Owl's air attack bolt from blue

Charlie Barnett, of Pembridge, was on his way home from Leominster train station last Tuesday night when he noticed a tiny owl stranded in the middle of the road near 'The Leen'.

Concerned for the baby bird's welfare, the good samaritan stopped to pick it up and was suddenly struck around the head by a 'tremendous force'.

It appears that the parent owl, worried that its offspring was in danger, decided to target Mr Barnett -- hammering him with its beak and talons in a savage sortie.

Upset, confused and with a gaping head wound, he managed to struggle home where wife Bront and neighbour John Kiss took him to Kington Cottage Hospital.

"I was a bit worried because he was late home," recalls Mrs Barnett. "Then I heard the car horn going up the lane and I knew something was wrong.

"Charlie came in and said he had been attacked - I thought there had been a robbery. There was blood everywhere and the kitchen floor was soon soaked. It was absolutely horrible."

Several days after the incident, Mr Barnett is still in shock and has been left with bruising and a 'deep puncture wound' on the side of his face.

The Small Breeds Farm at Kington confirmed that a barn owl, with its huge wing span, was most likely to have been responsible for the unusual incident.

It is thought that the owls were out practising night flying and the fledgling had lost its way.

The parent was simply trying to guide it back on track when Charlie inadvertently stopped to help.

"This could be a lesson to people not to underestimate how strong these birds can be," added Mrs Barnett. "Charlie was so lucky that the bird didn't get near his eyes."

A century ago, Herefordshire's pioneering naturalist Humphrey 'Barmy' Gilbert alerted Hereford Times readers to the dangers of owls after he was attacked at his Bishopstone home.

A fiercely protective bird grazed his scalp with its talons and after that the ornithologist always wore an army helmet when out on owl patrol -- headwear that bore an array of scrape marks.

A HEREFORDSHIRE art dealer is recovering from his injuries after being ambushed by an over-protective owl in an extraordinary attack.

Charlie Barnett, of Pembridge, was on his way home from Leominster train station last Tuesday night when he noticed a tiny owl stranded in the middle of the road near 'The Leen'.

Concerned for the baby bird's welfare, the good samaritan stopped to pick it up and was suddenly struck around the head by a 'tremendous force'.

It appears that the parent owl, worried that its offspring was in danger, decided to target Mr Barnett -- hammering him with its beak and talons in a savage sortie.

Upset, confused and with a gaping head wound, he managed to struggle home where wife Bront and neighbour John Kiss took him to Kington Cottage Hospital.

"I was a bit worried because he was late home," recalls Mrs Barnett. "Then I heard the car horn going up the lane and I knew something was wrong.

"Charlie came in and said he had been attacked - I thought there had been a robbery. There was blood everywhere and the kitchen floor was soon soaked. It was absolutely horrible."

Several days after the incident, Mr Barnett is still in shock and has been left with bruising and a 'deep puncture wound' on the side of his face.

The Small Breeds Farm at Kington confirmed that a barn owl, with its huge wing span, was most likely to have been responsible for the unusual incident.

It is thought that the owls were out practising night flying and the fledgling had lost its way.

The parent was simply trying to guide it back on track when Charlie inadvertently stopped to help.

"This could be a lesson to people not to underestimate how strong these birds can be," added Mrs Barnett. "Charlie was so lucky that the bird didn't get near his eyes."

A century ago, Herefordshire's pioneering naturalist Humphrey 'Barmy' Gilbert alerted Hereford Times readers to the dangers of owls after he was attacked at his Bishopstone home.

A fiercely protective bird grazed his scalp with its talons and after that the ornithologist always wore an army helmet when out on owl patrol -- headwear that bore an array of scrape marks.