(A slight interruption here if you were expecting more on minimalism - back soon with that)

In the garden, there's a big fir tree and in the big fir tree (sounds like a song from the Whicker Man) every morning without fail, a Magpie - sometimes two - will come and sit and shout down from their branch at Hector, who invariably seems to quite enjoy shouting up at them. It's become 'A Thing' but over the last two days, something odd has happened.

They've begun to leave me presents because I've been leaving stuff lying around for them to make a nest with - either that or they are enjoying the apples left lying on the ground for the rabbits.

I didn't think very much of it on the first day. On the first day, it was just a perfectly shaped stone dropped in a very obvious place. So perfect was the stone, I picked it up, took it inside and left it on the counter next to the radio.

Yesterday, I went outside to find another stone - pretty much exactly the same as the first one - left in the same place. Here:

There's plenty of stories about Crows and Ravens doing this, but none about Magpies - the only stories I can find are about how Magpies recognise your face, know where you live and will dive-bomb you for life if they are so inclined.

Maybe it is Crows. There's a lot of them around, I've just never seen them in the tree. That said, there is also a gang of five Jackdaws that hang around the shed.

The game continues.