What a hobby we share! We spend hours looking through web sites and books to learn more about our passion, we spend dollar after dollar for something new and different. We fight off insects and and critters. We treat numerous diseases, though we are not doctors. We deal with leaks, busted pipes, and water left on in a pond too long. The list goes on. And we still hang tough!
Today I got hit with two of our nemesis. Saw a blue heron (first one ever at my ponds) next to my bog pond this morning. The bog only has mosquito fish, but I checked my big ponds. There were no missing fish that I could tell, but I moved my concrete alligator more to the center of my ponds to hopefully scare it away. I also moved more of my bigger plants from out of the greenhouse and put them into the ponds to cover the water even more. I am thinking that, not only will it give the fish more cover to hide in, it will also make it more difficult for the heron to get to them. Since this is the first time I have seen a heron, maybe it will find another place to take up residency.
When moving the plants around in the upper pond I noticed a head and feet with claws between a couple of pots. A snapping turtle of possibly considerable size has taken up residency there! The head was about 2 inches square, so the body is going to be fairly large. I could not catch it at the time, but will continue to watch for it and hopefully will be able to catch it when I see it again.
Hanging tough, here!
