Neighbour feeding magpies.

I'm glad someone has raised this subject. It's something I'm very aware of. I have noticed the increase in magpies and the decrease in smaller birds. People tend to blame cats for the decrease, and they do take some responsibility, but I know the magpies kill a lot of the baby birds. The question is..what should we do about it?

There are laws about wildlife, so I presume destroying their nests would be regarded as a crime? Perhaps this is something the government needs to be made aware of. There are culls of other species which are regarded as a nuisance, perhaps magpies should be added to the list.

Those who are interested in wildlife and don’t believe in culling, killing animals for sport, or exploitation might be interested in Chris Packham’s new organisation Wild Justice. - wildjustice.org.uk/about/

crystaltipps thanks for that. I don't believe in the killing of anything other than for the food that we eat.

I won't ever stop feeding any creature that comes into my garden - I get hedgehogs, squirrels and birds, as well as bats.

We used to feed the birds but they made such a mess around the feeders that it attracted mice. Neighbour built a garden shed against my fence and mice nested beneath, they were getting fat in my garden as it was like a restaurant for them.
I hate pigeons, they monopolise the bird bath and then poo in it so the little birds can't drink there.
Magpies are a nuisance, they make a lot of noise outside the bedroom window, I thought they were clog dancers but I think they are raking in the gutters.

Nature is cruel. Do we have a right to interfere with wild creatures? If magpies are created to do what magpies do then who are we to say this is wrong?

Do tell her. I’m sure, as many other people have stated, that she doesn’t realise. I was very startled to see two magpies squabbling over a live blackbird fledgling a few years ago. I had no idea until then how voracious they are!

My neighbour feeds the baby foxes! The baby foxes then eat our goldfish ( having torn through the net over pond) & poo all over our patio & garden.
I KNOW they are sweet but they need to learn to hunt & feed themselves if they are going to survive the winter. They belong in the woods opposite not our garden.
We have parakeets & magpies too plus a heron & sometimes a sparrowhawk. It's like a massacre out there some evenings!!
My 4 cats catch the odd mouse to be fair.

What a fool you are Minniemoo! You must stop feeding pigeons, squirrels, foxes,magpies etc.

What an unpleasant thing to say Shelagh6 and who are you to tell other people how to live their lives?

Thanks humptydumpty! And I have yet to feed a squirrel. Well not in my garden anyway. And yes, I have always fed birds etc and shall continue to do so, despite what some fools might say ;-)

We have noticed the explosion in magpie numbers and have now taken down our bird feeder pole and put little feeders in tight corners in our garden that little birds can access fairly safely.
They have also been attacking a friends pet pigs and leaving open sores on the poor animals backs , they aren’t pleasant birds to have around .

Live and let live, I say. If you feed birds, you probably unwittingly feed rats too. Does this mean you should stop feeding all birds?

We only seem to get magpies here. One flew into my kitchen last week. Luckily it had a bit of a tussle with the curtain and went straight out again. They are often at the top of the drain pipes.
We get a few people that throw piles of bread out of their windows for the birds but I have only seen foxes and worse eating it. It is really annoying when people feed birds in an irresponsible way and they never will be told. It seems to be much less than it was a year or two ago so fingers crossed it won't start again.
I would try talking to her but don't be too optimistic.

I suppose only you will know by the way you get along if she will listen or not. You can’t legally be stopped but why anyone would encourage them if you have a lot of birds nesting is beyond me or maybe she just isn’t clued up on the behaviour of birds. It’s sad to see a blackbird make their nest and do all that feeding of their young for crows or magpies to predate them. I hate seeing it there is nothing the blackies can do either, but your neighbour can help by ceasing her behaviour.

Environmental health stopped our neighbour feeding massive handfuls of seed to the pigeons, 52 we had waiting for her to feed them one day, the mess was horrendous and the rats she caused and in your roof as well, she wouldn’t listen and got threatened with an order if she didn’t stop. Glad to say it worked. Thing is a sparrow hawk came so much and took so many blackies, I used to run out many time scaring them in the end I don’t think she knew what or why she was doing it it just became a habit three times a day. She wouldn’t listen to us it took the Council to do their job and to be fair they were brill.

In my garden, the collared doves see off any magpies that try muscling in on their food---they are quite aggressive towards them.

Living rural with visits from the coastal birdlife I observe birds of all kind. Our magpies however are becoming less, possibly driven from the area by the gulls, and not unduly concerned from my experience of being shown by a 'local' ornithologist a 'magiepie larder'.
Very upsetting to observe how they attack other nests to feed their own fledglings.

Shelagh6 What a very unplesent comment to make totally uncalled for .

We get lots of wild birds here and magpies can be a pain and do kill songbirds. But then again I saw a woodpecker bash the skull of a goldfinch and kill it. Nature is red of tooth and claw.
Grey squirrels are a pest and cause a lot of damage. They steal eggs and destroy the hazelnut crops. They have been known to steal eggs from my chickens too. I see one, I shoot it. I would welcome the native red squirrel but there is slim chance of seeing them whilst the greys are thriving.
Grey squirrels getting to used to humans causes problems too. If they get in your house they can cause a great deal of damage and have even caused house fires by chewing electric cables.

Washerwoman, I think you may have jumped to some wrong conclusions regarding the magpies. I don't like them either but you can't really tell your neighbour not to feed them.

When magpies are nesting they don't hunt anywhere near their nest. They 'switch off' their hunting instinct in the area to protect their own chicks. They ferociously guard and protect the nest, though, intolerant of other birds that come too close (perhaps the blackbird did).

Cats, crows, foxes, squirrels and weasels all raid nests and are more likely suspects. When magpies nest nearby, the songbirds should have a better chance of success than usual in raising fledglings.

How I wish I could lend you my cat! He kills magpies if they try to invade our garden and leaves the song birds alone.

Mention to your neighbour that the magpies are killing the song birds in your garden and attacking your cat, so you feel they are getting too bold.

People seem to know so little about wild life these days that she probably just thinks they are lovely looking birds, which they are, and doesn't realise that they are birds of prey.

We only have red squirrels here in the NE of Scotland and I welcome the odd one who comes in from the woods behind us. We feed the birds all year and have a nesting box, unused so far this year. We have no magpies at all but some areas in our town are plagued by gulls - herring gulls I think. They are so aggressive and apparently fearless.

A friend's upstairs neighbour feeds the pigeons, who leave their droppings all over her patio. She has to scrub the slabs every morning before her small grandchildren go out there.
Environmental Health were interested.

Perhaps when the human race has destroyed itself by overpopulation, pollution and war, it will be the magpies or seagulls who dominate the world. I don't suppose they will make any worse a job of being 'top dogs' for a while than we have.

Re some of the comments above, generally magpies will not feed from bird feeders put out for smaller birds and if there is already dialogue YES talk to the nieghbour. Never underestimate people's ignorance when it comes to even garden wildlife. Near where I live folk constantly let their dogs off the leash on part of the river which has the bank exposed because of ill-thought out work on flood defenses. Then the owners stand their enjoying what a marvelous time the dogs are having while the nesting birds are driven away.
Tell your neighour what the magpies do. No one is suggesting harming them but no need to encourage them.

Magpies don't feed from the feeders I provide for small birds, but if I hang up some fat balls, both magpies and jackdaws monopolise them and the songbirds don't get a look in, though the pigeons might have a go. Size matters!