Not just black and white

It's been rather a dismal week here at The Lodge, with soggy clouds overhead for too much of the time and precious little sunshine to be had.

We're lucky enough to have a bird feeder outside our window here (check out the webcam during daylight hours). It gets a good range of visitors - nuthatches are often seen to-ing-and-fro-ing between the source of sunflower hearts and the nearby trees, along with robins, blue, great and coal tits, and the occasional chaffinch.

This week, we've had a bigger, bolder visitor. It's black and white with a long tail. Yes, you've guessed it, it's a magpie.

Seeing it less than 10 feet from our window has provided an excellent opportunity to scrutinise what's often a very shy, wary bird. Magpies are much maligned by some people, but take a closer look.

This a beautiful bird. Lots of people think that brightly-coloured species are restricted to rainforests and other foreign climes, but in the right light, a magpie can look magnificent.

It's not just black and white. That long tail shows iridescent emerald green, azure blue and magenta at the right angle. The wings might look dark when the bird is at rest, but wait 'til it flies and bright white feathers are revealed.

The magpie is yet another of our common UK birds that is underrated, if you ask me. It has eyecatching looks, intelligence and that hard-to-explain je ne sais quoi that lift it above the norm. Why else would there be hundreds of years of folklore layered around it?

Next time you see one, whether it's in the park raiding a litter bin, or chattering away, high up in a tree, take a closer look and see what you think.

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