not really a hint or tip,just a we snippet of info that came up while bletherin to the mates the other day,we were reminising about hobbies we had as youngsters and i mentioned about collecting birds eggs , i know this is dangerous ground ,, but i was young and it seemed like a good idea at the time ,,anyway a was telling them about the fright i got once when i put my hand into what i thought was a magpies nest only to feel wee furry creatures--- it was a squirrels drey and i nearly fell out the tree,,,,
now the bit i was a bit blown away by ---- my mate says no MAGPIES in the highlands or even much by edinburgh/glasgow ,,, im like BULLSHIT convinced ive seen them , but then i thought about it and realised in the twelve yrs or so since movin to inverness ," im originally from clydebank" i actually havnt seen any --started a wee debate at work askin them if theyd seen one ,,nearly all of them said they had ,,,BUT , they could not remember if it was up here or further south
so there ye go my wee mystery -- i never even knew they were not a heilan burd ,, every days a school day
ps my nestin thing never lasted that long ,
Stacks of magpies up here.
Quote from: Ardbeg on May 19, 2008, 09:54:26 PM
Pretty much none in Perthshire, I suspect they were blasted to oblivion once upon a fairly recent time ago.
Plenty round Crieff must just be east Perthshire they give a miss?
My wife is a district nurse and couple of years back she drove out to the "big House" on one of the estates round here, to visit a patient. When she pulled up at the door she was greated to the sound of gun fire coming from inside the house :shock: Not sure what to do, she hovered round outside until the wife came out and explained that her husband was taking a potshot at a magpipe up the chimney :lol:
Norm
Sparrows are making a big come back here in renfrewshire, even though the magpies are still about. We have a couple blackbirds nesting in the garden each year, the noise is horrendous at times as blackbirds chase off the magpies. The last two years we have blue tits nesting in the garden and had some coal tits feeding at the bird table.We are less than than a mile from the end of the runway at Glasgow airport
Hunners in my garden (East lothian)
Apparently the demise of the humble speug has more to do with you and I than it does with magpies. Modern houses and improvements to older properties leave less scope for the old sparra to set up home. No nooks and crannies
As with fish, the main issue is habitat
In my bit of Weegieland probably more magpies than any other bird. Very few sparrows and same goes for starlings. Remember years ago you used to see huge flocks of starlings in the city centre and elswhere at night heading for their roosts.
Had a laugh at the weekend watching one of the fox cubs we have at the bottom of the garden trying to catch a magpie which just sat on a fence post and screeched at the cub.
shanksi
Magpies are one of my favourite birds. Highly intelligent. They are hilarious to watch, I like the way they jump about, they look like they are enjoying themselves. They are very local in distribution. Where I grew up in the Arbroath area I cannot recall every seeing one, around Aberdeen there are loads of them
Angus is Magpie free,only seen 2 in 4 years,but as the estates kill everything that might threaten grouse I'm unsure if that's a natural thing.All the other corvids are here,bar the Chough,Lots of spadgers too.
I saw a kingfisher tonight zipping down the wee burn where I walk the Dug. How common are they?
Quote from: zeolite on May 20, 2008, 10:50:15 PM
I saw a kingfisher tonight zipping down the wee burn where I walk the Dug. How common are they?
Common as muck, might even be more of them round Crieff than there are Ospreys :shock: Its sparrows that you don't see.
Norm
Quote from: Clan Ford on May 20, 2008, 11:28:18 PM
Its sparrows that you don't see.
...... just get to hear the bloody things, twittering away under my pantiles from first light!
We've got a fair few Sparrows nesting in our sheds/around our house. It's great to see them flying about. I've only ever seen one kingfisher around here though.
We see kingfishers when fishing the White Cart in Linn Park in Glasgow, would love to be able to photograph one but they're fast little buggers. Usually see a heron there as well but haven't seen it so far this year.
shanksi
Loads of herons around here.
We tend to get a lot of birds in our garden now that we have chickens. We have a resident pheasant that mills around with the chickens and shares their food.
It used to be said there were no magpies north of the forth but I see them by the M90 near Dunfermline when I drive to Edinburgh. We don't have any around here (Angus). I think they're a really bonny bird. Much more graceful in flight, with its long straight tail, than any other corvid.
Magpies once ranged all over Scotland. There are Gaelic (pioghaid) and Doric(pyots) names for the Magpie.
Exterminated in large areas by Victorian gamies and rarely seen from Angus Northwards there are pockets in the North East , Ive certainly seen them around Aberdeen. Since the 2nd world war they have slowly spread Northwards.
As to there reputation for killing songbirds, I doubt if they do anything like the same damage as cats.
