Cyn's Nature Notes: Magpies and Ants

Friday 10 June 2011

Magpies and Ants

The young magpies are here every day. They are almost the same size as their parents, just fractionally smaller, and a little slimmer. The female magpie looks very much the worse for wear; her brood patch is still bald and her side and back feathers look very disheveled. Around her neck she looks almost bare and decidedly scraggy. Gone is the sleek, glossy, well-fed bird of such a short while ago.

After they had cleared the food put out for them this morning, along with the jackdaws and pigeons, the magpies stayed on the lawn, poking about. Eventually all left save one, I can only think he had found an ants nest, he spent several minutes pecking away before he also flew away.

As I moved from the side kitchen window to the end window and looked out I saw another magpie: the tatty looking female. She was at the pond's edge and pecking at the ground by a stone. I watched her for several minutes and I can only assume that like her youngster she was filling up on the ants from an ant's nest.

Suddenly she stopped pecking and started jumping up and down while shaking herself, still doing this she suddenly began frantically flapping her wings and scratching herself, while turning her head from side to side and ruffling her few remaining neck feathers. I can only assume this was the ant's revenge for her dining on their colony!

This afternoon I spotted a young great spotted woodpecker on the bird table. This is the first time I have seen this.

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About this Blog

When we moved to our present home in December 1987, I was very ill and bedridden. My garden was a life-saver, although it was very different then. The first thing I did was to put up bird-feeders, and long hours were spent lying indoors in a recliner. This was when I discovered many things. Do you know the underside of every blue tit’s tail is differently marked? Gradually, over the years, the garden changed. We put in shrubs and plants that would not only enhance the garden, but would also be good for wildlife. The first rabbit we saw was so joyful for us. The deer eat the flowers, prune the apple trees, eat the marrow, and are wonderful to watch. Foxes have been a major part of our wildlife. We have fed them each night for more than 20 years. They are such a delight, especially in late summer and early autumn when there are youngsters. They behave like puppies and are great fun to watch.

I love all wildlife: the mason bees that nest in the brickwork of the bungalow, the hornets that last year made their home in the roof above our bedroom, the bees currently nesting in the roof above the bathroom. On a hot evening, if you stand quietly in the bathroom, you can hear this amazing sound: it is very rhythmic and reminds me of the waves at the seaside. It is made by the beating of the bees’ wings as they fan their nest to keep the temperature at the right level -- how many people have heard that sound? I feel so privileged.

Obviously, I feed the birds. When I open the window in the morning I call “Come on Bobby and Blackie”, and one followed swiftly by the other they fly immediately to the bird table. Each morning, on rising, I make my way to the kitchen and find the squirrels already sitting on the window ledge waiting to be fed. Winter brings the moorhens and spring time the mallards. Our pond is a poor effort from a human point of view, but wild creatures see it differently. On summer days, the grass snakes spend long hours in the pond: eating the fish, froglets, toadlings, newts, and any other living creature they can swallow. Although I hate to see the pond emptied this way, I do enjoy the snakes and feel they are an important part of the balance of nature in the garden. Watching a dragonfly nymph climbing out of the pond, up a plant stalk, and then over the next few hours gradually transforming into a beautiful dragonfly -- these are contented hours well spent.

It has been my pleasure to write and publish a nature column each month. I am always delighted to hear how much pleasure this brings to my readers. I have often been asked if I have written a book, so I am making more of my writings and photography available through this web site and blog.