We are blessed with a friendly family of Magpie’s that treat our backyard as home. They serenade us during the day, provide constant entertainment, even help with the gardening, well perhaps help is a bit of a stretch… more like they wait till we’ve dug up the vege garden and then they pile in to see what has been uncovered.

Nonetheless, the sound of the maggies is a sound of childhood. It transports me back to age five at Auntie Mary’s house, at Marton, in the southern part of New Zealand’s North Island. My brother and I stayed for six months when our parents travelled overseas. There was a long line of macrocarpas down the farm drive to the front gate, to catch the school bus. It was alive with magpies!! The cacophony of warbling was like a symphony orchestra warming up - getting ready for the big performance, Every day it was the same.

So the magpie family - Darth and Mama [there’s a story to their names] the alpha male and his mate - and the various generations of offspring that are allowed to stay… keep us company, keep us amused and amazed, and above all brighten every moment they burst into song.

The incredible symphony of spring!!