Hop On/Hop Off

I was hanging my new lounge curtains this afternoon when I noticed events in Kevin the Downstairs Neighbour's garden taking a rather bizarre turn.

The muntjac deer I blipped a week ago ambled into view and started nibbling the usual shrubs. Then a chattering congregation of magpies all landed at once and tore around the lawn getting very excited about the deer. They began bounding after her wherever she went, then took it in turns to hop up onto her back and peck at her. She seemed in two minds about this, but overall she looked a bit overwhelmed and wary of the birds. Eventually she kept moving away from them and shaking them off whenever they managed to land on her.

Never having seen this happen before, I consulted google. It seems magpies like to pick ticks out of a deer's coat and eat them. This behaviour is called mutualism - the deer gets groomed and de-ticked and the birds get some food.

I managed to take a few shots of this amazing sight without frightening everybody off - all whilst being serenaded by a particularly vociferous Song Thrush over on the dead tree, and with a playful rough-and-tumble between two baby squirrels going on immediately below me.

So, Kevin the Downstairs Neighbour's garden is clearly the place where it's all happening. Maybe Springwatch should do their next series here.