Garden Wildlife UK

Now you don't see this every day ...... a magpie at the edge of the pond, pecking at the grass, or butyl liner edge, and rubbing its beak under its wings -- anting !!!!!!
When it had gone I checked the place and, yes, black ants running around all over the place.
The formic acid acts as an insecticide/bactericide/whatevericide, which is very useful if you're a magpie .

I don't know whether these two have any connection with the cheeky pair documented ad nauseam last year but two magpies have attempted over and over for weeks now to reach food inside the feeder cage so that they have worn away a ring of neck feathers completely . They don't look good but persist in this harmful behaviour. Their heads atop an inch-long bald ring remind me of a poodle's tail pompom.
The total is around 5 maybe 6 birds and only this pair do it.

Ring necked magpies.

You have to admire their determination. A scraggy neck is better than an empty crop

To return to the subject of Manuel , nearby neighbours' Spanish gato: - today he was strolling across the road (you can actually hear those gold-encrusted trousers creaking !!) when he was bombed by two determined magpies. Actually, they didn't make too good a job of terrifying him, they were laughing too much , but anyway he executed a neat veronica with his cape (no, 'onest) and returned a su casa in double-quick time.
Gato - nilo, magpies - uno.

Magpie on the lawn today - stabbing beak into grass and each time spearing a grub of some kind. Had a quick google and I think it was finding, and relishing, either daddy longlegs grubs or chafer grubs. I didn't even know they were in the lawn . Lots of them evidently.

A pair of magpies appear to have adopted my garden as home territory. When I am in the chateau garden and hear little mewing noises and look around for the source I see one of them if not both. Other smaller birds are currently brooding eggs or feeding nestlings so I hope they(the magpies) are not going to be raiding the nests

Jacksparrow wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 06, 2020 7:53 pm

A pair of magpies appear to have adopted my garden as home territory. When I am in the chateau garden and hear little mewing noises and look around for the source I see one of them if not both. Other smaller birds are currently brooding eggs or feeding nestlings so I hope they(the magpies) are not going to be raiding the nests

I truly hope not Jack, but knowing them I wouldn't be surprised if they are spying and looking for the nests to raid
I saw a magpie trying to get into my garden yesterday and today but I actively discourage them by just coming out, it scares them. Of course, I can't be there all the time (well maybe I can now in this quarantine) so I might miss them sometimes, but I do try.

I finally managed to get a photo of Magpie junior today. It is very fidgety and stays nowhere very long.

Rushing around learning fast