My pride and joy

A++ on the pond and BBQ. It looks spectacular. Do you plan to put fish in it?

Thankyou Bathgate. We do actually have a few already - koi, orf and goldfish. We sadly lost a few over winter, and then this morning I was horrified to see a heron with it's head in the pond!!

Yikes It's hard to fight nature. I have Red-tail hawks and they are ready to do battle.

Neat, wow!

Thanks Dawnsaunt :) Wow Bathgate that is not good! Upon further investigation 5 fish are missing and my little orf has a stab wound :(

Very Chelsea! Sounds as though you've had a visit from Mr Heron. Its amazing how they notice fish in our small garden ponds isn't it? We had a visit a few weeks ago - pesky things!

Steragram, we first spotted the heron mid December on the rooftops opposite. He has been visiting our pond since Monday, and not only has he polished off the majority of our poor little fish but he has caused a massive leak! We have lost around 12" of water since Monday morning, he must have punctured the liner with his beak :( The water seems to have stopped leaking now so Sunday will be pond repair day! Any suggestions on the best way to repair liner?

You can get a patch kit from your supplier. Then you need to locate the puncture.

Bathgate any idea how to locate the puncture/s? We have looked everywhere but it's like looking for a needle in a haystack!

Sorry, I can't suggest anything. The only time we had a damaged liner was when the window cleaner's ladder fell into it and that rip was hard to miss!
Re the heron,some people find putting a life sized artificial one by the pond deters the real ones. We never intended to have goldfish as they all get eaten round here, but the eggs must have come in on the pondweed and we had three. Now we have one, but he's probably big enough to eat most of the tadpoles by now. Nature red in tooth and claw...

That's the tricky part. If the heron was standing on the edge, then the tear must be within his reach along the edge. Look along the water level when the water stopped leaking. The tear should be right at the water level where the bird was standing. If you pull the liner away, you'll be able to see where it's flooding from the other side. The other option is replace with new liner.

Steragram, yes I've seen the pretend herons, I really didn't want to resort to that as it will spoil my design haha :) But if anyone on here could actually confirm that it works for them then I might reconsider. Free goldfish, sounds good to me :) My poor fantail goldfish has been gobbled up :(

Bathgate, we have been on our hands and knees doing just that but where the liner isn't exactly black anymore it is near impossible to see anything :( As for a new liner, well unfortunately that definitely isn't an easy option as the slabs are cemented over the liner, and to remove them would mean a lot of breakages (we had a fair few just laying them). So that's definitely a last resort if we can help it. Think I might have to get a magnifying glass because I can imagine there's more than one hole. Poor fish have been hiding under my floating plant pot, awaiting his visit for breakfast tomorrow :(

Build and underwater cave or something the fish can escape to when they see a bird. Maybe you have leftover slabs you can make a little underwater shelter.

Wow an underwater cave, I like the sound of that, stop giving me more ideas :) Unfortunately no slabs left over. I have just spotted a floating net in my pond catalogue, they resemble spider webs that sit on the water rather than over it. Supposed to protect the fish, wonder if anyone else has tried them?

I do sympathise with you about the Heron. We have two of the plastic type Herons, the theory is that if you have a 'pair' any flying over Heron thinks the water is taken and will continue. Doesn't work here! I looked out of my window one morning, without glasses and in a daze, to see three Herons on the pond! Two plastic and one real, and we have found one of the biggest (naturally) fish lying dead on the lawn with a huge hole in it's side, too big to eat or carry I suppose (what's that old saying about 'eyes too big for your belly'?). Our pond now has plant pots all round the edge to deter the Heron, but have seen it balanced on the wrought iron balustrade of the bridge - though how it thought it could reach from there!!

Forgot to mention that the pond looks amazing, the slabs are so effective, you wouldn't know they were not decking. I do hope that you find the problem and manage to fix it after all that hard work. The men looked happy in their work, not like mine when asked to do something!

Do you have any waterlilies or surface spreading plants and oxyegnating plants?? These give invaluable cover and are good for the pond too (just intend of covering with a net)

Thankyou Honeysuckle :)
We have now repaired the pond, blog to follow shortly.
Mr Heron is still visiting daily (last spotted Friday), but now it's netted up I hope it has realised that my fish are no longer on the menu :)
The stories I have read about the size of fish that heron will take makes me somewhat glad that mine were only tiddlers! I would've been distraught if something I'd nurtured and watch grow got gobbled up :(

Dan - we have a few oxygenating plants, need to get some more. I plan on filling all the shelves with plants lol :)

I love filling all the shelves in with plants :) absolutely love your pond!!

That looks amazing Lily, shame about that darned Heron, I do know that once they find the fish they will keep returning until there are none left so you are right to cover it.
I have the floating nets in a sack in my g'house, thats how successful they were, I tried them and was at the time pleased with them, however they are a waste of money, they sink and are dangerous to your fish as they can get trapped in the holes, I lost one but luckily managed to save another one, also when you have plants on the edges the fish can get trapped above the nets when they sink, they fasten together with little rings that are forever coming undone, its up to you but I wouldn't recommend them at all....

Thank you Lincslass :) I've spoken to a few people and they all agree that the floating nets are a no go, so I'm really glad I found this out before I wasted my time!