Strange magpie and jay behaviour

[singlecoil]

We have a pair of magpies that work the lawn visible from our bedroom window and the woodland beyond that. It's been the same pair for the last 5 years, ish. We know this because the male has a damaged tail, and we know he's the male because the other one virtually disappears in the nesting season. Only twice, we think, in the last five years have they raised young. This year we believe they did not raise any.

A couple of months ago we saw the male working the lawn in the close company of a jay. The jay was following him around. The magpie was taking no apparent notice of it, and neither of them was showing any aggression. We thought this was odd, but haven't seen the jay again until this morning, when once again it was following the male. The female magpie was there too, as she usually is, some way off.

Anyway, a repetition of the previous behaviour, and when the male magpie flew off, the jay did too, in close attendance.

Any thoughts about this?

[Grey Ghost]

No thoughts along a "twitcher" line. But, I have several magpies that come into my garden to feed (have counted 6 before now at one time) and also a pair of jays that have been "resident" for a couple of years now. They do not bother each other but do keep themselves apart. The magpies feed on the bird table and the jays use a hanging feeder in another part of the garden. They all scratch about the lawn on occassion and get very close to one another but I have never seen them square up or indeed look at all bothered by the presence of the other.

Guess they just get on