One for joy... the magpie that’s stolen our hearts
ONE magpie, so goes the nursery rhyme, is for sorrow.
But this one has brought nothing but joy to a couple who nursed her back to health after she fell from her nest.
Josie has now become inseparable from Danny Burgess and Katie Murphy – to a point where she will join them on dog walks, tuck into Sunday roasts and even sleep in the shower.
‘She’s an absolute character,’ said Mr Burgess. ‘There’s no getting rid of her – I used to shoo her out but she always found a way to swoop back in.’
Mr Burgess, 32, a paratrooper, and Miss Murphy, 26, a hairdresser, found her on the ground near their home in Braintree, Essex. Mr Burgess saw her wing twitch so placed her in an old rabbit hutch inside.
They kept her there for seven weeks, feeding her diluted dog food and water through a pipette.
But once she had recovered, she refused to leave. ‘She really seems to have taken to us,’ Mr Burgess, a father-of-two, added. ‘Honestly, it’s like having a cat. She’ll go off but come back and bring the sass.’
And it seems Josie lives up to the magpie’s reputation as an inquisitive bird with a tendency to thieve. ‘We’ll be there having a beer and she’ll come over and take a sip,’ Mr Burgess said. She also waits at the window for her r share of meals, he said, and has recently ecently slept on their shower rail.
Josie joins Dakota, a one-yearold Staffordshire terrier, on walkies. ‘She’ll jump on my shoulder so I look like a pirate,’ said Mr Burgess. Of the rescue, he added: ‘I just wanted to tell people of the great things that can happen when you help nature out. She’s part of the family now. We saved her life and she’s made ours richer.’