La pie chagrine

 Lorsque nous sommes allés chercher Wolfie à l'école vendredi dernier, nous avons aperçu une pie. J'adore les pies, je n'en avais jamais vu avant d'arriver en Angleterre. Nous étions un peu inquiet, car la pie semblait incapable de s'envoler et je pensais qu'elle avait une aile blessée. Mais elle s'est ramassée sur le toit de la maison du meilleur ami de Wolfie. Alors tout va bien. Quand on voit une pie, c'est "one for sorrow," comme le dit l'expression. Comme j'ai appris que j'allais perdre mon emploi vendredi dernier, j'ai trouvé que sa présence était assez appropriée.

Five Magpies for Silver

Last Monday, while we were on our way to pick up Wolfie from school, we saw magpies. Nothing special about it, the neighbourhood is full of them. But it is rare we see so many in one go. I love magpies, as you may know if you have read this blog. When I first came to this country to study, they struck me as exotic birds, since we don't have any where I am from.Or at least I never saw any before I came here. Anyway, first we saw four, then a single mapgie. I don't know if it means we saw a mischief of magpies, but according to the nursery rhyme, it is five for silver. Make of it what you will. Maybe we'll get rich, or richer. Or something else.

Magpies and penguins (a Wolfism)

 Wolfie said another Wolfism a little while ago which I have been wanting to share since. Today is as good as any. So anyway, there were some magpies in the garden and he said: "Magpies look like penguins." It is funny, because I never noticed and it is kind of true. Anyway, I love magpies, so there you go, now I will never be able to look at them the same way.

A mischief of magpies

We went to a wedding two days ago, spent the night on the venue, a hotel which impressed Wolfie a lot, because we told him it was a mansion. But I digress. Leaving the place yesterday morning after breakfast, we saw lots and lots of magpies on the way to the main road. One for sorrow, two four joy, three for a girl, four for a boy... Then some more. A group of magpies is called among other things, a mischief of magpies. It can have other names, but I think I prefer to call it a mischief of magpies, because I do find magpies somewhat mischievous. Or at least they always look like they are up to something. We see plenty of magpies round here, but I don't think I ever saw so many together before. I thinkif I was superstitious, I would say it was a good omen for the newlywed couple. In any case, we saw a mischief of magpies.

Two for joy...

Okay, so this is not the greatest picture, but a few days ago, I saw these two magpies outside and I took this snapshot through the window. Two for joy, just like the nursery rhyme.Magpies are a common sight in this country, but I never get bored or watching them. They look so elegant with their black, white and blue feathers.

The magpie

I mentioned two weeks ago that I kept seeing a magpie in our street, just on and around the neighbour's front lawn. I managed to take a picture of it yesterday, albeit not a very good one: I had to crop it quite a lot to be able to make it visible. As I said in my last post, magpies are the first sort of birds I noticed when I first moved in England. I always loved them, their distinctive colours, which I always found soberly elegant. So anyway, this is our new little winged visitor, a cute little magpie.

One for Sorrow...

In the last few days, I kept seeing a magpie in the neighbour's front lawn. when I first came to England, this is the first bird I noticed, as I had never seen one where I come from. I took a fancy in them, in spite of their bad reputation, they just look so nice and elegant. I tried to take a picture, so far I have not been able to. Anyway, thankfully I'm not superstitious, as my wife taught me yesterday that there is a nursery rhyme about magpies which can be quite ominous: "One for sorrow / two for joy / Three for a girl / Four for a boy", etc. I have seldom seen more than one magpie together and as far as I remember never more than two at the same time.

Trouvez la pie

Petit jeu pour commencer la journée: ma femme a pris une photo d'une pie dans un arbre, trouvez-la. Bon, c'est assez facile, surtout que ces temps-ci, ce n'est pas encore très vert dehors. Il y a bien des pies ici en Angleterre, ou magpies comme on les appelle. Leur  plumage de blanc, noir et bleu est assez distinctif et leur présence m'avait frappé la première fois que je suis arrivé ici. Je les aime bien et j'espère partager d'autres photos de pies où elles seront plus visibles.

The Thieving Magpie

I took this picture during our visit at Kew Gardens. There were plenty of things to take picture of, impressive views, I missed a lot of them, but I was happy taking a picture of a magpie. Fascinating creatures which I have discovered when I started studying in England. before that, I knew them from their reputation of thieves, but the bird meant little to me. I knew Overture of La gazza ladra since I had listened to it in the soundtrack of A Clockwork Orange and the role the magpie (and Rossini's opera) played in this Tintin album. Now I have to confess I know little about the bird still, close to zilch about their bad reputation as thieves of shiny objects, but I just love their look, the mix of white, black and blue.

Since I saw it and managed to take a close shot of it, I got the Overture of The Thieving Magpie in the head. I had decided to put it here, since I haven't had enough music recently.

Corvids and magpies

This picture was taken in the Lake District, in the Keswick Museum, every exsue is good to publish pictures from that time, even dead birds on display. It was a small museum but I was fascinated by what was in it.You can see here (I think but I am not sure) from left to right a raven, a crow and a magpie (or a hooded crow?).

Anyway, when I went out yesterday I saw lots and lots of crows. With the springtime colours, their black feathers make them difficult to miss. Oh and their distinctive caws! I am fascinated by these birds, which I used to dislike as a young child, especially when I was having breakfast, as I found their appearances and their cry utterly sinister. But then of course whatever is sinister also fascinates me, even at a young age, and I learned more and more about them and ended up loving them. I still find them sinister, but playfully so, knowing very weel that this is irrational superstition. Great working material for fiction or games.

Magpies are a different lot. I never even saw one until I campe in England. They have a very distinctive colour too, and I remember taking many pictures of them when I first came here. Before I associated them more with this Tintin album, maybe the best one ever. I never heard La Gazza Ladra, except its overture. Anyway, as this is the wildlife I see outside, I thought I would put some here on my blog.