Maggoty pie

Four magpies were noisily intent on something on the lawn this morning. They may have been simply delving into the damp earth for worms and grubs or they may have been caching or retrieving the same. They are known to hide food underground for later. An experiment using coloured beads and pellets of  scrambled egg has demonstrated that magpies have excellent visual and geographical memories for the whereabouts of their stash..