At this time of year we all have to be careful to avoid the risk of burst pipes, so how should we avoid burst pipes? All exposed or vulnerable pipes in lofts, basements or pipe work on outside walls (especially cold mains pipes) should be as insulated as possible.
This is especially important for London homes where most pipes are given very little protection due to mostly fair weather all year round. Any insulation such as foam or rubber helps, as long as the pipe is covered.
When vacating your home on a holiday during a cold snap it is advisable to have your heating come on for a short period in the morning say 6am and evening 10pm. Just ensure your clock for central heating is set correctly and room thermostat is set at around 15 degrees. Another action you can take is isolating the mains stop cock, normally located under the kitchen sink or under the stairs or in the basement. Once you have located your mains stop valve ensure it is shut, then open the kitchen mains tap to drain the water from the incoming mains pipe (this is most likely to freeze). Now that the incoming mains pipe is free of water it is less likely to freeze, expand and burst the pipe work. When you turn the mains stop cock back on make sure it is not turned fully open but rather closed “half a turn back”, once turned fully opened to help prevent the stop cock seizing or leaking.
PAGE THREE I was in the first floor bedroom, which gives a good view of the garden, and there he was: The Heron, who would not be out of place in a Jurassic Park film, standing in the shallows of the pond with his head thrown back as he swallowed one of my goldfish. I couldn't believe it! I ran down the stairs, through the garden room, and came out charging at the pond. In that time he had snatched up another fish, another appetizer in his five course meal. Standing two metres away, he ignored my frantic jumping up and down and continued with his feast. The water in the pond was getting cloudy as the fish panicked and tried to get away. It was then I saw the most amazing sight I have ever seen: Jaws, Goldie (almost as big as Jaws) and Long Tall Sally alongside a few other big fish ducking and diving, throwing up more clouds of dirt, zigzagging not away from the heron but towards him. Jaws was leading the charge, with his head held high. Standing entranced, barely believing my own eyes, I saw a real battle was going down. Jaws and co were now attacking the heron, and the Heron was retaliating by stabbing at the water with his big long beak while flapping his massive wings. Yoshi, locked away from the action in the kitchen, started barking, waking me from my trance. I ran back to the gravel path, scooping up the stones in both hands, before throwing it at the Heron. With that, and the fish below attacking him, the Heron had enough: Flapping his wings once again, he took off to the safety of the trees. I had a good look around the pond to count how many casualties we had. I couldn't see a thing. I had around forty fish or more, and I had witnessed two fall victim to the Heron's beak. Likely there more, but I couldn't see them. I never bothered netting the pond apart from the late winter months, as the pond is close to the house. So for the next couple of hours I spent netting the pond over. By this time the water was starting to clear and the fish were settling down again. Little did I know, as far as the heron was concerned, this was just beginning. The following morning I took my tea out to the pond at around 8.30am to find the Heron in the exact same position as yesterday. Glancing at me with his beady, black eyes, he took off but very slowly as if he had some trouble getting airborne. He looked much fuller this time I thought, as if he had enjoyed breakfast, lunch and dinner all at the same time. What I saw next was awful: Poor Goldie lay on his side, not yet dead but badly wounded. The corpse of another large Koi lay beside him, and I couldn't see Jaws at all. A quick headcount of the ponds inhabitants told me that around ten fish were missing. I was furious. All I wanted at the moment was to kill the Heron! I didn't care if they were a protected species, or anything about the beauty of nature and food chains, the only thought I had was how to catch it and dispose of it. One way of doing this was setting up a hide by the thorn bush, and as it flew overhead I would pop up and give it both barrels of a shotgun. I'm not sure what the neighbours would think of this. Perhaps that wasn't such a good idea. When I was cleaning the pond and removing the dead fish, I suddenly remembered talking to a friend who knew a company that could specially design metal bars to cover the entire surface of the pond. I wasn't sure I would have liked the pond looking like a prison cell, and it would take a couple of weeks to make, which by that time there would be no more fish left in the pond. Another night passed, this time with HG sleeping on the couch in the garden room. Her indoors thinks I have lost the plot completely. On sentry duty early the next morning I caught up with the heron again, managing to drove him away. To my delight as I inspected the pond Jaws resurfaced, unharmed. That same day somebody mentioned the idea of planting a decoy. A heron decoy, resembling the real thing. Apparently they hunt alone. A few hours shopping and I returned to the pond with my new guardian in hand. Lo and behold, the following morning the Heron came down, Took one look at the decoy, and flew away again. Since I've had the decoy, the Heron has reappeared a few times, but never before quickly flying away again.
You heard it here first folks, from Happy G: If you have a problem with HERONS, get a DECOY.
PAGE TWO
Had a funny phone call from some plumbing company. Hendersons? Or was it Andersons? Anyways, I think they drive around London in big orange vans. They started asking me a lot of questions: At the beginning I hadn't a clue what they were on about. Apparently I'm on their website as a resident gardener? And they asked me to remove my blog from their website.
Jaws has a habit of eating anything that gets in his way: Small frogs, tadpoles, baby fish and all types of insects. He can move extremely fast, raising his head out of the water to attack. He is known to take on cats, which come within vicinity of the pond and has the scars on his back to prove it.
About two years ago a family of herons took up residence within the tree on the embankment beside the garden. Two fully grown ones and a baby. The baby came down a couple of times and used to look into the pond (see photo). But as soon as I came out of the garden room door it would fly away. About two weeks later they disappeared and I never saw them again. Until a month ago.
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Recent Posts How to avoid burst pipes Battle of the pond, Page 3: The Battle of the Pond Page 2: Compost : Page 1
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