We Have Emptied Our 100 Gallon Fish Pond After The B*&$£% Heron Ate All Our Fish.

[Tilly2]

We are turning it into an ericaceous flower bed, with a water feature in the middle.

The water feature will sit on a wooden box in the centre and be surrounded by ericaceous compost and heathers.

What shall I wrap the wooden box in, in order to stop it rotting in the compost over the years?

[david small]

What about the fish?

[douglas9401]

Ahem!

[webbo3]

why not refill and put some netting over the pond

[barry1010]

David, Tilly has kindly kept the local herons well fed.

[barry1010]

Webb, my neighbours netted their pond. At first the herons were seen using it as a trampoline then they managed to circumnavigate it, the fish still went missing.

The camcorder caught the foxes fishing too. They still have the pond, no fish

[Chipchopper]

I lost a few fish to heron visits in the early days, so with some help, I now have it netted over with wire mesh. I also have two strands of fishing line, forming a fence which the heron can't step over, plus an alarm what go's off if any motion is detected.

[murraymints]

I would not even contemplate anything wooden... better to source a concrete block from somewhere...builders merchants ??

[Chipchopper]

Maybe a stumpery, with logs randomly placed with ferns and hostas growing in between

[1ozzy]

Hope you can decide for yourself Tilly,,

[Old_Geezer]

I think the decision is to not use it.

I guess you could try shrink wrapping plastic over it; but my guess is that it would be more of a 'wooden box replacement every so often', type of situation.

Or you could put it in a waterproof box.

[Gill1941]

Do, please, keep some water feature for the wildlife.
I get newts, toads, damselflies, dragonflies, etc in my pond. They are all in need of garden ponds.
Mine is murky since my husband died and I cannot cope with the pump etc. Still have a lot of fish. Had a heron for a while and a few bodies left on the lawn but not seen it for ages.

[david small]

Sorry I didn’t read the full question. Our pond has also been denuded of fish twice, including a particularly fine, huge, weather loach named sucky because he would come and suck your finger. We have also had a pump malfunction that all but drained the pond. Numerous cats having a fish, and a cracked pond liner. Periodically troublesome, but also enjoyable, kind of....

[vulcan42]

An upturned plastic box would be better, or bricks, paving slabs, anything that won't rot in other words.

[Vagus]

We have a large brick raised pond. We used to have loads of fish, frog spawn, newts, etc until one time it sprang a leak and emptied itself while we were away.
We decided to fill it in and plant it. Over the years we’ve had pansies, geraniums, wild flowers, in it, none of which were very successful. It now has a layer of gravel over it and looks fairly acceptable if a bit bare.
However, we’re thinking of emptying it of soil and gravel, fixing the leak by having it relined and then filling it with water again with a small fountain tinkling away in the middle. But no fish.
I wouldn’t go with a wooden box either, Tilly. Perhaps you have a builders merchant locally, or a garden centre, and you could buy a nice boulder instead?

[Tilly2]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I'll try to find a concrete block. I'll wait until the water feature arrives and go from there. It's arriving tomorrow.