An extraordinary nest, currently on display in the Hunterian Museum's entrance gallery at the University of Glasgow, is part of the growing National Nest Reference Collection being developed jointly by the Hunterian Museum and Dr Mike Hansell of the Division of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Glasgow.

The nest was donated recently by Mr and Mrs Douse of Plymouth who rescued it after it was blown out of a cypress tree in a storm.

Magpies tend to build a large nest with small branches and twigs and line it with mud and plant material. However, this nest is definitely more than your average 'des res'. The bird appears to have learned that builders' materials make good nest components and has used metal ties pinched from a nearby building site to strengthen its construction.

It has also incorporated bits of barbed wire and old coat hangers creating a nest which would look equally at home at the Gallery of Modern Art as in your garden.

Dr Mansell explained, "Although unusual, this nest tells us something about how magpies select materials and how man made materials are increasingly a part of birds' lives.

Magpies are among the most impressive nest builders we have, both in terms of the size and complexity of the nest structure and they have been very successful in adapting to human interferance. This nest shows something of the adaptability that may have helped them survive so successfully in our urban world."

The nest will be on show at the Hunterian until the beginning of November.

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Magpies (scientific name Pica pica) are some of the most familiar birds in Britain ? they are handsome small crows with black, white and iridescent greenish-blue plumage. They are often seen in small groups and have a raucous call that they exercise in territorial and other disputes with their neighbours.

They eat a wide variety of foods including the eggs and nestling of other birds and can be seen ?bullying? garden birds (and squirrels!) around food tables. Undoubtedly this has led to some of the negative views people can hold about them.

For further information or image, please contact the Press Office on 0141 330 3535 or j.hodgson@admin.gla.ac.uk

First published: 26 August 2003