'Massive' angry bird attacks jogger who initially thought he'd been punched by a drunk

A Cheshire man has been left with a gash to his head after a ‘notorious’ bird of prey attacked him whilst jogging.

Gaz Lewis was running along Wood Lane in Sandback when he thought he had been attacked by a drunk passer by. "About halfway down, I felt like someone had jumped out of a hedge and thumped me on the back of the head,” Gaz, 41, explained.

“I turned around expecting to see a drunken man, and there was nothing there. I was completely phased. It genuinely felt like a punch to the back of the head."

Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new feature

But, moments later, he realised he had instead been attacked by a ‘massive’ Buzzard, reports Cheshire Live. The bird, which is also believed to have dive bombed at least three others in recent weeks, then tried to attack Gaz again.

"I managed to duck the second attack and it swooped up into another tree and stared down at me,” he noted.

"I started running backwards so I could keep an eye on it. Eventually I turned around and ran as fast as I could to get away."

He said the attack left him with several injuries to his head. "It cut the top of my head and down the side of my head,” he added. “I didn’t need any stitches but I needed some injections at the doctors."

Dr Matt Geary, Senior Lecturer in Conservation Biology at the University of Chester, explained that attacks by buzzards are ‘very rare’ considering how widespread the birds are. In 2016, the British Trust for Ornithology estimated there were 63,000 breeding pairs in the UK.

Dr Geary added: "There are a lot more of them about than people think. Generally because they’re wandering about their territories and not drawing a lot of attention to themselves most of the