Magpies? Nearly as close to vermin as Pidgeons.

[Frank Manning]

This morning our two blackbird parents became very agitated, so I went out to the tree they are nesting in just in time to see two magpies raiding the nest and flying off with the blackbird chicks in their beaks. The RSPB are in denial about this, but we see it happen time and time again.

We have had to stop putting out bird food, because we saw a rat eating it, and anyway within an hour of putting some out the feral pidgeons will scoff the lot. Have tried caging food with one of those RSPB caged, but it doesn't stop a rat, and the blackbirds sit looking at it with a dumb look on their faces.

Last year we saw a black backed gull swallow a whole blackbird juvenile in one go. We love the blackbird song but they seem fated.

[Meg 50]

we hear the blackbird alarm call more than any other.

Mind you the blackbird population don't seem to have much sense - they build their nests in daft places

[Raybosailor]

Its a sad thing to witness Frank but part of the cycle of nature, the Magpies are doing what they need to survive and they have predators of their own.
To the rear of our house there are a number of trees that are home to Blackbirds,Magpies and Crows, the Magpies raid the nests of the Blackbirds and the Crows although they belong to the same family raid the nests of the Magpies but all three varieties return each year so some must survive.

When I was a child my cousin and I found a young Magpie with a damaged wing and we kept it in the shed feeding it worms and insects for a few weeks and when we released it we could not get rid. It would stay in the trees around us and fly down when we went out in the garden, we called it George and it would come and settle on our arm or shoulder and we taught it to say a few words they are very intelligent birds but can be a pest to farmers and gardeners.
I had a pair of robins that nested in my log store every year that were very tame but they have disappeared now probably killed by cats.

[Onelife]

Hi Frank, please dont tell the RSPB I've said this but if I had a pellet gun there would be far less of them in my garden for sure...

We had two ringed doves nesting in a holly tree just outside our back door a couple of years back which could be seen clearly from our daughters bedroom window...that was until the bloody magpies came and had one of the chicks them came back later and had the other

At least they wont get any more out of the holly tree cus I had it chopped down..serves the buggesr right don't you think?

I suppose its a case of dog eat dog, however, in this household. its a case of dog eat cat ...please don't tell Stephen I've said that

Regards

Keith

[Onelife]

When we are down at our tin can in Wales we often hear the farmer out shooting with his shotgun. I enquired as to what he was shooting at? ...he replied 'Crows'. Apparently if there is a weak lamb or one which has strayed from its mother its not unusual for crows to attack the lambs by pecking their eyes out....

Bang! Bang!

[Frank Manning]

Not content with killing the chicks, the flippin' magpies were chasing the adults yesterday. There are too many of them around here at present, and far too many pidgeons.There is a nice piece of protected heathland near where we live, and an SSI, so we see our share of wild life. But the silly c*w next door puts out loads of food for the pidgeons, and they just stuff their faces all day long, and their amorous antics go on all most all year round. We need a sparrowhawk!! Ot two!

[oldbluefox]

We have plenty of pigeons, otherwise known as flying stomachs, but they are quite handy in picking up any scraps the small birds drop from the feeders so I suppose they help to keep the rats away. All of my feeders are out of reach for them otherwise they just clear everything up. Sometimes they get any seed or peanuts which have been hanging around for a while.
From time to time the sparrowhawk comes a-visiting and usually take a pigeon which they dismember on my lawn. It's not exactly what you want to see when you're having your breakfast but I always think the sparrowhawks also have to feed and they do help to keep the pigeon own. It is a bit upsetting though when sparrows are having a bit of a dust bath or a lie in the sun and the next second they are whisked away by the hawk. Last year we have an almost fully grown blackbird chick which was taken by a crow. The parent birds gave chase but there was nothing they could do. I'm afraid that's nature at its most raw and cruel.
The magpies seem particularly active at the moment. They took a fancy to the monkey nuts in the squirrel feeder but I've 're-designed' it so they can't get at them. I encourage them as little as possible but yesterday I noticed the collared doves were chasing them off so clearly the magpies are out looking for eggs. Mind you, if you're going to build your nest so everyone can look in, what do you expect? Dozy birds!!!

[Frank Manning]

I wish I had a pound for every time I've said "Dozy birds"! But I wasn't referring to the feathered variety!

[Stephen]

Hi Frank, please dont tell the RSPB I've said this but if I had a pellet gun there would be far less of them in my garden for sure...

