ON READING B Welburn’s letter of May 26, I was, in my head at least, immediately starting to compose a response in defence of this attractive bird, the magpie, even though I fully understand his reaction.

How strange indeed then that I too witnessed, for the first time in my life, the same incident.

A magpie swooped down on to a small conifer in my garden.

I rushed to get my camera to take a close-up of this beautiful specimen when I realised it was not just visiting but there to kill – a baby blackbird was the unfortunate victim.

The debris almost turned my stomach. Yet on reflection, what we had witnessed was nature at work, normal behaviour in the animal kingdom.

Sparrowhawks, magpies and definitely all birds of prey, though magnificent to look at, kill for food, including garden birds such as the tiny wrens, the robin, blue tits, blackbirds, even though their prey consists of insects and worms mainly.

We protect – and rightly so – larger animals such as tigers and lions that consume many of their fellow species for survival and accept their behaviour.

There is no cruelty in the animal kingdom, only humans are capable of cruelty.

And we kill for food, too, and when we tuck into our spring lamb or bacon butties, maybe we should spare a thought to the suffering we cause millions of innocent animals, and yes, I eat meat too, but I do not condemn magpies for attacking the odd bird, horrible though it seems.

Barbara Hudson, Badger Hill, York.