I was working away on my painting, desperately trying to finish it by the end of the afternoon when I became aware that I was not alone. There was a movement on a chair back, followed by a cute sound…

“Hoo hoo, chirrup (Hello),” came the voice.

I turned around to see the small magpie sitting on the chair at the end of the verandah table. I took a few photo’s and was surprised that he didn’t mind the little bleep of my mobile phone camera focuser.

“Want some bread?” I enquired.

“Hoo, hoo, hoop? (What’s bread?)”, came the reply.

Maggie had moved to the railings and I placed pieces of bread on the top rail. He pecked and was perhaps disappointed – he threw a morsel onto the decking. It didn’t taste any better there so he returned to the rail and sat.

“Aren’t you hungry?” I asked.

“Hoo, hoooo, hoo, chrup, chirrup! (Not really, Sally, I just like to watch you paint!)” he said.

And he sat and kept me company while I finished the painting…