A few years ago I read in the Star (so probably wrong) that Sheffield has the highest population of Magpies in Britain.

Anybody know if this is true and if it is why?

Could be true extaxman, considering we have the largest area of woodland and greenery than anywhere else in the UK.

Aren't magpies the very devil with wings?
Am I alone in detesting them?
I have a big garden with a very healthy bird population, attracted by all the goodies I hang out for them.
I've got 6 bird boxes, specific to species & spend many happy hours watching them.
Come spring though the magpies arrive & rob the nests of eggs & mug the boxes of fledglings.

Bahrsteads:rant:

I used to like Magpies until i moved on to Norfolk Park. I don't anymore :( . There are literally 100's of them and they scare, fight or kill any other birds (and sometimes cats too) away from the estate. There aren't many birds (excluding Magpies) around here anymore.
Just the other day i saw 3 Magpies chasing a Kestrel away!. Obviously they couldn't catch it, but it was not able to hover for food etc...

Got to agree with you Don about magpies being devils with wings.

Not only are they bird killers and nest robbers, but the noise they make! It's awful.

Like a mocking cackle.

Here's more pet hates:

Grey squirrels - rats with bush tails. They also rob nests and steal birdfood and rip off tree bark.

Urban foxes: that dreadful squealing noise they make, a bit like children in pain.

The magpies now seem to be being kicked out by crows - what next though buzzards or vultures????

According to my latest statistics, at present there are 683,602 Magpies residing within the inner boundaries of Sheffield.

It is interesting to compare this with 521,702 in Leeds ( this figure has not been updated since Wednesday) and the 313,024 recorded in Nottingham as at 9:18 am this morning.

Interestingly, it is predicted that an average of 0.6% of a city's magpie stock will die on any given day, which will only be recoverable when the little baby ones are being born during the Spring.

So the at this moment in time, the demised are not being replaced.

In conclusion, it is widely accepted that Sheffield is one of the major magpie centres in the UK due to the generous foliage supplies within the city, not to mention the vast canopy expanse.

We are so lucky, I feel.

All I can say is: Yay for Magpies! They are such colourful and interesting birds, not like all the other boring household birds that drab up the place with their boring browns or stupid pigeon blue/grey..

Say "YES!" to more magpies..

If you want the definitive answer I'm sure someone @ The Sheffield Bird Study Group [ http://www.sbsg.org/ ] could help you - that is of course if the group is composed of Twitchers and not just blokes watching women in town :P

I've been to Newcastle a few times and they have far more magpies then Sheffield. The problem with them is I'm superstitious about them and end up looking like a nutter saluting them all.

While Newcastle has it's fair share of annoying, slightly scary birds in black and white - I was amazed when I moved to Sheffield how many there are. Definately had to stop holding my breath til I saw a four legged animal - at least the black and white birds in Newcastle often class as four legged animals too!

But squirrels - I think they're great! There's one or two red squirrels near my old house in Newcastle but these happy looking little grey guys are everywhere! It's like being at a petting zoo all the time... without the petting - more of a zoo really.

This was in the news last week.......

From : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4304103.stm

Gun magazine sparks magpies row

A shooting magazine has sparked a row after offering £500 to the shooter who kills most magpies by the end of July.

They are pests and need to be killed to protect songbirds and other wildlife, Sporting Shooter's contributing editor Charlie Jacoby claims.

But the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) labelled Mr Jacoby's views "bonkers".

The organisation accused the magazine of relying on "superstition and prejudice" instead of sound science.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Jacoby said the RSPB is wrong to try to protect all birds.

"This ends up with a mono-culture of scavengers and road-kill and we want to see songbirds," he said.

"We put forward this prize because, at a ground level, when you see magpies destroyed you will see songbirds come back."

He said shooting magpies is legal for licensed shooters such as landowners and gamekeepers.

Andre Farrar, spokesman for the RSPB, said the magazine's argument was "complete rubbish".

"The magpie is a perfectly natural part of the British landscape," he said.

"It is a predator and therefore it does eat baby birds and it does it in a very public, very obvious way.

"That puts it at great risk when people are thrashing around looking for scapegoats for why there have been declines in other birds."

