{"id":6897,"date":"2019-05-31T12:58:27","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T12:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/?p=6897"},"modified":"2019-05-31T13:00:26","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T13:00:26","slug":"magpie-red-in-beak-and-claw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/2019\/05\/31\/magpie-red-in-beak-and-claw\/","title":{"rendered":"Magpie, red in beak and claw"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Caution: this article contains no blood, but one of the photographs of an insect could be upsetting to sensitive readers.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mallow beside the ramp meadow in Gunnersbury Triangle local nature reserve <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A Magpie on the prowl for prey<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Magpies are rather omnivorous predators, feeding on whatever they can catch – the eggs of other birds are a favourite, along with chicks, and the juicy caterpillars and larvae of insects. Unlike foxes, which will crunch up even large beetles whole (leaving wing-cases and other recognisable body parts in their droppings), they feed selectively, eating the soft abdomen of large beetles like the Stag Beetle, and abandon the heavily-armoured thorax and head. The beetles, their bodies broken and their chances of reproduction gone, clamber slowly and pitifully about, sometimes for days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A newly-emerged male Stag Beetle in Gunnersbury Triangle, its abdomen and left wing-case removed by a Magpie, its right wing-case and legs broken. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On a happier note, we saw a Red Admiral resting in the woods on some Ivy. The Nymphalid butterflies are all getting scarce, so it was a welcome addition to the usual suspects — Brimstone, Small White, Speckled Wood, Holly Blue — on a day without much sunshine to bring the butterflies out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Red Admiral<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The surprisingly handsome flowerheads of Hemlock Water Dropwort, in the wet woodland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caution: this article contains no blood, but one of the photographs of an insect could be upsetting to sensitive readers. Magpies are rather omnivorous predators, feeding on whatever they can catch – the eggs of other birds are a favourite, along with chicks, and the juicy caterpillars and larvae of insects. Unlike foxes, which will … Continue reading Magpie, red in beak and claw<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[712,1454,8,1455,735,573,39],"class_list":["post-6897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natural-history","tag-gunnersbury-triangle","tag-hemlock-water-dropwort","tag-magpie","tag-mallow","tag-predation","tag-red-admiral","tag-stag-beetle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6897"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6905,"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6897\/revisions\/6905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}