I woke early to the noise of a magpie. It was a jarring, croaking cacophony and as it was only 6:30am on a day I did not work I felt aggrieved.
Pulling open the curtains however, I saw that as this was early Spring, the World was very much awake. The sun was painting the scene with shades of yellow green and the magpie was shouting just because he could. How liberating, I wouldn’t mind giving it a go occasionally.
This magpie, solitary and menacing had been following me for weeks. At work, on holiday, at the stables, outside the car and now so loudly, at home. Well maybe not this magpie exactly but I was sure it was a sign, an omen.

‘One for sorrow’ thats what they say and I was waiting for it…
I hear a magpie most mornings, calling, shouting and I know he has a mate. She was usually also visible to me but not today and not with all the other recent visitations.
I sat on the side of the bed watching ‘my magpie’ hop from branch to branch on the tree outside.
‘What are you trying to tell me?’
‘Are you warning me of something bad?’
I drove myself mad with my superstition.
As I watched, a pigeon flew on to the same branch as the magpie.
The magpie moved along.
The pigeon followed.
The magpie hopped to another branch.
The pigeon followed.
I thought magpies were much more aggressive than pigeons, so I was intrigued.
It fed my paranoia!
‘What was this exchange, what did it mean?’
The chattering and feather fluttering, went on for some minutes and I suddenly realised this was not aggression at all. They seemed to be playing.
Something else was moving in my peripheral vision but not wanting to miss anything of this act, I ignored it.
When the play reached an interval, I watched the two very different birds move together, almost touching before the pigeon flew out of the tree, straight towards my window, pulling up at the last minute to clear the house.
The magpie was alone, my single magpie again, laden with its heavy omen especially for me.
Except then I realise the movement in the corner of my eye was another magpie on the green…elation…’two for joy!’
A third magpie hopped into view and my mind whirred into action. ’Three for a girl’, what could that mean? On and on my mind went inventing all sorts of scenarios where ‘girls’ might feature negatively.
When sanity prevailed I felt ridiculous.
As I watched, one of the birds (a parent) approached and fed the youngster, the one I had been watching cavorting in the old oak tree, it was possibly taking its maiden flight, landing precariously in the tree and attracting a pigeon ‘playmate’.

The reason for seeing single magpies in my life was because the other half of the pair was obviously sitting on a nest somewhere.

I watched the lovely little family, together on the green…no real omen then.
No real message at all, except that perhaps things are never as they seem and often never as bad as you imagined.