Attack of the Pheasants, Peasants, Wild Non-Pedaling Things

[bagpuss]

oh and squirrels ,have'nt they heard of the tuffty club.

View: https://youtu.be/w_Ry9tiz9_c?t=4

 

[Blue Hills]

The worst I've had was a deer bounding across the road just ahead of me, had the deer jumped just a second later it would have smashed into my side, which would probably have been a tad painful.

yep - had that once in Kent when leading a ride.
Few seconds later and there would have been serious injury maybe even death - they do seem to have a habit of leaping across roads without any warning - hence those signs you get in some places which say "beware of deer" seem a bit pointless.

I did once have bats flying in front of me on a Dunwich Dynamo - that was actually rather nice/cute - I like bats.

 

[Dogtrousers]

A few months ago a deer bounded across the road just ahead of me. That wasn't a problem. But it was closely followed by a baby deer whose legs splayed out Bambi-on-ice style when it hit the tarmac and skidded across the road. I had to jam the brakes on but contact was avoided.

Baby deer looked suitability embarrassed

 

[T4tomo]

I've had a squirrel do a part circuit tangled in the spokes of my front wheel, coming dislodged when he/she hit the back of the forks, and ran off

I also had an encounter with a low flying pheasant, cycling up an avenue of trees, so he couldn't get out he top of them, but he managed to miss me, but it was a tad scary, that would have hurt.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

We were on a CTC night ride when about half a dozen deer crossed the lane. Unfortunately one of the deer got its leg stuck in the rear wheel of a recumbent. We managed to free it, and its leg seemed to be ok.

There are quite a lot of deer in this county being King Henry 8th all hunting forests. A number of the lanes have known places deer like to cross.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I have also had bounding badgers when off road at night on mountain bike,

 

[Dogtrousers]

I ran over a squirrel last year. Daft thing darted across in front of me, then did an immediate U turn under my front wheel. I didn't go back to see how it was as my Squirrel First Aid badge has expired.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

My funniest was on my old cycle commute though. I used to have a commute I did on my mountain bike, a mix of off road and road and 13 miles in length. One section you go through a ford and then climb a hill past a lone house. You can’t go fast and there was a dog that used to try and bite my ankles as I went past.

One time it managed to sink it’s teeth in. However on that day, it was winter and I was wearing my winter cycling boots. Its teeth just sank into the plastic surround around my heel. It couldn‘t release its teeth and so it just yelped as I continued pedalling along and it’s head got whipped up and down. I had to stop and release it from my boot, after which it ran back to the house. On the commutes after that it would whine and then run off further back into the house grounds. That dog never bothered me again.

 

[figbat]

One our riding group was taken off his bike by a muntjac deer last year, breaking his collar bone into the bargain.

 

[Tim Bennet.]

On a group ride in Majorca, a rat darted across the road but went straight into the wheel of a rider ahead. I don't know how many revolutions it did, but moments later it was spat out and came flying back towards me, head first with its little paws outstretched. After a cartoon-ish, slow motion moment, it crashed into my chest, ran up my face and jumped off my helmet and was gone. I've never washed some minor scratches so thoroughly.

 

[Bazzer]

Pheasants seem particularly stupid. Never quite sure which way they are going to go. Wood pigeons also don't seem to be the sharpest of birds when facing an oncoming cyclist.
A couple of times have nearly runover grey squirrels as they made a split second change of direction.
A blackbird flew out of a hedge as I passed and it promptly decapitated its head between my spokes and front forks.
Twice now had birds of prey flying just in front of me having been sat on a post and startled as I approached.
Hit a badger on a night ride and broke my leg in two places.

 

[C R]

I had forgotten that I run over a small mustelid last year. It had gone half way across the lane, and then decided to do a u turn in front of me. I went over it with both wheels before I could even think about doing anything .

 

[KnittyNorah]

Not on my bike, but on my horse I have seen multiple instances of interesting behaviour of ordinary and even rare wildlife as the wildlife concerned very often only notice the horse and not the human on top of it, and they usually aren't the least bit bothered about the presence of a horse.

Many years ago, when osprey were only just returning to Scotland, I was riding along a track by a reservoir in the Peak District in the early morning when I saw a splash and a flash of black and white - then a big bird sat in a tree, tearing and munching at a big fish. An osprey on its way back up to Scotland! When I mentioned what I thought I'd seen at a lunchtime stop in a local pub, the barman 'hushed' me then looked around carefully before leaning across the bar and saying 'we know, but we don't talk about except to the RSPB ranger ... you're the first one this year to report it so I'll give him a ring later. Please don't chat casually about it is all he asks.'

 

[bagpuss]

Hairy caterpillars and beetles do not have an ounce of road sense between them.
The one on the right could do serious damage to a bike tyre

 

[nickyboy]

Nearly got taken out by an errant sheep. Decending off Stanage Edge to Marsden and doing about 30mph. Saw someone walking up the road with a dog. Didn't see the sheep that the dog startled until the last second when they shot across the road in front of me. Managed to miss the back marker by centimetres. If I'd hit it I'd have been in big trouble.

Sheep in the Peak District generally ignore cyclists but the dog was the catalyst