Mr Jacoby said his magazine's readers belong to a liberal tradition which believes you can do what you like until society says you cannot.

Originally posted by mjlacey21

But squirrels - I think they're great! There's one or two red squirrels near my old house in Newcastle but these happy looking little grey guys are everywhere! It's like being at a petting zoo all the time... without the petting - more of a zoo really.
Its not great- them happy little grey ones are killing all our red ones!!!!

I know that, but when the red ones are hidden away all the time and there are no grey ones in newcastle it's a novelty to see the furry little blighters!

ON Collegiate Crescent, Broomhall, there are huge amounts of magpies, I see about 10 together in a group nearly every day, on my road, i know the rhyme upto 7 for them, but what 10, 11, or 12 means i don't know. And being suspicious they annoy me too, having to salute every time i see a solitary one. My parents are quite keen on encouraging birds to their garden and say that magpies are menaces.

8's for a secret never to be told.

Can't help you with the rest I'm afraid.

Originally posted by gribz
All I can say is: Yay for Magpies! They are such colourful and interesting birds, not like all the other boring household birds that drab up the place with their boring browns or stupid pigeon blue/grey..

Say "YES!" to more magpies..

That must be terribly unfortunate. Can you imagine (for example) being in a fish and chip shop, and dying for some chips and a rissole? Then the shop-woman (prossibly in her fifties with a kind face, and a ruddy complexion) says to you "Yes, love", and looks expectantly at you, all you can say is "Yay for Magpies"

I think I would need counselling!

K x

Originally posted by feargal
8's for a secret never to be told.

Can't help you with the rest I'm afraid.

It doesnt go up to eight.. Not that I've heard anyway.

From : http://www.phatnav.com/wiki/index.php?title=Magpie

A traditional English rhyme records the traditional belief that seeing a certain number of magpies was a prediction of your future.

The rhyme runs:

One for sorrow
Two for mirth
Three for a wedding
Four for a birth
Five for rich
Six for poor
Seven for a witch
I can tell you no more.

Alternate versions of this counting rhyme include:

One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
And four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.

One for sorrow
Two for mirth
Three for a death
Four for a birth
Five for heaven
Six for hell
Seven's the Devil his own sel'

And nine for a pretty darn good hotpot

I don't know why there's all this fuss about Magpies. Walking to work I see loads of them. I also see and hear loads of song birds.

So, they snack on the cute baby birds. Isn't that what they're supposed to do, what with them being predatory and eveything.

Too many people suffering from anthropomorphicism. They're wild animals. Not tame, or even mildy vexed.

People also blame magpies for making the cute birds dissapear. I suspect they're wrong. Large populations may indicate somthing else. The Common Seal is a good example of this. Seal population rises, and the Cod population declines. Fishermen blame the Seal for eating the Cod. But Seals eat Sandeel's as well, there's a huge Sandeel population because there's no Cod. There is no Cod because the fishermen have taken them all.

I like Magpies, they're intelligent, and curious.

This site

http://www.minley.com/watchedit/magpie.html

is all about the TV series and goes up to ten :

One For Sorrow,
Two For Joy,
Three for a Girl and
Four for a boy,
Five for Silver,
Six for Gold,
Seven is a secret never to be told,
Eight's a wish and
Nine's a kiss,
Ten is a bird that you must not miss

Originally posted by Kristian
That must be terribly unfortunate. Can you imagine (for example) being in a fish and chip shop, and dying for some chips and a rissole? Then the shop-woman (prossibly in her fifties with a kind face, and a ruddy complexion) says to you "Yes, love", and looks expectantly at you, all you can say is "Yay for Magpies"

I think I would need counselling!

K x

Thats just how much I love them.. mmm, special needs..

Probably true, although don't know why. I remember as a kid my dad used to be a lorry driver and worked from Parkway Markets and I used to sometimes go with him on the shorter journeys. One afternoon we came back from Hull i think it was, there must have been over 100 magpies actually in the parkway market, I couldn't believe it. I have never seen as many magpies together since.......but we do get the odd magpie that tries to pinch the silver milk bottle lid when the milkmans delivered our milk. Top tip...get an old hair spray or bodyspray lid and leave it in the milk bottle box for the milkman to put over the top of the bottles. Stops the thieving little rascals getting your silver top!

