magpies attacking hedgehogs

I am not sure about this, but I have heard that hedghogs if they have an unjury or cut or even dirty as in scour etc. in the soft hair around beneath the prickles flies can blow on the dirty or infected area and cause maggots just like in sheep and that the birds will pick these maggots off! we have seen it happen in sheep and often it is a magpie you will see doing this. if no one else comes up with a professional answer this could be what was happening. I suppose in a way it is natures way of controling the intruder!

I know that magpies will often attack and kill other birds for food. They are normally scavengers (they are after all just the handsome branch of the crow family) but do hunt when they can't get carrion. I suppose they would attack a hedgehog if they wanted food. I have heard of them going for young rabbits.

John.

magpies are of the crow family and are true opertunists and very inteligent like rats and us and like us they have spread all over the world because they can be so diverce excuse my spelling.any opertunity is an opertunity so yes for that perticuler pare that is normal

thanks for the replies guys, its just that i had never seen this happening before. this happened early in the day when it was bright out, only seen hedgehogs when its dusk or dawn.
maybe they were after maggots that were on the hedgehog or maybe they were going for the kill

As hedgehogs are nocturnal,the magpies may have sensed that something was wrong with the hedgehog,and as predators always go for the weak and sick.Sad but true

Magpies will attack anything, especially anything bright, I have found milk tops along with rabbit skins in their nests.
Another member of the crow family, the Jay will do more harm to young birds.
.

there is always sometyhing very wrong with a headgehog out in the day.very true irish .magpies are omnivores much like ourselves and rats like i mentioned earlier.the other thing about opertunists like us is we tend to e very inteligent.if i was going to recomend a pet for a kiddie or infact an adult it would have to be a rat.as my friend pointed out there so inteligent,friendly and trainable ,loving etc he wont keep them because he gets to atached and they dont live long.in some situations crows are more inteligent than chimps.anyway i hope you enjoyed that useless bit of information lol take care bye for now.i realy enjoy this sight

i did enjoy reading that , thanks.
i did know a guy who used to have a pet rat , he said them same as you that they are highly intelligent. how long do they live for?

about 2 years but up to 4 if your real lucky.i hate the fact that i got to loose a dear friend (my dogs) about every twelve years let alone 2 years.another tip if you ever want a rodent pet use cat litter with know chemicals or perfume instead of sawdust.trust me much better all round

you can get pedigree rats my son had a siamese cat coloured rat it was lovley and loyal and he never had the lid on.it slept with him ,went to the loo in one place in its cage etc.trouble was he got to realy love it and then it died

aye your right, that would be the worse part, losing them after only a few short yrs

yes it is a real shame.my boy used to sleep on the pillow with his rat next to him.it quite obviously preferd him just great.i realy dont get the thing wear people dont like there tails.i just dont get it

Interesting comments. I came across a baby hedgehog on the lawn early today -- being nearly the longest day -- It had its face pecked out and fresh bloodied, absolutely no doubt ravaged by a magpie. I assume the poor thing was a bit slow in following its mother back 'home' into the hedge-bottom at 4am-ish.