I will always remember my first close encounter with a heron with a mixture of amusement and awe.

It was a gloriously hot, Autumn afternoon (Mmmm... Britain does have them occasionally!); and remarkably silent, as my younger son dozed, outstretched along the window seat, soaking up the blazing sun.  Equally subdued, our panting German Shepherd toasted herself happily against the French window.  Aware that such peace never reigned for long in our house, I snatched the quiet moments to read a book.  The first noise to shatter my eardrums was the screaming of my son.... closely followed by the ferocious barking of the equally hysterical dog.

"Mummy - there's a dinosaur flying over the house!" the boy screeched in terror.  

"Let me at it!" barked the leaping dog, as she threw herself at the French doors in total fury.  And above the din of the two of them, I heard an angry, defiant hissing, followed by the slow, steady whoosh, whoosh, of heavy wings just above the bungalow roof.  Only the dog had actually seen the object of their fear, and it was with some trepidation that I ventured outside a few moments later.  I knew that the noise had been too loud to have been geese or swans, but my son's belief seemed to be a little far-fetched, even so.  As I reached the edge of our pond, the truth came to me in an instant.  Instead of breaking the surface of the water in an appeal for food, as they always did when I went out, my koi carp lay low and motionless in the water, hugging the stones or hiding below the lily pads.

As a keeper of fish, it would be unlikely that I could grow to actually like herons.  I dislike, most of all, their habit of killing fish that they cannot possibly actually eat.  A heron will wade into water from the edge, wait motionless until a fish passes close by, and spear it with deadly precision, speed, and a razor sharp bill.  But its beak is made to do just that - it is unable to chew at the flesh of its prey, but must swallow it whole.  Any fish too large to swallow are left, pierced neatly through, on the bank.  Fish are not its only prey, frogs will be snapped up greedily, often in very early stages of their life, and even mice.  

   

Once he had found them, my heron was reluctant to pass by those nicely rounded koi carp.  Constantly being driven away by myself and the dog, he would take noisy flight, beating his wings and hissing as he left, and dropping down again in the neighboring field, or sitting in a tree, as close by as he dared.  Often after only a few minutes interval, he would return, flying clumsily and threatening both dog and humans with his outstretched bill and angry hisses.  He was unable to reach most of my pond's population because the water was deep and the sides steep; by netting the entire surface, and making as much noise as possible whenever he approached, I finally got the message across to him that this was not a good place to live. However, this took several weeks, and by then he had reduced my frog population considerably, as well as reducing the whole family to nervous wrecks!

When building a pond, it is well to remember that a heron does not land in the water, it wades in where the water is shallow.  A wire 18 - 24" high around the perimeter of the pond, or steeply angled sides, will both do a lot to prevent his thieving habits.  The addition of a plastic heron as a deterrent, as you can see from the photo below, has very limited effect!

Another year, and another would-be tenant.  The ponds are netted, but the nets would be no match for his razor sharp bill if he was determined!  The real heron is the one with hunched shoulders... or was he just shrugging them as if to say, "I don't know what that plastic thing is supposed to be..." ?  When "standing tall" a full-grown male is about 36" high.

 

Herons are most likely to visit garden ponds between late Autumn and early Spring, especially if a hot, dry Autumn dries the rivers too much.  In their natural habitat, they live in colonies near rivers or marshes, nesting in high trees.  Majestic rather than graceful, they are a bird that I would like to study further... but preferably someplace far away from my own ponds...