How to Stop Magpies Coming Into Your Garden (Humane Methods That Work)

The most reliable way to stop magpies in your garden is to take away what draws them (spilled seed, open pet food, easy-access feeders and bare lawn full of grubs), then make their favourite lookout perches uncomfortable to land on. No humane method keeps a magpie out of the sky above your garden, so the goal is to make it unrewarding enough that they visit less and move on.

Why are magpies coming into my garden in the first place?

Magpies are clever, opportunistic omnivores. They tend to turn up for one of four reasons:

• Easy food: spilled seed under feeders, bread, pet food left outside, open compost or food waste in bins.
• Small birds' nests: in spring they take eggs and chicks from songbird nests. It's upsetting to watch, but long-term UK studies haven't linked magpie numbers to songbird declines, so this is something to manage, not panic about.
• Grubs in the lawn: they stab and pull at turf to reach leatherjackets and other insects, which leaves small holes and torn patches.
• Lookout posts: a fence top, shed roof, post or wall with a clear view of the garden is somewhere to sit and watch before dropping in.

Work out which of these applies to you first. The fix is different for each.

How do I stop magpies raiding my bird feeders?

Start with the free fixes:

1. Use a caged feeder. A feeder inside a wire cage with gaps of roughly 5cm lets tits and finches through but is awkward for a bird as big as a magpie.
2. Stop feeding on the ground. Fit a seed tray under the feeder, or switch to no-mess seed such as sunflower hearts so there's little to scavenge.
3. Feed little and often. Put out only what small birds will clear in a day, so nothing is left lying about overnight.
4. Move feeders close to cover. A feeder 1-2m from a dense shrub gives small birds an escape route and makes magpies warier of dropping in.
5. Take away the ground-feeding mess. Sweep up husks and dropped seed every few days.

If squirrels are raiding the same feeders, our guide to stopping squirrels getting to your bird feeder covers pole baffles and placement rules that also help here.

How can I protect small birds' nests and nest boxes from magpies?

You can protect nest boxes, but you must never disturb a wild bird's nest that is being built or is in use. That is illegal in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and it applies to magpie nests too. See Are bird spikes legal in the UK? for how this affects any deterrent work.

For nest boxes you put up yourself:

• Get the hole size right. 25mm suits blue tits and 28mm suits great tits. Both are too small for a magpie to enter.
• Add a metal plate around the entrance hole so a magpie can't enlarge it by pecking.
• Site the box in cover, such as behind a climber or in a dense hedge, rather than on an open wall with a clear approach.
• Keep the box off perches. Don't mount it near a fence top or branch where a magpie can sit and watch the entrance.

How do I stop magpies digging up my lawn?

Digging usually means there are grubs underneath. A few holes in autumn or spring are normal and the lawn recovers quickly. If it's getting out of hand:

• Lay lightweight netting or chicken wire over the worst patches, pegged down at the edges, for a few weeks. This is temporary but physically stops the bird reaching the turf.
• Check for leatherjackets or chafer grubs. Lift a small square of turf in a damp patch. A lot of grubs means the lawn is the attraction, and reducing the grubs reduces the visits.
• Don't overwater in late summer. Crane flies lay eggs in moist turf, so a constantly damp lawn grows more leatherjackets.

A few seconds of scaring doesn't solve a grub problem. Treat the lawn, or net it, and the magpies lose interest.

Do scare devices like reflective tape, CDs and decoys work on magpies?

Only briefly. Magpies are corvids and learn fast. Reflective tape, old CDs and plastic owls can unsettle them for a few days, but once they realise nothing happens they ignore them.

If you want to try them:

• Move them every 2-3 days so they stay unfamiliar.
• Use them to protect something specific, like a newly seeded bed, not the whole garden.
• Don't rely on them alone. They're a stopgap while you fix the real attraction.

We cover the same limits for corvids in our guide to deterring crows, and most of it applies to magpies too.

How do I stop magpies landing on my fence, shed or wall?

If magpies sit on a fence top, shed ridge or wall edge before dropping into the garden, take away the perch. Physical deterrents work because they don't need the bird to learn anything: the landing spot is simply unusable.

To do this:

1. Watch for a day or two and note exactly where they land. It's usually one or two fixed spots, such as the corner post or the shed ridge.
2. Fit deterrent spikes to those spots first, not the whole boundary. This keeps the cost and visual impact down.
3. Choose irregular heights. ThornGuard strips mix 12mm, 22mm and 36mm spikes. The staggered heights leave no flat gap a bird can balance on, which flat single-height spikes often do.
4. Wrap the post or ridge. The strip folds four ways, so it can cover a post top and its sides rather than leaving a ledge just below.
5. Fix it securely. Screws and cable ties come in every pack. On render, uPVC or a painted shed where you'd rather not drill, use the separate waterproof adhesive pads. Our no-drill fixing guide shows how.

See the ThornGuard spikes and the fitting guide for sizes and layout. We can't promise any deterrent will stop every bird in every garden. Spikes remove the perch, but a magpie can still visit the garden and land elsewhere, such as the lawn or a tree. That's why they work best alongside the food and feeder changes above.

The same approach works for pigeons, so our guide to stopping pigeons landing on your fence is a useful companion.

What should I do about magpies in trees I can't treat?

Tall trees are the one place you can't realistically deter them humanely. Magpies build large domed stick nests high up, and you can't touch an active one. If you want to reduce nesting in future, prune or thin tree branches outside the nesting season (roughly late winter to early spring is when building starts, so check carefully for any active nest before cutting anything). Don't use anything that harms birds or damages nests in use.

Common questions

How do I stop magpies coming in my garden?

Remove their easy food (spilled seed, pet food, open bins), switch to caged feeders, and fit deterrent spikes to the fence tops, posts or roof ridges they use as lookouts. You'll usually see fewer visits, but you can't expect a magpie to avoid your garden completely.

How do I stop magpies nesting in my garden?

You can't remove or disturb a nest that's being built or is in use, as it's illegal. Outside the breeding season, thinning or pruning trees can make them less attractive nesting sites, but always check there is nothing active before you start cutting.

How do I stop magpies digging up my lawn?

They're usually after leatherjackets or chafer grubs, so net the worst patches with pegged mesh for a few weeks and avoid overwatering in late summer. Once the grubs are reduced or out of reach, the digging usually stops.