In reply to Anonymous:

I have found this very interesting due to the recent behaviour of my male magpie. He is very large in comparison to his mrs and as you may have seen on my recent posts has taken to attacking pigeons in my garden apparently for their feathers. There are a lot of them on the lawn again today. I may try some monkey nuts to see if these keep him busy.

He has caught a mouse in the garden and any birds feeding now vanish as soon as he appears. He is very shy of me though but I will try to get a picture of him.

Sarah

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bramble67/

In reply to bramble67:

I've got a pair of magpies busily building a nest in one of my trees. In the very next tree along is the only nestbox which has received any interest at all from blue tits.

I was worrying about whether they would finally move in, only to find their eggs nicked by the magpies, when a friend said to me that the magpies would be unlikely to raid the blue tit box when they themselves are nesting so close by. That sounded a bit optimistic to me - what do other folks think?

BB

In reply to Badgerbread:

I'll play catch-up on this thread later as I'm just on my way out to work. But just wanted to say, I put a handful of monkey nuts out yesterday afternoon for the Magpie and he's just buried the last one in the lawn - all the rest have disappeared! They don't forget a thing!

:o)

In reply to Paul E:

I have not yet bought any, but they are on my shopping list. He was chasing starlings this morning and has started swooping into the conifers where the sparrow colony is.

I am at work but have discovered this forum is not blocked by the schools security filter. (Not sure that's a good thing as this is not what I should currently be doing!!!)

Sarah

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bramble67/

In reply to Badgerbread:

Hi Badgerbread, I think there's a possibility that your friend may be right. I have heard of other small birds nesting in the same tree as Sparrowhawks and being left alone and being safe. Even though two different types of bird, maybe the same applies with Magpies too?

I never got chance to put some more money nuts out again today, I bet my Magpie is back first thing looking for them! When I used to be up at 4:30am for work he used to be the first bird I'd see in the garden.

In reply to Badgerbread:

Hi BB
You are right optimistic is the word. Think the blue tits will either abandon the box or their fledglings will provide easy pickings for the magpies

Roman

Magpies During Breeding Season