None that I know of in Argyll, but a couple of years ago one showed up at work on the shores of Loch Awe, it appeared along with road workers who were re laying tar at the power station, when the road folks left so did the Magpie, possibly it followed them round and shared there pieces.
For great info on all things Rook and Magpie I recommend "Corvus, A life with birds" by Esther Woolfson, a very well written book.
The author , living in Aberdeen, writes from first hand experience .
Cheers
Pod
Esther Woolfson was on the radio (Scotland) at the weekend. Fascinating lady. Shares her house with a Raven. Note- the Raven is not a pet- it really shares her house. Comes and goes as it pleases and nests under a table in her kitchen.
No magpies north of Loch Leven in Fife, missus and I have a "who can spot the first magpie" game on the way south.
Cracking post davie, you know i travel about a bit wi a daft welshman, when in aberdeenshire
if he seen a magpie he woudna move till he seen its mate( one for sorrow an a that)....
so we used to look out for them, central belt theres heaps, aberdeenshire theres a few
morayshire the odd few ,but never seen any in inverness....
we were discussing this same subject at the fishing hut on the ness, when the inverness angling president mike campbell came in about,, so he says " aye theres magpies i got some in me garden"
we were a bit sceptical at the time, so to prove it in he comes the next day wi magpie feathers
just to prove it........
so davie to answer your question yes there are magpies in inverness a pair anyway!!!
cheers mick
Quote from: breac uaig on February 23, 2009, 04:52:18 PM
Heard that bit with esther woolfson she stated that corvids probably got their bad name from the great fire of london feasting on the bodies, a bit strange considering there were only 8 or nine known victims,
I do wish people would research the facts, :roll: breac uaig
Derek- the woman has a raven nesting under her kitchen table. I suspect she's a bit mental.
A few year ago, i was fishing the river Blain. Had a fish about six lbs.
Not having a bag with me, I laid it on the grass at my back. in the
couple of minutes that passed I sensed movement at my back,
when i turned round a magpie had plucked the eye out of the fish as nice as ninepence.
Magpies in abundance here in Ireland, although interestingly they are somewhat of a newcomer. Folklore often puts there presence down to Cromwell, the belief being that they came to Ireland with Cromwell and his troops. I have even heard them referred to as Cromwell's Crows.
Although generally happy to blame most ills on Cromwell I think in this instance he is probably innocent, as the first recorded Magpies in Ireland aren't until the 1670's and Cromwell had buggered off home by 1650. The most common view nowadays is that a single flock got blown across in a major storm in the 1670's and that all Irish magpies derive from them.
Joe.
Suspect the association with Cromwell, like the association with the great fire of london and also with the plague is to do with feeding on dead stuff. Like bodies.
There's been a real explosion of Maggies in Glasgow. When I was a kid, it was a treat to spot one,now they're everywhere you look and when the leaves drop from the trees in winter you can see just how well they're doing by the abundance of nests. A couple of year ago, when I lived in Pollokshields, I seen one on Shields road hammering the back of a young starling's head. Funny thing is, I made a similar observation to Admin, in that this Maggie seemed be enjoying itself. I don't suppose the starling recovered from the attention! Maggie by name, Maggie by nature! :x
Quote from: Scotaidh on February 23, 2009, 03:36:58 PM
No magpies north of Loch Leven in Fife, missus and I have a "who can spot the first magpie" game on the way south.
We have magpies in Cupar, and I've seen them in Dundee - not far north of Leven I admit.
Also have a few tails and wings for tying flies with - courtesy of local Gamekeeper friend.
never seen a magpie fish
ospeys commorants kingfishers even herons but never seen a magpie with a rod in its hand
and ive seen plenty here in north lanarkshire sparrows wee tits of every colour even fishing
without a permit but who does anything about the the fish nobody but when theres a bird
involved then you watch the fuss that gets kicked up ? :shock:
When I lived in east kilbride there was a positive pestolence of magpies, and fine fly dressing material they were. Since I moved to angus I think I've seen two at most and that was in aberdeen.
Bit like Commom & Hoodie crows thers almost a visible border line between them north hoodies, south common??
There are Magpies around Nairn and along the coast but not too many. I have also seen several towards Insch.
Quote from: admin on May 20, 2008, 04:04:05 PM
Magpies are one of my favourite birds. Highly intelligent.
milton keynes allegedly has the highest population density of magpies in the uk :shock:
yes its all out
its the round abouts ! you,ve found out out its all out in the open, i married a mag once and thats exactly what she was like i found out in a round about way i wasnt going fishing so if you ever see a mag her pies were crap as well, or a round about divorce youself from the situation or its dry land for you, birds :?honestly i go out with the dog evey day and see a dozen magpies and at least four daily in my garden i could restock the world from here if you want a magpie