Thanks Roger. Actually, on the bee-fly, we see them mostly in April, on pulmonaria and occasionally investigating celandines. But this year we have been seeing them irregularly for over a week- the pulmonaria are putting on a marvellous early show.
On another note- I'm having problems with magpies again terrorising anything that nests in our garden. We have a blackbird nesting in the tree fern, close to our conservatory but not in a particularly concealed spot. The other evening, a magpie found it and set the dam off squealing profusely as it approached, bringing the male in with his chook-chook-chook. The daschunds responded vocally (they hear these sounds when a c-a-t comes near) and saw the magpie off. Fortunately the blackbirds seem not bothered by the dogs or us.
Today, I heard then counted 13 magpies lined up and jostling on the roof-tops over the back. Perhaps paranoid, I felt convinced they were preparing an offensive against nesting birds in our row of back gardens, so took the App: 'Chirp' outside.
I played magpie, which drew their attention and quietened them. I then played raven which silenced them and stopped them moving. The buzzard, sparrowhawk and red kite followed, which each sent them off in ones and twos, until with only 1 of the 13 left, I came in satisfied.
The magpies seem to disappear at sunset, giving the other birds a decent foraging window at this time of year.
Originally Posted by: Bertwhistle