Ponds, Kingfishers & Grass Snakes

[m1.carson]

Hi,

Newts themselves devour tadpoles by the dozen, the tadpole seems much too big for the newt,first you see it, then it's gone, watch your newts creeping up on tadpoles, it's quite amazing, and fast.

Max.

[sue-retired]

Originally Posted by somerset_gooner

Hi All
Just found this site whilst researching grass snakes. Am keen to know more after finding one helping itself to my goldfish! Luckily it stayed still long enough for me to run inside & grab the camera. I'll next go to see if I can work out how to post picture in the Gallery.

I also have a pond which is visited by grass snakes - I once saw an adult and a baby together. By a process of elimination, I think most of my goldfish are slowly disappearing to grass snakes. Curiously, I found two large fish dead some distance from the pond and then a third which was still alive which I put back in the pond where it recovered. We rescued one frog from a grass snake's mouth, but I only have one or two frogs left and I haven't seen my newts for ages! We built a small pond for tadpoles - they grew well and then disappeared literally overnight. Yes, I am glad we can say we see grass snakes, but I wish they could live harmoniously with frogs, fish and tadpoles. For the last twenty plus years I have had a pond full of fish ( at least thirty - now down to about ten) and up to seventy frogs and newts once, so I do feel a bit unhappy!

[Ukwildlifeo]

Fish left away from the water sounds more like cats (or possibly clumsy herons) as a grass snake would catch and eat its prey straight away.
I wouldn't recommend pulling a frog from a snakes mouth, as it may injure the snake and the frog may already be beyond saving.

[Dan Salter]

I dont know HOW i managed to miss this thread during 2006/2007...but i am staying WELL AWAY ha ha....ill only get myself in trouble

However....the only reason i stocked my pond with sticklebacks was in the 'hope' of attracting herons, kingfishers and grass snakes

Oh and as far as i can see, no one has explained to the worried few, that the reason a frog lays 'hundreds' of eggs (or tadpoles if you like)....is to counteract the almost inevitable predation....and if only one baby frog survives but hundreds got eaten by snakes, fish, dragonflies, great diving beetle etc...that is success!...the genes have been passed on.

[sue-retired]

Thank you, Ukwildlifeo. We didn't pull the frog from the grass snake's mouth - it actually dropped it and they went their separate ways. Interesting theories about cats taking my fish and leaving them on the path - think they would find them difficult to catch as they're very quick and the pond is 3 foot deep. The 'clumsy heron' sounds more likely. Normally I don't get herons because the pond is quite secluded, but recently relined it offers very little cover for the fish and they could be easily spied from the air. I too live in Cambridgeshire Fens so lots of herons about.

[Ukwildlifeo]

A heron seems likely then, but I wouldnt rule out a cat, my pond is not swallow but before we covered it over one cat had over half the fish out of it. They sit and wait for a fish to swim near the edge and scoop it out. Then they carry it for a bit and maybe chew on it before leaving it when they are finished. They dont necessarily eat it as they are well fed by their owners(s). In fact I reckon a cat is more likely than a heron if the fish are being left (a heron hunts cos its hungry and unless disturbed or inexperienced, unlikey to drop a fish). As for the frogs they have more to fear from herons and cats than than a grass snake!

[nightshade]

My pond has a regular Heron,( we only found out when a neighbour told us!)
I now have several "spear" scarred fish in the pond. The Frog population
crashed, this could be the Heron or the Grass Snake although there are annually more small fish in the pond the overall numbers do not seem to increase. We do have several corvids that visit the pond when there are tadpoles, Magpie, Rook, Crow and Jackdaws they either ignore our one-eyed cat or tease him by dropping twigs on his sleeping form. Cats have not been a problem because the territory has an incumbent

[sue-retired]

Thank you, all those who have made suggestions re the loss of fish from my pond. I don't think its a cat as we are surrounded by dogs (including mine) and therefore cats do not linger in my garden. Having listened to all the arguments, I have absolved the grass snake and am convinced that a heron is the more likely suspect. I may yet be proved wrong. In the meantime I have four quite large goldfish left. If they remain intact, i will probably add to their number; if they disappear, then I will turn it into a wildlife pond!

[jackthegardener]

I thought you all might be interested to know what my husband and I just saw in our pond. We became aware that grass snakes were in the pond a few weeks ago and were hoping that none of our fish would become its food. We were wrong! we just watched one catch one of our goldfish about 4" long. The grass snake was only a young one about a foot long. It had its head right inside the fishes mouth and swam round the pond with the fish on the end of it. It finally disappeared under some weed. We have lots of fish of various sizes some are this years babies. But it chose one of the bigger ones. I have found several dead fish lately and at first thought it might be the heron, but now think it was probably the grass snake(s). We currently have 1 frog in our pond and never get any frog spawn. We put this down to the fact that our visiting badgers eat them. So it looks like we can add grass snakes to the list of preditors in our pond.

[nightshade]

"It had its head right inside the fishes mouth and swam round the pond with the fish on the end of it".
Is this predator becoming prey?