We had two ringed doves nesting in a holly tree just outside our back door a couple of years back which could be seen clearly from our daughters bedroom window...that was until the bl**dy magpies came and had one of the chicks them came back later and had the other

At least they wont get any more out of the holly tree cus I had it chopped down..serves the buggesr right don't you think?

I suppose its a case of dog eat dog, however, in this household. its a case of dog eat cat ...please don't tell Stephen I've said that

Regards

Keith

Not always Keith.

Our previous cat attacked a small terrier that was being walked past our house once. I don't know who was more surprised, me or the dog and owner.

[Onelife]

Not always but when confronted by a cat that stands its ground a dog will generally back off....thankfully ours always drops it when l say leave

[oldbluefox]

I wish I had a pound for every time I've said "Dozy birds"! But I wasn't referring to the feathered variety!

You couldnt marry all of them though, Frank.
And look at the lovely lady you captured in the end so they did you a good turn.

[Frank Manning]

You know what they say, "A man chases a girl until she catches him". Sue says tell 'Foxy' that "you saved the best 'til last!" Not sure if she means Robbie, or herself there OBF, but could easily be either.

[Frank Manning]

This morning the crow has been chasing the Magpies....poetic justice; "Go Mr Crow, Go!"

[Stephen]

Not always but when confronted by a cat that stands its ground a dog will generally back off....thankfully ours always drops it when l say leave

Who says you can't train a cat

[Not so ancient mariner]

Our cats have killed several rats, a couple of pigeons, and at least one magpie!

[Frank Manning]

Our cats have killed several rats, a couple of pigeons, and at least one magpie!

Can I borrow your cat?

[CaroleF]

It's Jackdaws that we are cursing at the moment. We have a small cottage in Dorset and there is a chimney that ends up in the kitchen where there is an extractor fan at the bottom of the chimney, if you see what I mean. Recently we have heard quite a lot of squawks and then we noticed some odd bits of sticks coming through the fan. My husband and a neighbour eventually got up on ladders to the chimney and the dratted jackdaws had tried to build a nest in the top of the chimney. It must have taken them ages, goodness knows where they thought their sticks etc. were going. There were no eggs in the nest - my husband wasn't sure what he was going to do if there had been. Eventually six very large bucketfuls of stuff was removed - which needed drain rods pushing up from the kitchen in order to get it all out. You would be amazed apart from sticks what was in there! The kitchen was covered in dust and bits by the time they finished. The chimney now has wire all over the top to prevent it happening again - hopefully. The jackdaws flew around squawking for a while but they have now found a new home in a disused small building in an adjacent field!

Carole

[Frank Manning]

Sue's Mum had a whole nest come down the chimney complete with soot all over the lounge carpet, that was some kind of jackdaw too. We dont have a chimney.

[Raybosailor]

We have 11 dead Magpies here in Notts. most of them were dead during the last five minutes of the game against Gillingham on Sunday.

[oldbluefox]

Oddly enough we had 11 as well. Now ain't that a coincidence?

[suespud]

I'v just done all my hangy baskets and window boxes and the tits are pinching the lining for their nests...its lovely to see them right next to kitchen window.
We have a squirrel.. on the nuts in the front garden. We have the only tree in our garden in on our street..so no idea where it has ran from.
I did think about getting squirrel proof nut holder..but I quite enjoy seeing it.
I also spotted a fecking mouse out the back...Hmmmmm that wont be staying around...got things in place to kill the little bugger.
HATE mice.
xxx

[qbman1]

I know I sound like the Green Party candidate but everything has it's place in the order of things and makes its own contribution to the eco-system. It's when we start interfering by wiping out the magpies, pigeons, or anything else, that the problems start. Yes, the magpies and pigeons are bullies and eat much of the food we put out, as well as eggs and chicks in the former case, but evolution has taken care of all that and the other species are well able to survive a few seasonal losses until we start messing things up by breaking the chain. I also think that if we allow the magpies to eat the food that we put out, then they are less likely to decimate the nesting bird population

[Frank Manning]

The flippin' pidgeons are poohing in the bird bath. Yuk!

[oldbluefox]

It's a bird bath Frank, not a jacuzzi!!!! That's what pigeons do.
I can guarantee as soon as we have cleaned out our bird bath a pigeon will come and christen it.

[Not so ancient mariner]

Our cats have killed several rats, a couple of pigeons, and at least one magpie!

Can I borrow your cat?

Unfortunately the principal culprit had to be put down this week , as he had a stomach tumour.