Magpies

[237SJ]

Do they migrate to certain areas when they are pairing up? Today I`ve noticed a female blackbird busily making a nest in the laurel bush. It`s such a shame to see her working away because there are a pair of magpies who see the blackbirds off every year. I haven`t seen any magpies all winter but as soon as the blackbirds try to nest in the garden, the bloody things come back.

[viv38]

Can't you do your utmost to chase them away. My friend has a blackbird nest in her garden and she's successfully chased away a marauding magpie.

[viv38]

I don't think they migrate, there's been a pair near me who have been flying around and making their awful noise all winter.

[237SJ]

I`d love to viv but I`m not here a lot of the time so that`s not possible. The year before last the birds abandoned the nest with three eggs in it and I thought it was because of the squirrel but it was the magpies that were the cause of it.

[viv38]

My friend is only able to chase the beggars off because she's been made redundant and is home all the time now. I feel so sorry for the blackbirds, this seems to happen a lot. I'm not a magpie fan I'm afraid.

[237SJ]

I`m not a fan either. I remember, as a child, seeing a dying lamb in a field that had had it`s eyes pecked out by a magpie. Now, I`ve just chased off a big black cat in the garden as well. If it`s not magpies, it`s moggies!

[viv38]

Or like you say, squirrels. Always amazes me how the poor birds survive !

[paddywak]

I can lend you a .410 if you like.

[shoota]

Magpies are just crows with go-faster stripes. They will haunt other birds nests until they can eat the eggs or young.
I'm with paddywak's solution.....

[cecil39]

paddywak, that's the answer.

[brionon]

Too many Magpies and Jackdaws around. Bad for the small birds.