You may think Southbourne-on-Sea a fairly benign place, no bears or lions and no murders most weeks, but danger still lurks everywhere.
You can easily fall in when you take your discarded garments to the recycling bin…
Or trip and fall into an open grave.
Mown down by a three year old or ninety three year old on their scooters or any age on E-Scooters ?
Attacked by a pack of Woolly XS dogs…
Then there is the unexpected threat from nature in spring… the other day I was walking down the road and by unfortunate coincidence passed by at the exact moment a crow was chasing other birds away from attacking a bird in the gutter; it’s baby probably, though there is no CCTV evidence. It presumed I was part of the attack and dive bombed my head twice, drawing blood, though not enough to cause a visible drama. There were no human witnesses, no photo opportunities for Facebook, one of the rare occasions when I wasn’t dodging other pedestrians with phones in their hands.
I did think of reporting this on local social media, but knowing the thousands of comments, arguments and blame that wild birds and grounded baby birds usually evoke, I did not. Looking up on the internet it seems attacks are not uncommon if humans are too close to nesting crows. Though of course it could be the start of birds taking over the world… Scarier is the fact that crows are very intelligent and remember individual humans, so perhaps I can never walk down that regular route again.
All crows in this blog are played by actors. The Corvid Community would like to point out that they never attack humans and all allegations are totally unfounded.
Have you ever been the victim of a bird attack?
Times and Tides of a Beachwriter 
Ah yes, crows. How unpleasant for you, Janet. I’ve never personally been attacked by one, but once had to chase a whole gang of them out of my garden. They were attacking another crow mercilessly and would have killed it. Is this why the collective noun for them is a murder?
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Hello Barbara, that was brave, they could have turned on you. Obviously bullies. I wonder what happened to the hapless crow, hope they didn’t gang up on it again.
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Never occurred to me, and didn’t see the victim again. No wonder Hitchcock made the film. 🫣 We now have jackdaws nesting in the chimney. Different house.
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Glad you came out of that intact, Janet. Many years ago on the Ocean City NJ boardwalk, I had just purchased a large container of French fries about the same time as I was noticed by a seagull, who then became fascinated by the potential of carrying off said French fries…and me if necessary. I literally had to drop the fries in order to end the attack. I can laugh about it now, but at the time I was less than happy. (I got more fries later on…away from the ocean!)
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Hello Bruce. Yes our herring gulls love chips and swoop at the quayside to pinch someone’s fish and chips. I’m sure your seagull smugly enjoyed a feast after you dropped yours.
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A wonderful place to be nine or any other age for that matter. Crows have dive bombed me a few times over the years for no apparent reason. Very unexpected and unsettling.
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Yes Geoff, very scary and not easy to escape.
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Red-winged blackbirds have dive-bombed me when I’ve inadvertently gotten close to their nests. They become quite aggressive and continually swoop right over your head.
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Yes Pete, birds have the big advantage of being able to fly.
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There is a crows’ nest in one of my tall trees. It’s a wonder it’s survived all the wind we’ve had lately, but I think there are young crows in it now. The parents don’t seem to mind me walking around below; I suppose they know I’m harmless.
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That’s lucky Audrey, it would be a gardening disaster if crows decided to oust you from your own garden. My big old apple tree is full of chattering magpies, but I’m worried my resident robin has been displaced.
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Whew – Southbourne on Sea sounds like a den of iniquity. At least we’ve taken our pack of throat tearing XS Fluffies away.
I hope you’re alright after your corvid attack.
I haven’t been attacked by a bird, but did get some funny looks once when I pulled into a layby in a country road to eat a sandwich and ended up trying to protect a baby bunny from crows. I was dressed in a business suit chasing crows, and trying to entice the bunny out from under my car. Someone did pull over to ask if I was alright. I’m not sure my explanation helped to prove my sanity!
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That was certainly above and beyond the call of duty Jacqueline, you were lucky they did not turn on you for spoiling their lunch!
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I know! I didn’t realise crows were so vicious. 🙂
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I have had experience of road rage by a driver of an invalid scooter going at top speed along the pavement with people dashing to the right and the left and she nearly knocked me over… As to crows, we have woods quite close by and a custom built bird feeder surrounded by chicken wire so they can’t reach the centre. However, there are two hanging peanut holders on string attached to said feeder and they have now perfected the raiding. One stands on the birdfeeder and lifts the string attached to the peanuts and shakes violently whilst his cohorts stand beneath reaping the benfit. I do give them scraps on the side and there are a team who visit regularly including with their babies. They also enjoy the large square bird bath in the summer for a drink and a dip. We rescued one about five years ago who we think was hit be a car and suffered injuries to his head and beak. He couldn’t open it fully. We nursed him for six weeks until he flew away. But he returns every day still and eats any scraps. We know it is him as he can still hardly open his beak and he doesn’t ten to fly away if we get close.
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That was a lucky crow, does not sound like he would have survived without your help. He is also lucky other crows don’t pick on him.
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He has been able to access food all year round from the edges of the bird table and I usually put something soft out for him and he is particularly fond of over ripe avocados and bananas.. ♥
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If you are ever in the Trafalgar Square area of Central London, watch out for dive-bombing seagulls. They are not only after snacks, but will deliberately attack for no reason sometimes, resulting in quite bad cuts on unprotected heads.
Best wishes, Pete.
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When you see Herring Gulls close up they are bigger than you think.
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No bird attacks, thankfully! (The first time I watched Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” I was scared half to death.)
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Now I know where Hitchcock got the idea from. It is impossible to escape as they have the flying advantage!
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:O
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Who knew this country was so dangerous! I’ve never been attacked by a bird but our local crows do know me as I take them peanuts to the park.
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Hello Andrea, I was just reading that Dulwich has been having a particular problem with crows! Sounds scarier than Southbourne…
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Love this.
Gwen.
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Thanks Gwen, glad you enjoyed it.
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What a fun post Janet. Who knew that everyday non chalance could bring danger, lol. Oh, those birds, you can’t mess with them. I can’t believe they drew blood on you! You should meet our territorial Canadian Geese. You don’t with those guys. They will peck you alive! Lol. 🙂
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Glad you enjoyed it Debby. We know all about Canada Geese if we are talking about the same variety, who cause havoc among the local fowl at the pond.
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Our geese are very territorial, lol 🙂
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I was once attacked by a pigeon, and I remember checking and seeing all those birds on the trees nearby. Hitchcock’s “The Birds” came to my mind. Great post, Janet!
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Thanks, glad you enjoyed it or it brought back scary memories! ‘The birds’ once seen never forgotten. It would be terrifying to be attacked by a flock.
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