How do I stop the Magpies raiding the nests in my garden, A few years ago I very rarely seen a magpie, now we have lost count how many there are. Last year the blackbirds nests were all raided and they got none of their chicks this year is going to be the same. I have tried to keep an eye on the nests and went into the garden this morning to see it raiding a nest right next to my consevatory door . They seem to be getting more confident and dont even fly off . I had a kestrel in the garden last week which picked up a robin and its awful to watch, the number of birds in the garden are dropping fast, what is happening to the wildlife and why are these birds suddenly coming into urban areas ?
Hi Debi,
The links here and here to our website may be of interest and help you to understand the interactions between predators and prey.
Magpies and birds of prey are just doing what comes naturally, it's a distressing thing to witness but in the grand scheme of things it is just the same as a blue tit eating a caterpillar or a song thrush eating a snail!
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Making sure your magpies have something easier to eat, such as kitchen scraps, cheese, dried / live mealworms, soaked reasonable quality dog biscuits, will help. We have a number of visiting magpies to our garden, but because they have a wide range of easy-to-get food they don't bother with riskier more difficult food sources such as having to try to get past parent birds to access a nest, and for the past few years I haven't seen any predation by the magpies, or even heard the blackbirds getting as upset with them as they used to.
Your kestrel was probably actually a sparrowhawk, something we also have. Unfortunately there are no other food sources that will distract a sparrowhawk. It's just a natural consequence of creating what is effectively an all-you-can-eat buffet for the hawk in your garden :(
A closed mouth gathers no foot.