Man 'clonked on head' in swooping buzzard attack

A man has described the moment he was struck by a swooping buzzard as he walked along a footpath, saying it felt like someone had "thrown a brick" at him.

Ben Storer said he was walking near the village of Coleorton, Leicestershire, when the bird attacked him.

"I didn't see anything, didn't hear anything, but just got clonked on the head from behind," Storer said.

Stephen Cleaver, who owns Gellsmoor Restaurant, which is located near the footpath, said people had come in with "blood dripping from their heads" and that staff had also been targeted by "Boris the buzzard".

Storer said he went into the restaurant to clean the blood, but that on his way back the buzzard attempted to attack him again, despite taking a different route.

The 50-year-old told the BBC he later visited hospital for his wound to be cleaned and glued, where he said staff had a "hard time" believing the cause of the injury.

"I was lucky, it could have been a child," Storer added.

Cleaver said the buzzard had been flying at residents every spring for almost five years.

"You can see it from the car park flying around and it has attacked a lot of staff - some of the young kids that live in the village - and they come down here to work and walk down the alleyway there.

"So they are just swinging their T-shirts to keep it away from them," Cleaver added.

James Geary, 32, the manager of the restaurant, said residents were scared to walk down the path.

He added: "I thought it would just be a one-off, but it has been happening for a while now.

"People are making this big deal of wearing hats or helmets to walk down there.

"It's certainly an issue, it has scared a lot of people, a lot of people won't go down there now, and you can see it circling ready to go."

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said buzzards, usually found in the countryside, were the most common bird of prey in the UK.

Their wingspan ranges from 1.13m (3.7ft) to 1.28m (4.19ft) and they tend to eat small mammals, birds and carrion, the RSPB said.

Heather Kidger, 47, who works at the restaurant, said the buzzard was "absolutely huge".

She said: "When we finish service, we will sit and have a couple drinks - me and the chefs after a hard day.

"We see him left to right across the fields here, you can spot him a mile off.

"We have taken photos of him actually; he is fantastic, a beautiful thing, but obviously very dangerous."

Wayne Housden, a falconer from Hertfordshire, who also rehabilitates birds, said it was unusual for buzzards to fly at people, but that the animal was likely protecting its young.

"It is breeding season now and it is protecting something," the 59-year-old said.

"I would think there is a big possibility that it has got a nest nearby and it has babies in the nest.

"The babies don't leave the nest until they are nine to 10 weeks old.

"It doesn't want you near it, but it is rare for a common buzzard to be doing what it is doing.

"They normally fly away from you - not at you."

Additional reporting by Dan Hunt

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