Talk Morgan Forums Thread Like Summary - Empty Pond

I live in a village close to the River Tay ,great if your a Salmon fisherman . Not so good if you have Koi / Goldfish . Over the past month I have lost all my fish to an Otter .
Tarka's visiting time is between 1 and 3 am ,I initially thought it would be a Mink but once I adjusted the CCTV to cover the ponds I had good footage of the Otter .
The Koi were big fish he descales them and eats everything except the guts and gill plates ,with over 50 fish consumed the ponds are now empty .
Every effort was made to keep him/her out , baited traps were set ,I caught the local cat which was safely released . Other ponds in the village have been raided .
My ponds have been in situ for over 25 years WHY NOW . This time of year there would normally be lots of Kelts that are easy prey , the floods have washed them out to sea plus the Salmon runs are now very low .
The Otter has found an easy food supply and took full advantage . I still like Otters and have a new respect for their ability to survive . My aim now is to build an Otter proof pond before I restock .

Reminiscent of Jasper Carrot's mole.

Somewhat indelicate but ..... the gentleman of the house peeing at their access points (it does have to be a gentleman to work best apparently) will deter them .... no problem in the middle of nowhere where I live but in a 'heavily built up suburban area' you'd have to weigh up the balance between badgers and ending up on the Sex-offender's Register 🙂

K

We only have a small pond but this chap came for lunch one day.

I love to see the herons at our pond.

You know the old saying "speak of the devil" ... out of the blue my next door neighbour (1/2 a mile away but passes for close here 🙂) sent me this pic he took this morning ... he dug some pretty subsatantial ponds about 3 years ago as he's a 'bird man' (does bird-surveys for a living) ... well chuffed to have an otter visiting .... but, like me, his are wildlife ponds rather than ornamental ... I'm sure he'd be much less chuffed if he was a 'fish man' instead! ... they do travel a bit so very likely the otter will turn up on our pond before very much longer.



K