Reporters Jen Mills and Jenny Dyer took umbrellas for protection (Picture: w8media/Metro.co.uk)
The crow might have thought David Cooper’s black coat was a rival, prompting it to swoop down and attack.
‘Suddenly I felt this thing yank at the hood, and then the fluttering of wings on the back of my head,’ the finance worker, 50, told Metro.
David fell victim to south London’s most notorious angry bird, which has gone viral in the affluent suburb for terrorising cyclists and pedestrians.
‘I had no idea what was going on and I turned and ran,’ he explained. ‘I stopped and I could see it was up in the trees. I just had to walk away backwards because otherwise I knew that it would come for me.’
Thankfully, the bird didn’t injure him, but others on the leafy street have not been so lucky.
Townley Road in East Dulwich used to be best known as the home of 400-year-old private school Alleyns, but recently journalists have been knocking on doors for a more unfortunate claim to fame.
It’s not a new phenomenon, with the first reports of attacks surfacing over a decade ago, but residents say the last few years have been particularly ferocious for the murder of crows living alongside them.
Although one resident branded the furore as ‘bullshit’, everyone living nearby knew about the birds when Metro.co.uk visited this week.
Dashcam footage shows 2 aggressive crows attacking a cyclist in Townley Road, Dulwich 23/5/24. @Southwark_News @mysouthldn @AlleynsSchool @SthLondonPress @itvlondon Be careful when walking past Beauval Road. pic.twitter.com/fKy23ZDvkj
— DeTours360 (@DeTours360) May 23, 2024
David Cooper blames his hood for a crow going for him last year (Picture: W8media)
Scanning the streets for its next target? (Picture: W8media)
Neighbours Stewart Williams and Angela Wilson, who told of crows attacking a cat (Picture: W8media)
Residents groups have been sharing dashcam footage and warning of hotspots (the junction with Beauval Road is a particular danger zone).
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A dad-of-two, who asked not to be named, told how the crows started nesting on his roof on Beauval Road, prompting him to put netting around his solar panels to feel safer coming out of the front door.
He told how a man was ‘clawed up’ last year by a crow which drew blood, and ‘you saw people coming out of their houses with umbrellas’ to protect themselves as crows were attacking people ‘almost every time somebody went past’.
Street cleaner Robert Taylor, who looks after the high street next door, keeps ‘a wide berth’ from crows after a terrifying incident six years ago in Surrey Quays.
While taking his nine-year-old stepdaughter to school, he noticed a baby crow …read more
Source:: Metro
