Monday 9 August 2010

CUPBOARD LOVE

When I go down the garden for the first time in the morning the goldfish congregate by the edge of the pond - feed us, Mum! Any other time they don't bother to come to the surface.
They are self-bred but haven't seen any black ones yet this year. They're the babies and turn gold later on.
The silvery lines are the heron deterrent lines of a commercially available system and it's worked so far in the few years since it was installed. I lost all the goldfish one year and decided to have this system put in. The netting is to stop an inquisitive young cat from across the road from going fishing. I've watched it balancing on the edge to the point of falling in so now the temptation is out of reach - I hope!

6 comments:

Kath said...

I was in a freinds house once in Aylesbury and her cat Bill, came in with a massive fish in its mouth. She knew where it had come from and took it back.Amazingly the fish survived. I was very impressed that Bill surrendered his prize.

Francien said...

Hallo Silve...Francien from Holland here...i came on to your blog thrue Kath`s blog and i hope you will visit my blog when you got the time and would like too...i think we have a lot of hobby`s in common...your crazy quilt and the Chevron are amazing...
and we gave up building a pond with fishes...there always are herons( i hope the birds are called that way) who are always fishing when we are away...and a hedgehock drowned in the small pond because he could not get out...i was so sad...so no more fish here...but i like your picture...must be a lot of splashing...and i made the experience that when a cat has fallen in the pond they wont come back..
Looking forward to your next post so i will be joining Kath in your followers section...and please don`t mind the false English...greetings Francien.

Micki said...

Welcome to blogland! I came to you via Kath's blog,and I love your blog! I never had a fish pond before, but I do envy you. What a neat idea to put the netting on it. I am looking forward to getting to know you. By the way, I like the way that quilt is starting and enjoyed the site where you got it. Thanks for the link! Please stop by my blog too...you will get to see Ireland a bit.
Micki

Gina said...

Hello Silve. Kath said for me to come over and say Hi. Like you I have a pond where the fish will take your arm off for food. Where did you get the heron deterrent. at the moment my pond is covered with a net that detracts from the look ov it and is keeping out the wildlife I think.

Love and hugs Gina xxx

Sylve said...

How lovely to meet you all!

Hallo Francien. My daughter lives in Holland with her partner, she's in Schagen.And she lost her fish to a heron, too. Her cats don't seem too interested in the pond, only when it was frozen this last winter.

Hi Gina, the man who cleaned out the pond a few years ago suggested this particular deterrent - four bent stakes for the corners and then a kind of gut is threaded through holes in the stakes. If you put 'heron deterrent' into google you'll find suppliers there. I used to have a piece of netting over the pond and the water plants get squashed.Birds can't wash in the shallow end either. I love to watch blackbirds having a good old splash!

Hallo Micki. I don't know Ireland at all so look forward to seeing it through your eyes.
I have a pond plant which is called cotton grass here but the lady who helps in the garden (and has lived in Ireland) calls it bog grass. It's like blobs of cotton wool on a stem...

And last, but not least - Thanks, Kath!

Kath said...

Welcome to the Blog family Silve!