There are number of pond predators that may affect your garden pond, causing disruption and taking your pond fish. The Heron is the most often blamed predator. Although it is a magnificent and rather improbable bird, a Heron can decimate a pond. It is bad enough that they will invariably take favourite fish, although not out of spite.

The most visible pond fish is frequently the most appreciated but by virtue of being obvious it is the most likely to attract a Heron's attentation. They can often cause damage by stabbing at fish and accidently piercing a pond liner, miscalculate their own size and attempt to take a fish far to large for them to eat and frighten the fish enough that they may hide for 2 weeks afterwords.

Reproduced by permission of Blagdon / Interpet. The encyclopedia of ponds is 208 pages of readable pond fact and hints and available from Pond Pumps Direct