Magpie has just killed a sparrow

Hi 

I have enjoyed having loads of birds in my garden this year with a huge increase in sparrows which I adore (I recently found a baby with no feathers / fresh out of nest and couldn't find the nest so I drove it to a vet with an incubator recommended by the RSPB). I have lots of other birds visiting including Magpies, which I have always considered rather beautiful birds, but not any more. A magpie has just killed a sparrow and flown off with it. I am horrified! How do I protect the sparrows in my garden from Magpies? 

  • hi Dave, thanks for your reply. I guess it's a case of me having double standards as do like birds of prey, and they do attack other birds. I regularly hear all the sparrows squabbling but now when they do, I'm slightly paranoid that another one has been taken. I feel like they're under my care whilst they're in my garden, maybe I need to chill out a bit. thanks Sarah
  • I have witnessed Magpies murder other birds this year twice for no apparent reason. One saw a blackbird in my fruit cage and was determined to get in after it which it did and then killed it. It was an adult blackbird and food was not a motivation. Second time was this morning when a gang of magpies made a frenzied killing of an adult wood pigeon and just left it there dead afterwards. What is their motivation?
  • Maybe the woodpigeon was ill and they've discovered the fruit cage helps them catch the smaller birds to eat later? Maybe they see them as competition or they want the carcass worms? Why would they would risk injury/predation/disease? It is not murder, it will benefit another creature. At any rate, we can hardly judge them on moral grounds can we!