heron

Good pic :o)

thanx Terra you would have laughed watching me run round looking for camera, switching it on and just got this before he flew off to the fisheries up the road to find some breakfast lol

Wow! Don't get those in my garden. But did spot a Black Cap this morning.

I love Herons! Did I tell you about the time I saw nine....that's nine Herons...all sitting in the same field down by the beach! Amazing sight!

lol Tog,, he passes every day, we have a place near here called herons reach and in my village a new fisheries so they pass over to get there ;o)
brilliant karen, i love them, amazing how they fly so big but quite gracefull :o)

Great picture, Sandra. We've had one on our roofa few times and he regularly flies over but never got a pic yet!!!!

thanx paul its hard to get one isnt it, dont normally stop for long enough :o)

I usually only know he's on been on the roof when a neighbour tells me lol !!!

lol paul, maybe one day you will be in the right place at right time :o)

Oh nooooooooooo, I went to check on the fishes this afternoon, some of them looked dead! The top of the water was frozen to about 4 inches thick, I thought they had frozen to death, as they were on their sides flat. I managed to make some holes in the water, as soon as I did so, they all started moving very slowly, I took the net off the pond, I thought of the herons when I was doing it, now looking at it here....tomorrow I shall put the net back on, only if the ice has melted though.

Good photo Sandra, with all the ponds frozen for so long, I dont know how they're surviving.

Fish are incredible aren't they? We had one once, indoors in a tank. It got very sick...nasty growth on it and it started to do the side swim thing. I did some research and found out it was dying, so to put it out of it's misery I placed it in an ice bath for a few hours until it was 'dead'. Then, slowly the water started to warm up and the blinking thing came back to life! Very hard to freeze a fish to death!

michaella im worried about my fish to, frozen solid but was told to leave it and they will be ok, so i do hope so, isnt it upsetting :o((
thanx Dawn, all our snow gone and water melting a bit but quite thick ice.
wow how strange karen, i think they shut their bodies down till gets warmer to survive, gives me hope :o)

Sandra....I wondered where he had gone ha ha ha Nice pic lol

lol maureen you can have him back if you like :o))

Hope the pond thaws soon too so your fish can breathe properly.

Fancy seeing this first thing San.....great photo!

thanx Dawn iv seen two of my 3 fish today and seem ok, i think there is some air getting in at the edges where its melting :o)
i can set my clock by this heron janey. always just before 8am, bet the new fisheries just hate him lol

Thats great to see.... we sometimes get ducks sitting on the roofs round here especially in the Spring...: O ))

love seeing the ducks to holly, we get them walking along the lanes here, look so cute with babies following behind

Cant wait for the spring to come.... : O ))

me to :o)

: O ))

Interesting about the fish ..... my daughter has just retrieved three " dead fish " from her pond !
If they come back from the dead they will get a bit of a shock seeing as they are in the dustbin !
Don't know whether to laugh or cry ! ;0))

oh dear val sorry about fish, im sure she was certain they were dead poor things, iv seen my orange one today and seems ok as the edges of pond have melted so air has got in again which helps i guess lol,
i did see a tiny frog on the bottom poor froggy but with ice i cant get to it, so will keep checking and hope to get that out before it freezes again :o( its sad when anything dies isnt it val.

You should really keep an air hole going in the pond. I used a heated saucepan that I placed on the ice and melted through then floated a ball there. The fish need the oxygen. I know it's difficult this year with the temperatures though. The heron was obviously very hungry and on the look out for an easy meal.

linda i was melting the ice like you say but got so thick i couldnt keep up with it, also the ball froze in the ice, its melted around the edges now and air getting in and the fish seem ok, but took a adult and baby frog out today which were dead sadly :o(

excellent picture :) I think the cold has driven them more to gardens lately - we have one flying over and we have a small garden

we have them locally paul, there is a place near me they call herons reach, also in my village is a fisheries with 3 large ponds they have fishing competions there so the herons fly over to get to it,

our heron has eaten our fish unfortunately all but one I think - still quick way to go I guess - now one of my neighbours has funny moods - can't wait to see his face when a heron lands near his house :) He has no fish though

sorry about your fish paul, i have a net over in winter here but even summer they can take them, will you get more fish,

No - the fish seem to get fin rot and it is not nice - so not going to bother - just add lillies in the spring

thats a shame paul, anyway you will have plenty of pond life, frogs etc, im the same if my fish die,,, no more for me either.

Wow, how lovely to see him like that, Sanbaz. I can imagine you running around for the camera - I would be the same :)

thanx Gee, he`s a wopper lol

Lovely to see these birds, we used to have the heron come down when we had the big pond looking for his dinner lol

lol dotty not had that yet and hope he stays on the roof tops, mind you with the fisheries up the road i think he has enough ahha

That is lucky for you......

:o))

Yes San, my daughter was upset to find her fish dead and has since found another couple, but it is quite a large pond and she has many more fish. I think she is thinking of trying to keep the waterfall running from now on.

so sorry val about your daughters fish, iv even heard some who have pump going all winter have lost fish to, think its just a matter of the strong surviving really, my pond is about 16inches deep and mine up to now are ok, i have a large piece of plumbing pipe at the bottom and the oxygenating plant covers it so i think my fish went in there while it was frozen, it helped keep them warm, they go quite dormant and need little oxygen when temps drop and whats in the pond keeps them going, its worked out by the size of pond and how many fish, less fish more oxygen for the fish that are in there if you know what i mean, so my pond 4ft all round and not deep but only 3 fish,

Lovely picture Sanbaz. There is something about herons, it's their elequence, the way they stand so proud. I was also the victim of herons, when I used to have 2 ponds, they took quite a few fishes, so that was the end of my ponds ........... I guess, one cannot do anything about nature :-)

thanx louis shame about your fish,i have already decided that if these fish go or die i will just have my pond as a wildlife pond as i love having the water in the garden :o)