Magpie horses around to feather his nest

Magpies, evidently, are given to feeding on the thick coat of a horse, along with their jackdaw flying companions.

THE warm weather brought mornings of mist to the south-west coast where the sun sometimes didn’t burn through until midday. On one such morning, I watched fascinated as a magpie, followed by a queue of four jackdaws plucked hair from a compliant horse in a misty orchard.

One after the other, they took turns to perch on its side and pull clumps of hair from its flanks as it lay, its legs folded under it, seemingly unconcerned by their attentions.