Neighbour feeding magpies.

We have loads of magpies here and they are a dreadful menace. OH says they used to be culled but people thought it was cruel. Our ex neighbour used to put food out for them on a table that was up against the joint fence. They would dive bomb over my washing line leaving much of it covered in bird poo. Asked her politely if she could feed them further up the garden but apparently that wasn’t possible. In the end we put up a much higher fence and fortunately they moved not long after.

vena I've seen magpies terrorising a cat.
In some parts of Europe magpies are regarded as pests, like rats, and can be killed/culled.
We have bird feeders in our little back garden and so far the main bullies are pigeons. If the magpies start to invade there would be war on!

They do seem to be getting bolder.As I said I could never harm them,just wish there weren't so many.I fear her feeding them is tipping the balance.
I was going to go round today but have decided to keep an eye out for her and next time I get chance to chat subtly tell her how much damage they have done this breeding season,and that I hope they move on to other territories as the juveniles mature for the sake of the other birds.

Just watched a magpie this morning facing up to a cat on the top of our fence, it must have a nest near, magpie won I have never seen this before.

Difficult. If you see her again you could say you are upset both blackbird nests have been predated on by magpies - she might not be aware they are predatory.

We don't have that many magpies in Northumberland, they are in competition with so many crows as well as the kestrels and sparrowhawks. It is extremely upsetting to see magpies and crows with their kill .. and at the beach the seagulls mobbing the herons. I was upset to see a magpie flying past yesterday with a yellow hammer in its beak. Nature is very cruel.

No, you would be right in order! Maybe she doesn't know that magpies kill and eat baby birds, steal and eat eggs and even, as you have seen, attack and kill grown blackbirds. If no-one tells her, she will never know. But you may find she doesn't want to know that about the lovely magpies, and you may have to be tactful - maybe on the lines that they are handsome and magnificent creatures, but so are tigers and sharks and it isn't a good idea to try feeding those at your back door.

Did you tell her about the two lost clutches of blackbird eggs? Does she like the sound of the blackbirds in the early morning, singing to the dawn? Of the robins and bluetits and great-tits and wrens, the chaffinches and goldcrests?

Does she have a bird-feeder? If she hasn't could you find some excuse to buy her one as a present and get her interested in encouraging the songbirds - that might make her less keen to feed the predators. Perhaps you "have a spare one that you are not using" and thought she might like to have it?

OH DEAR. My mum fed the lovely heron gulls. They then nested on the roof in the crook of her chimney. Then dive bombed everybody for food ! She wouldn't be told