Urglers,

I've read all of this thread so far and in defence of magpies I'd like to
point out that they have a very hard time too. There are plenty of birds
ready to rob any nest they can find and this has lead the magpie to evolve
the
strategy of roofing its nest but even that doesn't always work.

Notwithstanding the maligned magpie, do not forget that a cock robin might
have quite a hareem; so if one of his wives - the subject starting the
thread say - was killed - perchance those b . . . . y cats again - that nest
would be deserted.

And as for gulls that David Taylor mentions - they are the worst killers. A
few years ago on a fishing trip a few miles south of the Needles, a group of
gulls chased what looked like a skylark. The terrified lark flew round and
round the boat but would not land on it even though all the fishermen
crouched in the boat's cover (too large to call a cuddy). Eventually a gull
snatched it in mid-air and after dropping the lark a few times, one
swallowed it whole. But that's Nature I suppose and we should not denigrate
birds for doing what comes naturally.

Geoff