Oh and Mary, a friend of ours, from Somerset originally, sings that blackbird song. The rhymes only work properly in dialect but my True-love can fake it pretty well too although he's American. It's a funny little song. It might even fit here somewhere with the bird-scaring songs.
Also a bit of a digression but Bob do you have Black-backed Magpies? or White-backed? or both? 'round your way.
And another for Q - The actor J L Toole took an Australian magpie back home with him to England in 1890 where it lived for a long time in his garden insulting all his guests. None of ours have ever talked! but they are known to be able to.
                                           Joy