually witnessed by a characteristic 'V', or a hole in them somewhere it shouldn't be.

I can't recall losing fish much bigger than 4-5 inches, but bigger ones have been marked. my mate had a superb Sanke about a foot long that ended up with a lot of scales missing due to a Heron..he was not best pleased.

Where I used to live on the Mississippi Gulf coast we would catch catfish that we called hardheads. A pain to catch especially if you were after something else. Occasionally you would find one laid up in the shallows and a young great blue heron would try to eat it. The wiser ones would peck at the cat to kill it before they ate it, usually right there. The young or new ones would just grab and try to swallow. Funny thing about hardheads was that once they stick their spikes out they are pretty much locked. (and they b*&%#y hurt) :mad:

Can you imagine the heron with one of these hardheads half way down its throat before it decided enough was enough and stuck its spikes out? Not pretty for the heron.

On a different note has anyone tried using a horned owl decoy near their pond? They are used near power stations to keep other birds away. Might be interesting to try.

I also notice they go for the biggest fish they can :mad: ! A friend of mine found her biggest carp on the lawn dead. Turns out a heron had picked it out but couldn't carry or eat it.