One for sorrow?

The KC has twigged we are going away soon. The sight of suitcases brings her out in a rash of very uncharacteristic cuddles and a noticeable increase in the more characteristic carnage (did I mention the recent snake?). Gifts of dead birds / mice / frogs etc are just her little way of showing me just how much she loves me. So I really shouldn't've been that surprised, as I was pottering about this morning changing the bed for her catsitter (who she adores) & piling stuff up for our much anticipated Scottish summer holiday, that the KC surpassed herself. I heard an almighty screeching coming from downstairs. Good grief I thought, that’s a very loud Magpie – in fact you’d think there was a Magpie actually in the house based on that noise .... then a very loud & pointed MEOW floated upstairs & I thought – uh oh, hang on and ran downstairs into the conservatory where I saw the KC furiously rushing up & down in front of one of the sideboards & heard flapping & LOUD screeching & saw lots of – well bird cr@p everywhere – and suddenly saw an enormous beak pop up behind said sideboard attached to a fledgling Magpie!! How on earth the KC had managed to catch this thing was beyond me – it was almost as big as her (see honest to scale images) but more scary was its general pointy-ness / spikey-ness – it seemed to be all claws & beak & shrieking! Hubby was packing for a quick biz trip before hols which meant he heard nothing as he can actually honestly only do one thing at a time & if he’s packing it means he can’t hear, so I had to think quickly before blood & feathers joined the bird poo. Opening all doors & windows in the conservatory (but not the roof windows, no time) I managed to ‘persuade’ the ‘little’ magpie out from behind the furniture. Now here I am trying to save it & what does it do? Flies straight into the only closed window! Oy vey! Slightly dazed it then realised that a whole double door was wide open & finally flew back out into the garden but then perched back on the trellis from where it had been originally nabbed by the KC! Who was now back lying in wait... DOH! So I ran after it & shooed it off to the top of the leylandi. One of the few places the KC cannot get to ... then relaxed a little... although the KC is now fossicking about in a clump of Montbretia; lord knows what's next on her "this will show mummy I love her" list.