I stood and watched this extremely devoted pair of Magpies for more than half-an-hour today (3rd March) amidst the early blossom of an Evesham Vale apple orchard. Magpies are usually cast as the “villian” of the piece because of their tendency to predate the eggs and young of countless other bird species (although such behaviour has been proven by several agencies not to have any really detrimental effect on the population numbers of their victims). However, the ultra-vigilant and very smart Pica pica also happen to make tremendously loyal and doting partners and I took great pleasure in watching the male of this particular two-some acting out his proffering-based and exquisitely tender courtship ritual.

His MO was quite simple….fly off to find and pick the most appealing dessicated husk of an old apple from last year’s crop that you can find and then return to sexy partner with said fruit and proffer as a gift by gently nudging her with it, bobbing head up and down a bit and closing eyes a lot until she finally takes it from you. Then off you go again to find another, even better one. Meanwhile, the female of your dreams sits there with your special gift in her beak, probably wondering why you couldn’t find something shiny or at least a box of chocolates from somewhere instead, until she eventually gets fed up waiting and chucks it away (I know exactly how the male must be made to feel by it all….I mean, what exactly was wrong with the dead Noctule Bat I brought home for my wife to have a look at the other day, even if it did have a few fleas?)! Anyhoo, I went on watching the love-birds as the procedure was repeated four more times, at which point, both birds seemed to get bored with the whole thing and eventually flew off to join a bunch of other Magpies in a nearby field, probably to hold a special Magpie “Parliament” or something!