I’ve received this sad story –
I have just found this after researching Magpies and thier habits regarding stealing eggs particularly Blackbirds by the look of things.
I work for a sign company set in a rural part of east sussex, we were all delighted when a pair of Blackbirds nested in an outbuilding in view of the factory and we delighted in watching the diligent hen bird coming and going and sitting for hours on the nest, after about 16 days much excitement surrounded the nest with both birds coming and going and we guessed the chicks had hatched
you can imagine our dismay when we came into work this Monday to the sight of a Magpie sitting on a beam near the nest and a very ditraught mother Blackbird attempting to return to her nest only to be thwarted by the aggressive Magpie, all the staff are gutted these birds are an absolute menace and I wasn’t aware of thier vicious canibalistic habits until I found this forum and enjoyed reading other peoples experiances with these hateful creatures.
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Bob was replying to this Bird Table News article which started it’s life in 2009!
http://birdtablenews.com/2009/07/magpies-raiding-a-blackbirds-nest/
June 2009 is when I first wrote about magpies raiding nests and it is June 2013 now. How many more unseen ‘killing raids’ have magpies done.
When I visit Manchester and go for a walk in a park the only birds I see are magpies. I think a lot of people don’t realise that magpies do so much killing.