The Magpie and the Peanut Feeder

I had seen the magpie standing on the edge of the water bowl and stabbing ineffectually at the peanut feeder with its big beak a couple of times. It has now refined the technique and is getting peanuts, although it seems to me a great deal of effort for very little reward. This is how it works: it perches at the edge of the waterbowl from where the peanut feeder, one of those cheap ones with a clear plastic mesh, is only just in reach. The beak is way too big to go in through the holes, so it uses its tongue to manoeuvre half a peanut end on to the mesh so that it just pokes through, then pulls it the rest of the way out with its beak. It then drops the bit of peanut in the water and picks it up from there to eat. I watched for at least twenty minutes, during which time it got three morsels of peanut, then flew off. I suppose I could be nice and put whole peanuts on the tray for it to pick up, but I don't like the idea of sparrows, for example, trying to force a whole nut down a baby's throat, and anyway I admire a bird which shows enterprise and is prepared to put some effort in for a treat.

Yesterday's seeds? Goosegrass. I remembered that I had leaned over a wall to pick up a dead umbrella for consignment to the litter bin, and that's where I got them. I checked later and there are plenty more...