The Magpie and the Rat

Last night, Charlie, our big ginger cat, killed a rat and kindly left it on the kitchen floor for us to find at breakfast time. (Thanks, Charlie. All contributions to the larder are most welcome. Now, would you prefer it fried or fricassee'd?)

My partner threw the stiff rodent into the garden. Twenty minutes or so later, a magpie descended, gave the rat a few mighty stabs with its beak - you'd have thought it was a green woodpecker raiding an ants' nest, the way it attacked it - then hauled it into some long grass. It then started picking up leaves and laying them over the rat, to disguise it and keep it for later, I suppose.

I never knew magpies stockpiled food. I didn't think they would eat a rat corpse. The way it stabbed it makes me wonder if magpies ever stalk and kill live rodents. Has anyone else witnessed this type of magpie behaviour before?

Jay family

The other day, I was lucky enough to see three jays all feeding from the peanut feeder. From the way they got on with each other, I feel sure they were parents and offspring.

Albino sparrows

I haven't added anything to my wildlife blog for a while for one simple reason: nothing particularly interesting has been happening in the garden. Until a few weeks ago, that is.

"What on earth's that?" I asked my boyfriend, having spotted an unusual-looking bird on the feeder.

Whipping out the binoculars (as one does), I saw it was a sparrow with white feathers on its tail. And it's not alone. There seem to be three semi albino sparrows, with differing amounts of white on their plumage. Here's one I managed to photograph yesterday.

Friendly cub

Now that 'our' vixen has departed, either driven off or dead, we thought we would never again encounter such a clever, tame fox, who learned that the best way of getting a meal was to come right up onto the decking, gaze through the patio doors and look cute.

I think this cub must be related to her - the offspring of one of her previous cubs, perhaps - because it is already exhibiting some of the old vixen's traits, such as ... well, coming up on the deck, gazing through the patio doors and looking cute!

Acrobatic pigeon

We deliberately hung the seed feeder away from any twigs the pigeons could use as perches, because they don't give the small birds a look-in. However, we have been outwitted by this particular pigeon, which spent several days studying the feeder from all angles, then worked out that the only way to get to the seed was to land on the top, swivel round to an upside-down position, hang on with its claws and flap like mad whilst gobbling as much seed as possible. What a genius! We have christened it Einstein.

This year's cubs

'Our' vixen no longer comes visiting. Maybe she's been driven off by a younger fox, or perhaps she's dead. She was at least five. I so miss the way she used to sit gazing at us through the patio doors as if waiting for a welcome in. I miss the way she used to introduce her litter of cubs to us each year, sitting proudly in the centre of the lawn while they played around her.

But there is a new fox family this year. The mother is much wilder and more nervous and the cubs have so far not ventured far out of the bushes. But it's nice to know there are some not far away. Apologies for the poor quality of these snaps but they were taken from a distance of about 100 feet!

Swifts!

Saw my first swift of 2014 today. Looking back, I can see that the period between May 6 and 15 is when they tend to arrive in my area. Earlier when the weather is good, like now, and later when it's bad. But there was only one. Was is a scout? Will the rest of the group arrive soon? A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to look up into the sky just as they were arriving in a wheeling, shrieking crowd of two dozen or more. I saw them last year as they were preparing to leave. I love the way their calls graze and scratch the air like beaks on a blackboard. I thrill to the miraculous dart and wheel and flick and turn and speed of their flight. They truly are the acrobats of the air.