ONE FOR SORROW, TWO FOR JOY

Magpies are birds of the corvid family, which also includes crows, jackdaws, jays and ravens. Magpies are widely found across the world, especially in parts of Europe, Asia, North America and Africa.

Magpies are one of my favourite birds here. They regularly frequent my garden generally to scavenge for food. I always blame the birds for pecking open my rubbish bags in search of food. I'm perhaps unfairly blaming them as I once saw a rat bite its way into a rubbish bag. The reason there are sometimes rubbish bags in my front garden is that after about ten days there's no room in the large wheelie bin - the council only collects non-recyclable rubbish every fortnight here.

Do you have magpies where you live?

Allen William Seaby's A Magpie in a Pine Tree, c1906:

In England, magpies were and still are often seen as bad fortune or good fortune depending how many are counted. The book, Observations of Popular Antiquities, published in 1780, is the first known record of counting magpies as a harbinger, when the English antiquarian John Brand wrote: "One for sorrow, Two for mirth, Three for a funeral, And four for a birth."

These other lines were later added to the nursery rhyme: "Five for heaven, Six for hell, Seven for the devil, his own self."

And in the English county of Lancashire, records suggest other lines were also added to the rhyme: "Eight for a wish, Nine for a kiss, Ten for a surprise you should be careful not to miss, Eleven for health, Twelve for wealth, Thirteen beware it's the devil himself, Fourteen for Love, Fifteen for a dove, Sixteen for the chime of a bell, Seventeen for the angels protection. Eighteen to be safe from hell, Nineteen to be safe from a crime, Twenty to end this rhyme."

In his 1828 book, Salmonia: Or Days of Fly Fishing, the English chemist and inventor Humphrey Davy wrote about magpies: "For anglers in spring it has always been regarded as unlucky to see single magpies, but two may be always regarded as a favourable omen; ... in cold and stormy weather one magpie alone leaves the nest in search of food; the other remaining sitting on the eggs ... when two go out ... the weather is warm ... favourable for fishing.”

It's believed that Davy's words influenced the second line of the 'One for Sorrow' nursery rhyme, which has gradually evolved over time. It now reads: "One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for a secret never to be told."

In English folklore, it was and still is believed that when someone comes across a lone magpie, they should salute the bird to prevent bad luck. A typical salute would include the saying: 'Hello Mr Magpie. How are Mrs Magpie and all the little magpies?'

A few superstitious people would also spit three times over their shoulder and flap their arms like wings. The magpie has quite a place in folklore here.

Piero della Francesca's The Nativity, 1470-75 - a piece of Italian Renaissance art:

Here are six bits of magpie trivia - six magpies mean gold (I'm not superstitious!):

1. In France, unlike in England, magpies were more seen as harbingers of good fortune mainly because, it's claimed, that magpies alerted humans to nearby wolves.
2. A parliament of magpies is the most commonly used term used to describe a group of magpies.
3. Magpies are one of the few animals in the world that can recognise themselves in a mirror. They join the select group of humans, Asian elephants, bottlenose dolphins, cleaner wrasses (a type of coral fish), giant oceanic manta rays, great apes and orcas (killer whales) in passing the mirror test.
4. In East Asia, a magpies are often seen symbols of good fortune. In China, magpies are thought to bring good luck, and killing a magpie will bring bad luck. The magpie is the national bird of South Korea.
5. The name of the American rock band Counting Crows is derived from the 'One for Sorrow' nursery rhyme.
6. My local football team Notts County, the oldest professional club in the world, are nicknamed the Magpies because of their black and white playing kit.

Unlike some birds, such as kingfishers, ospreys, puffins, sparrows, starlings and swallows, magpies are thriving here. It's estimated that the magpie population in Britain has increased fourfold since the 1970s, because increasing traffic on the roads led to an increasing amount of roadkill providing an abundant supply of food for the birds.