Shot at the bird near the back of the pond (6)
I believe the answer is:
sniped
'shot' is the definition.
(sniping is a kind of shooting)
'the bird near the back of the pond' is the wordplay.
'the bird' becomes 'snipe' (snipe is a kind of bird).
'near the' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'back of the pond' becomes 'd' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'snipe'+'d'='SNIPED'
'at' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sniped that I've seen before include "Took a pot shot" , "Shot at from hiding, or made sly critical remarks" , "Shot from cover" , "Criticised" , "Fired shots from hiding place" .)