I thought I was helping by taking the Magpies home!?!

Hello Everyone,

I was walking along the road with my son today and spotted 3 young magpies huddled in the grass at the side of the road.  They were soaked through and appeared to be in a bit of a state.  When we appoached only one moved away from us.  An hour later we returned to check and they were still there and looking more forlorn (you can guess what's coming). I took them home and they are now drying out in a large box in the garden shed.  I have since realised that it's normal to find young birds on the ground so I am now worried that I may have snatched them away from their Parents!!! Also,I didn't realise that Magpies aren't exactly popular amongst the bird community.  Can anyone advise?

I would have said take them back but I am not sure now with the time lapsing. Someone will be along to advise you I hope. I don't know why people find them a nuisance I love the colours and antics of them. Hope they do okay :)

I once made the same mistake with a Collared Dove. I now leave well alone. With regards to Magpies not being very popular, well lots of birds aren't popular with other birds. That again is up to nature to sort. If you look at the Magpie section on this website you'll see that the RSPB has done some research which shows they're not as bad as their reputation. Plus they are a UK native. I do wish they sounded as wonderful as the Australian Magpie though

I think we do need to learn to leave well alone unless the bird is injured and we are removing it to get treatment.

Yes you did the wrong thing,

The best thing now is to contact an animal rescue centre.

 Ray

You live and learn. Never remove youngsters no matter how tempting it may be.

Magpies have a bad rep, there are also many you'll even find posting on here that'll want them dead because they view them as nasty things that eat all the babies of the precious birds in their gardens.

They have a right to life as anything else and are part of our natural heritage.

Magpies only have a bad reputation because they are such great opportunists and thrive well because of that.Like them or not they should only be controlled under licence

Agree with Seaman entirely.

Hi Emsky, our advice would have been to take them back to where you found them and pop them in the branch of a nearby shrub or tree. Their parents are usually very dedicated and should resume care once you have left the area. If this has not been possible then getting them to an appropriate wil animal rescue facility is the next step.