Terry Prone: How a protected species has outwitted me for 20 years and cost me €10k

After removing the net from her fish pond, Terry Prone has tried scarecrows, old CDs and a kite-like contraption to keep away predators. None have worked and she is at a loss over how to fix it

Me and my next door neighbour, Mary Lynders, are ad idem in our hatred of the heron, the reason being that he is a predator that has cost me roughly €10,000, since I moved in here 20 years ago. File picture: Chani Anderson

If I had a gun, which I don’t, and the skill to use it, which I also don’t, I would shoot an individual member of a protected species. Specifically, the heron at the bottom of my garden.

I am not alone in this. Me and my next door neighbour, Mary Lynders, are ad idem in our hatred of the heron, the reason being that he is a predator that has cost me roughly €10,000, since I moved in here 20 years ago. Because neither of us is much for law-breaking, the bird is safe, albeit hated.