Thread: What a difference in my pond between 2012 and today

I had the pond dug years ago and planted trees, introduced lily pads and fish. Here's what it looked like in 2012 and now:




(Some of the trees died.)

In the last few years, deer (sometimes 10 at a time), geese and ducks visit. Heron I scare off because they might eat the bass (up to 2 lbs), crappy, yellow perch and sunfish. I feed the sunnies and 3-4 painted turtles bits of bread almost daily a few feet away from where I'm standing. There are many fingerlings from annual spawns and sizes range from 1" to full size.
(note: one of the turtles has a tumor on its head that interferes with the vision of one eye. It still has no problem fighting with one of the other turtles when bread is dropped nearby.)
For the first time I saw a huge snapping turtle on the bottom looking up at me. I have no idea where it crawled from. Hope it doesn't eat too many fish.

One thing I was told was that adding fish from a lake is illegal in N.Y. Good to know if approached by a DEC officer and asked: what are you going to do with those fish? Answer: haven't decided. The odds of that happening is less than winning the lotto! At least I have stocking permits for fish I introduced years ago before the law took affect.