So we were all back home which felt good. But my first check was the pond. Though not a pet, Big Yellow has been with me for eight years. He’s a golden yellow coy carp who is now about 45 cms long. He’s big, luckily too big now I think for the visiting heron from the River Wandle and the ponds on Clapham, Wandsworth and Tooting Commons. He’s also wily and spends weeks deep underwater if there has been a heron attack.

He is a great character. He knows my step on the gravel and will come up to ask for food. He has enthralled nieces, nephews, godchildren and friends for years and infuriated Shih Poo Pickle for the three years of his life – and I would hate to lose him. But he is (or was) not alone. Silver Rocket is his smaller Coy compratriot who is still by his side but the seven or eight carp, goldfish and shubudkins who survived the October heron attack, seem to have gone. They didn’t walk away, or die and float, they are simply missing – so I suppose they were eaten by a passing heron. It’s very sad. They were so beautiful and many had been born in the pond - including the one carp remaining which is black going golden, a great mistake in my opinion given the heron attacks.

Heron attacks are very subtle too. They step into the water in the shallows (on my perfectly placed planting shelves!) and do nothing. An oil exudes from their legs which is massively attractive to fish so the fish swim up to their feet and all the heron has to do is bend down leisurely and pluck them out of the water. You can tell if the heron has been visiting by the oil residue left on the water.

I have lost so many fish to them but I don’t like netting the pond so I have tried all the other deterrents such as fake herons - but the real ones are not stupid. Unless you move the fake ones round every day they realise something’s wrong. I came down one morning, looked down the garden and thought “I am sure I didn’t put the heron there yesterday” only to realise that there were two around the pond – and one had just enjoyed a fabulous breakfast! Apart from that they looked exactly the same.

The most effective deterrent I have found so far is a water spurter which is triggered by anything that walks across its path. A great, noisy jet of water gets sprayed from side to side and the heron is disturbed as it tries to land and so takes off again. However, you have to be very careful around it yourself. I have been drenched countless times and the dogs often come back into the kitchen dripping wet. It also has its limitations when it is freezing – which is often when the heron come visiting.

So I shall just have to wait for the thaw, put the jet on again and keep these three safe. The frogs and toads (also rich pickings for a hungry heron) will soon be back to lay their spawn and sing me lullabies. And when Spring has really sprung I shall enjoy going to to buy some more lovelies for the pond – and one of them will be called Daphne!