should i tell my neighbour ?

[mrbright]

i am in a bit of a dilemna, my CAT loving neighbour recently spent a great deal of time and money on an ornamental pond. the last few days early in the morning i have had enormous pleasure watching a grey heron landing and taking off from his very small garden (too small for herons methinks hethinks)
a giant of a bird compared to my little garden visitors.
should i tell him or should i let nature take it's course ?

ps we are not on friendly terms.

[Deb London]

Without understanding more about this situation, I'd leave things as they stand. If your relationship is a bit fraught already, then there is probably a reason for that and you don't want to go making things worse. But apart from that, it's a damned good birdwatching opportunity.

[JeffH]

Presumably there are fish in the pond and this is what is attracting the Heron.
But if it's only a small, shallow pond it won't take long for the Heron to clear it of fish, so the bird's visits may only be temporary.
This being so and particularly if you feel you might be endangering the bird by telling your neighbour, I'd say nothing

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers, Barn Owls ans Avocets)

[The Woodman]

Alternative view 1 - If you don't tell him and he notices his fish are missing he might dream up all sorts of explanations and fester on them.

Alternative view 2 - If you tell him of your observations, he might be grateful and there may be a chance to heal relationships.

Jeff is right, a few visits by the bird will soon clear a small pond of fish.

[captaincarot]

wait till all the fiah are gone then tell him.

when he starts swearing about the heron. point out to him it's only in it's nature, it's just doing what herons do.


i have no doubt he will understand your frustration at his failure to control his cat.

though you might want to leave a few turds buried in the borders of his garden before you tell him.

[Deb London]

You should add a poll, mrbright.

[Dogghound]

I wouldnt tell him.

[Jonquil_d]

It's not unknown for cats to extract fish from small ponds.

[Picidae]

Put a 'friendly' note through the door to the effect that you think the pond looks great but that you've seen the cat being very interested in the pond and have neighbourly concerns for their fish - (then if any go missing ... poor old tiddles gets the blame ... but that's karma!)

[accipter]

This sounds like it could be a lot of fun, take a pic and put it through his letter box. I had a next door dog that kept digging holes under my fence I put a little pepper there, it done the job. Alan