Bloody magpies picking on my cat

[MrsGeologist]

Three sodding massive magpies have moved into our garden and taken th picking on my cat. They fly right near him, making their awful chattering noise and they peck him and swoop away. As soon as he goes out, they go for him, and it doesn't matter if he's in the front or the back garden. They'll find him and peck him.

It's clearly stressing him out, and he's been spending loads of time indoors, when he loves being outside. Is there anything I can do to deter the evil bastards?

Shot gun?

Are they nesting? If so then they might just be protecting their young. Not nice for your poor cat though but they obviously see him as a threat and are getting their oar in first.

I did think that, but would probably struggle to source one.

Has he by any chance hurt one of their babies? I witnessed my cat being bullied by blackbirds last year, as soon as he walked out the door they were on at him and this happened for a week or so. He had a baby blackbird and we managed to get it off him and let it go, it ran under the shed but since that incident he was bullied big time.

My puppy (12 with arthritis) got absolutely terrorised a couple of years back by magpies, they were after fur to line their nests.

We gave her a damn good brush, poked holes in a poo bag and put the fur in that - then hung it on the line. They went for that instead, and puppy got to lie in the sun like a graceful old lady.

I've not seen him catch one, and though he was a good hunter, he's had health issues recently, and is a lot less active as a result.

If they are nesting, it's too high for him, he can't climb the trees in our back yard (he has a gammy leg)

Magpies can just be bullies, we get lots of the around here and I've seen them picking on a fox, nowhere near a tree, just sat there, they took turns trying to tag-team the fox, pulling on his tail and then flying to the fence. Fox got fed up eventually and walked away, magpies flew away having had their fun...