Magpies are great!

Changing methods of farming are actually far more to blame for killing young songbirds than magpies are. When is somebody going to put out a bounty on farmers?

A friend of mine wrote a novel a while ago which had a lot of stuff about magpies in it, including many different variations on the traditional counting rhyme. This is her novel (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0552997129/sumptionorg-21).

Our version of the rhyme as kids was.....

One For Sorrow,
Two For Joy,
Three for a Girl and
Four for a boy,
Five for Silver,
Six for Gold,
Seven is a secret never to be told,
Eight for you and
Nine for me ans
Ten for an old man up a tree!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by karl101


anthropomorphicism.
I like Magpies, they're intelligent, and curious.


:thumbsup: what a word , biology eh! Magpies need to be intelligent with words like that flying around :P

[QUOTE]Originally posted by vidster
[B]I used to like Magpies until i moved on to Norfolk Park. I don't anymore :( . There are literally 100's of them and they scare, fight or kill any other birds (and sometimes cats too) away from the estate. There aren't many birds (excluding Magpies) around here anymore.

I once counted over 40 magpies all at the same time on the ground at Norfolk Heritage Park. I live in Lowfield, and have magpies nesting in the trees opposite. They have an amazing cackling sound - which easily distinguishes them from other birds. My daughter (who has learning difficulties) loves them - they are her favourite bird. I like them because they pick off the slugs and snails in my garden first thing in a morning.

Magpies do kill smaller birds and rob nests of eggs, but killing cats? Just think about this claim for a moment, and you'll realise a cat with claws can easily defend itself against a bird with a beak.

Originally posted by redrobbo
[QUOTE]Originally posted by vidster
[B]I used to like Magpies until i moved on to Norfolk Park. I don't anymore :( . There are literally 100's of them and they scare, fight or kill any other birds (and sometimes cats too) away from the estate. There aren't many birds (excluding Magpies) around here anymore.



Magpies do kill smaller birds and rob nests of eggs, but killing cats? Just think about this claim for a moment, and you'll realise a cat with claws can easily defend itself against a bird with a beak.

I suggest you re-read my original post redrobbo!.

They scare,fight or kill any other birds (and sometimes cats too) away from the estate. :loopy:

It's plain to see i was referring to to the scare part when talking about the cats ;)

Hi vidster.

Don't want to split hairs over your use of grammar - so
gracefully acknowledge your clarification. Thanks for clearing that up.

As you live on Norfolk Park, I wonder if you have ever seen as many magpies at the same time as I once saw on the Heritage Park?

Originally posted by redrobbo
Hi vidster.

Don't want to split hairs over your use of grammar - so
gracefully acknowledge your clarification. Thanks for clearing that up.

As you live on Norfolk Park, I wonder if you have ever seen as many magpies at the same time as I once saw on the Heritage Park?

:hihi: Yes i am a bit of a thicko when it comes to grammar redrobbo :hihi:

I stopped counting Magpies ages ago but i'd guess i have indeed seen 40 or so a few times :o . About 6 weeks ago i saw a small group of them harassing a Kestrel :o

Hi vidster -

Apologies. Don't be too sensitive about grammar. I haven't got a clue how to add those little smiley things to a message, (and I can only navigate to various sites with difficulty). So, you've got talents that I most certainly lack.

Now, back to magpies.......they are really fascinating birds. What other bird do we know that has a counting rhyme? What other bird is so easily recognisable? Don't you just admire that brilliant flash of black and white feathers? I think the latin name is pica pica (or is that a crow?). They are, like jays, a member of the crow family.

I suspect you see 100s of magpies around Norfolk Park due to the close proximity of the Heirtage Park and associated ground cover? Next time I'm on the park, I'll see if I can beat my previous record count.

Did you know that the collective term for a group of magpies, rather than a "flock", is a "tidings of magpies"? Or, less often, a murder of magpies, a gulp of magpies or a charm of magpies.