Life and death in the back garden

We have a pair of friendly robins in our garden. If it is the same pair, last year they nested in an old plant pot, but I never saw any fledglings. This year I saw they had nested in a box erected for that very purpose on a fence behind a shrub.

This morning I heard a commotion outside and went to the bedroom window to see a magpie in the centre of the lawn being attacked by three blackbirds and a blue tit. I have heard that birds of a feather flock together but I had not seen different species ganging up against a common enemy before.

The magpie was holding its own. I saw it leap in to the shrub where the robins are nesting, then back on to the lawn. I went out on to the lawn and the magpie flew off. The blackbirds stayed their ground but sounded distressed. I don't know where their nest is but I guess it is close by. We have a nesting box with blue tits too but since the shrubbery has come in to leaf I can no longer see their comings and goings.

I went over to the robins' nest and was disappointed to find that the rotting wooden roof of the nest had been pecked off. The robins had gone. I did not look inside as it was clear their nest had been discovered. There is still time for them to start again but I don't know how I can help them to conceal their nest any more than they had. Magpies are on the lookout constantly at this time of year. I suppose the magpie must have a role as a predator but it seems to exact a heavy toll on the songbirds.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) does not believe that the Magpie is a threat to songbirds but that is not going to help my friendly robins. A Larsen trap could even the odds but some people object to these traps. I don't expect to find any songbirds registered with the protesters.

Tits exposed

Imagine you have just sat down for lunch with your young family when suddenly the jaws of a T-Rex come smashing through the window trying to chomp off the baby's head.

Looking out on the garden just now I saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker swoop in to view. It's not every day I see a Great Spotted Woodpecker so it caused a fleeting frisson of excitement when I registered the red markings on the back of its head and underbelly.

The euphoria lasted no more than a second or two before I saw the woodpecker settle on a small bird box where, moments before, I had been watching the urgent comings and goings of a pair of Blue Tits rearing their young inside.

The woodpecker (note paragraph 11 here) stuck its beak straight in to the hole. It's amazing the carnage you can witness in your garden at this time of the year, and it all happens so fast. I rapped on the window and the woodpecker flew off. But it's sure to be back. The horror. The horror.