You'll be glad I didn't;t actually take a photo of this, but it is the saddest thing.
Magpies apparently have a partner for life and stick together – hence the upside of the saying 'one for sorrow, two for joy' – because normally there are two of them in sight.
So it was a bit of a surprise to find a healthy looking large adult magpie – brown bread on our lawn a few days ago.
Mojo was cruising near it, though most likely in a 'I'm pretending I caught this' kind of way, as there weren't any feathers on the grass, or any sign of a struggle.
So I got the just-finished thick plastic cat food bag out of the bin and use it to pick up the body, and put the whole bag out in the driveway bin.
But since then….
… This poor other magpie has been swooping across the garden, sitting in the tree, hanging around on the fence – and is singing its little heart out.
Hawksey has been tormenting me saying 'it's crying out for its partner – where are you? I miss you! please come back!' – so now of course all I can think of is the heart broken magpie..
Realistically, it's probably not its partner and may even have killed the dead one, and is singing a song of triumph – but I cannot tell and I'm kind of wishing it might just fly away..
Poor magpie – may you find a new friend soon x