“While aquatic animals are the Great Blue Heron’s primary food, their diet is quite variable; as the video shows, they do come on land to prey on mammals, such as mice, chipmunks, gophers and even moles that might poke their heads out,” he said. “They will also eat birds and snakes,”Schipper said.

It’s startling to think of great blue herons as carnivores, but of course they are, with a diet dominated by fish and frogs and the occasional small mammal. These herons also consume crayfish, small turtles, salamanders, snakes, dragonflies, grasshoppers and even smaller birds.

As herons are carnivorous, they prefer to eat different aquatic animals like fish, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, molluscs, and aquatic insects. Many species also artfully take larger prey such as birds, birds eggs, rodents, and more scarcely carrion ( decaying flesh of dead animals including human flesh).

Herons will generally land nearby and prefer to wade into ponds. Herons are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981), so it is illegal to use clinical solutions. Restricting Access and Visibility. Key is to prevent unimpeded access to the water’s surface.

Though raccoons love to eat mice, insects, and tasty fruits and vegetables (particularly sweet corn) plucked from your garden and garbage can, the opportunistic water-loving critters will happily take a dive in your lake to hunt for crayfish, fish, turtles, frogs and worms.

Rats aren’t the ideal pond visitors, so don’t encourage them by leaving fish food lying around.

Squirrels are clever creatures, as any gardener knows, and eat a wide variety of foods, but, typically, squirrels do not eat fish out of ponds. Squirrels swim if necessary, but they usually dislike water and avoid it. If a tasty, freshly dead fish were available, though, a hungry squirrel might take advantage of it.

Otters are the only true predator of the trio, feeding primarily on fish but also settling for any other small animal they can catch in or near the water.