Nature's anti-Heron defenses

Tragedy struck earlier this year when our small suburban garden pond was raided by a heron - we know it must have been a heron because we saw one perched on top of a nearby house last year - taking five goldfish. It must have remembered the pond and had been planning the rather tricky set of moves to land by the pond, avoiding overhanging branches and a shed, and then walk into it - upsetting a lily in a basket as it entered.

What followed then was the erection of a net screen to cover the pond, but as this picture shows nature has a wonderful way of providing protection in the form of the growth of surface plants. Only 6 plants were originally purchased and now they've multiplied to the extent that serious weeding has to take place most weekends. The replacement fish are doing well and after the initial trauma, for the remaining and new fish, life has returned to normal in pond-world in "Dingly Dell"