Magpie

Magpies are hated by many bird lovers. People love small, fluffy songbirds and want to protect them. Magpies are clever corvids which manage to be both scavengers and predators, including of songbird eggs and nestlings. That’s led to generations of persecution, including inhumane trapping and shooting of Magpies, all of which has been legalised under very loose and uninspected conditions. People insist that songbird populations are declining and that Magpies are to blame. It’s nonsense. It’s a childish inability to deal with what animals in the natural world eat.

Magpie - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

I love them and think we should leave them alone. Wildlife; the clue is in the name. Here’s a classic social media battle on Magpies:

Magpie - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

And that’s from an owner of a bird-killing, top-predator cat. The answers are always entertaining:

Magpie - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

And here’s my particular favourite:

Magpie - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

We dislike Magpies because we still have a primitive-ape animal fear of predators and project that upon the Magpie – songbird relationship. We identify with the songbird and wish to defend it against attack. It’s embarrassing that the policy of successive Governments has been based upon this primitive reaction, leading to widespread persecution. At some stage the human race will have to mature, understand its own motivations and protect the predator as well as the prey. Wildlife; the clue is in the name.

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