For the third year in a row we have watched the blackbirds make their nests only for the local magpie to raid them.

This time we happened to scare it mid-theft and it left an untouched egg on the lawn which we returned to the nest. A couple of hours later Mrs blackbird is shrieking as the magpie is sitting in full view eating an egg.

This was the blackbirds' second attempt this year as their first nest was raided by the crows. They move trees every time, but the corvids know to look in our garden it seems.

Does anyone know of a way to help protect nests from predators? We tried putting some garden mesh over the top of the bush but it clearly wasn't big enough. I know the magpie needs to eat but it's so horrible seeing it happen again and again.

I live in Oxon, on a fairly mature housing estate with big trees, streams, unmowed areas for bugs, and so on.

I just had a little grey bird run into a window, even though there are anti-collision "stickers" on it. Beak was not that of a seed-eater like a grosbeak, more like a blackbird. Definitely adult, just grey all over. The head was darker grey but not black, no eye stripe or cap, some barring on the wings, medium-dark undercarriage.

Size-wise, well, he fit into an average adult hand, so probably beak to tail 8 inches?

Definitely not a swift or swallow, and the tail was in proportion to the rest of him.

Any ideas what he was? I've looked at dunnocks and shrikes, and none of them seem right, he's too big for a sparrow, to dull for a starling, and too light for a blackbird.

And, any advice on what to do with the body? The back fence is 30-ish feet from the house with a good hedge, so maybe the odor wouldn't be too bad if I put him out there for the rest of nature?

Weekly chat thread

Happy weekend everyone!

Let us know which birds you've spotted over the last few days, or whatever's on your mind about birds right now!

Have you seen any interesting articles, or learnt something new? Have you visited a reserve recently?