Disappearing Fish

We have a very nice pond in our back garden.  And we have 6 fish in there and looking very nice as well.  We had learned our first winter here that when it gets cold, the fish tend to sink down to the bottom of the pond and hibernate.  So we don't have to feed them and don't have to worry about them.  Our first year though, I did worry that they might not be getting enough air when the pond froze and I was right.  When spring came and the pond thawed, all of the fish came to the top gasping for air and they all died.  So we replaced them with the 6 we have now and next winter, I made sure to poke holes in the ice with this lovely golf club I had found thrown into the bushes behind our house.

Everyone told me that herons come and eat your fish.  I haven't seen a heron yet anywhere around our  house and garden but people kept telling me I would lose my fish to a heron.   About mid Oct, I finally decided to heed the warnings and put a net over the pond to keep any potential heron from stealing my fish and also to keep the leaves from falling into the water.  I left one end, about a foot wide, of the pond open because the neighborhood cats and foxes and badgers and squirrels all drink out of the pond.  There are water lily pads in the pond so I figured the fish could stay under the water lilies and out of danger or they would deserve to get eaten.  

Wow, talk about locking the barn door or tempting fate!  Our pond developed a leak and we were having to fill it, even after all the rain.  So our landlord came over to replace it and punched a huge hole in the lining to drain it.  I was standing by with two nets to catch my fish.  Pond is getting lower and lower in water level and so far I have only gotten one fish in my net.  Finally, the pond is almost empty and there are no more fish in there at all.  I go downstairs under the deck where the water is draining and there is one fish lying in the puddle there.  that's 2 of 6 and that was all!  someone, some cat, some heron, some fox, some squirrel, or some badger has come and eaten my fish, four of them.  OMG.  my net was too little too late.  

Once we get in the new pond liner and fill up the pond again, I am going to put the net over the pond right away.  I am still going to leave a hole for the wild critters and the neighborhood cats and hopefully these two fish have learned their lessons as to what can happen to their friends when they swim to the end of the pond.  yea, right.  maybe I'll make spring with two fish and maybe not.
 

Evil Lurking - Gnomes in Danger

                      You would think that if a back garden is full of wonderful nuts and suet and mealworms and such, that the squirrels and magpies and wood pigeons would be happy.  Plus the stray cats that wander through the garden.  There's always some cat food or fox food out for them and the foxes and badgers.  I feed everything that wanders through my house or garden, two feet or four or wings.  I try to keep them all happy so that (1) my cats can see them from the windows and enjoy the spectacle, (2) I like to watch them all, and (3) if they are full, maybe they won't eat each other!

                       My fish pond provides water for almost all the animals.  I have seen cats, squirrels, pigeons, jays, crows, starlings, and foxes drink from it.  Most of them are quite content to not bother the fish who I think have gotten smart enough to hide under the lily pads when there are shadows lurking above.  Around my pond I have a number of garden gnomes.  They aren't super special gnomes (my two antique gnomes live close to the house so they don't get knocked over), but just your average gnomes with a few of them holding solar lights.  There is a ledge around my pond and none of the gnomes are standing on the ledge but are all slightly back from the ledge and on the deck itself.

                    Apparently this is not a safe place no matter how far back I put the gnomes.  For several days I have seen a vague red shape at the bottom of the pond but the water isn't quite clear enough most days so I couldn't tell what it was.  Today I suddenly realized, as I counted my gnomes, that it was one of the solar gnomes, sitting on the bottom of the pond, doing an impression of a frogman with a lantern!  Shades of evil squirrels or pigeons or cats or whatever.  Some four footed creature has knocked a gnome into the pond again!  This happens ever so often which is why the gnomes are moving slowly away from the pond each time I fish one out again.  Dang it because it was a solar gnome too and his lantern will probably never light again.  Those little four footed demons who, for some inexplicable reason, must hate sharing the pond space with inanimate objects that smile at them.  The only way to get one into the pond it so nudge it forward until it touches the ledge and then push hard to get it to topple over and into the pond.  And for some amazing reason, the gnomes always land on their feet so they are standing in the pond beneath the surface waiting for rescue.  Poor gnomes.   This one took several days to rescue.

              But I am generous in nature and spirit and will not punish my four footed freeloaders because they still are fun to watch.  I'd just really like to catch one in action to see who is pushing the gnomes into the pond and how exactly they are doing it.   There is some evil lurking in the back garden.

A Three - NO Four! Frog Day

A Three – NO Four Frog Day!

            We have a water cascade in our garden.  It has been covered up for several years as the owner of the house filled it in when his children were little.  We stumbled upon it when we were pulling out a particularly large weed and the gardener stepped into the deep end.  Long story short, the pump still worked but there were some holes in the membrane and we’ve been busy caulking and patching the stone work and concrete so we can run it and stop losing water.

            Today was the day to replace the membrane.  I have two fish living in the bottom waterfall pond section so that they can eat the mosquito larvae.   My helper (he does all the work but I have the money so I get to be the boss LOL) arrived and we gathered some buckets.  The best way to fix the holes and leaks in the membrane would be to just take out the old and put in a new.  Luckily the owner had provided me with a large hunk of fresh membrane.  So he starts pulling out water.  I warn him that there are two fish in there and he is able to catch one.  I also saw a frog in there this morning so he’s looking for the frog too.  He catches the frog and I take it and put it in the bigger fish pond on the lily pad.  By the time I got back to the waterfall, my helper had found another frog!  OK, it goes over to the bigger fish pond as well.

            By now, the water level is getting low.  I swipe the net through the water a couple of times and come up with the other fish.  He joins his pal in a bucket and later I put them in the one part of the waterfall/cascade that doesn’t have a leak and has enough water for them and enough mosquito larvae to keep them busy for a few days.  There is maybe 6” of water remaining in the lower pond.  My helper suddenly spies another frog that is decidedly unhappy with the dwindling water.  We fish him out of the pond and he goes to join his pals in the larger pond.  I set them all on a lily pad but by the time I return, they are gone.

            Wow, three frogs.  I knew there were two in the yard but didn’t realize they were both in the cascade.  Finally, we are almost out of water in the basin when my helper says, OMG, here’s another frog, a fourth frog!  He was hiding in the mud at the bottom.  He’s lucky we didn’t pull out the membrane with him in it and throw him onto the yard.  We caught him and he gets put on a lily pad too. 

            So four frogs!  My helper thinks they were living at the bottom of the basin in a layer of mud.  Quite possible and now we’ve put in a new membrane and there’s no mud there.  Well, they are in the bigger pond with most of the fish and I hope they are happy there for a while because I don’t think I can find them and catch them to put them back.  Wish they would do a better job of eating small insects though.  If they had done their job, never would have had to put the fish in the basin with them.