On the Wild Side

[Bazzer]

A couple of months or so back, had an owl swoop down just in front of my bike, clearly after some tasty snack in the hedgerow and ignoring me.
Regularly see pheasants on my commute. Males mostly just ignore me, even if I pass within 2-3 metres of them, but the hens are more skittish.
Come the rut, deer in Tatton Park, both male and female seem to move closer to the road and I have had deer running across the front of my bike as I rode through the park.
Probably most memorable was hitting a badger as it ran from a hedge whilst I was on a night ride. The resulted in my right leg being broken in two places.

 

[Globalti]

I once saw a tragic sight - late at night a builder's Escort van with a roofrack and spreadeagled on the front of the roofrack where it had been hit while swooping low across the road, a beautiful creamy white barn owl, pinioned to the metal, wings outstretched in the wind. Rather upsetting.

 

[DRM]

View: https://youtu.be/B3ejTHWrqSI

Some of you may remember seeing this video on You Tube of Michele Scarponi training whilst being followed by Frankie, sadly Scarponi died last April on a training ride, after he was struck by a pick-up truck, stage 5 of this years Tirreno-Adriatico was dedicated to him & finished in his home town of Fillotrano, where Frankie the Macaw put in a fitting appearance flying along side the team cars & peloton.

View: https://youtu.be/hA9K5-4mfdY

 

[Shortandcrisp]

This little fella on one of my evening jaunts last summer.

 

[Wobbly John]

Just remembered about deer - A few years ago, I used to ride about 6 miles, on Saturday nights, to see live music. A few times on getting back to our village at about 1am, there would be deer in the road, which would usually set off scampering along the road ahead of me, not knowing which way to dash to get away.