[Churcho]

We live in a large city and have a back garden, not big, dedicated to the feeding and watching of birds. Plenty of feeders, good quality seed, fat balls, suet blocks, home filled cocnut halves, suet pellets, ground tray, two bird tables, and so far 22 species recorded.
We have resident blackbirds, 2 breeding pairs, and last year a magpie went into the bush containing one nest and emerged seconds later with a baby blackbird in his beak. The down side of magpies. We have a pair visit every day and at the moment we are putting out mealworms for the blue and great tits along with the robins to feed their babies. However within one minute of putting the mealworms out the magpies arrive to wolf them down. Varying the time the mealworms go out makes no difference, the magpies arrive almost instantly. I can only assume they pick up on the scent of the mealworms, I cannot believe it is coincidence, it is too regular for coincidence, I know they have a reputation for being clever but to prejudge the time I am going to put out the mealworms is taking it too far. For all their bad press, they are a beautiful bird and I am pleased that we have our resident pair.