So cruising up the A1 between Peterborough & Newark near Stamford at 4am the other morning in (zero traffic thankfully) I decided it might be fun to try and commit suicide and break a couple of well established and well adhered to golden rules.
Going along a nice straight section I see out the edge of my right eye in my peripheral a Barn Owl coming from my right, a split second later I worked out he was going to meet either my windscreen or wind deflector, so stupid ■■■ here decided it is a really good idea to flick the steering right to avoid a collision, total reflex action, and spent the next mile giving myself a severe talking to after causing the whole shebang to have an epileptic fit and weave back and forth in protest, had I flicked it just a touch harder it would have ended in tears.
Normally I would have stepped on the brakes to give the Owl a chance, as there was zero traffic and I was empty, had I been loaded or in traffic the Owl would just have had to ensure he had his lottery ticket sadly, I am normally very very disciplined with such things but clearly this time I had a brain ■■■■, I just thank the stars no harm was done.
A good reminder of what not to do, and why !!!
The Owl thankfully made it at least, and I lived to learn another valuable lesson !!
Owls are actually less intelligent than pigeons due to the fact that their massive eyes take up most of their head and leave little room for the brain.
I’ve only managed to hit two pigeons since driving hgv, but I’ve been hit by four owls in that time. Always smack in the middle of the windscreen and always made me jump out of my skin.
I had a Pigeon come out from the left once, skim the windscreen and then manage to hurtle down the whole length of the truck between me and another Artic, jammy barsteward lol.
Killed a pheasant today on the Beverley bypass. Daft ■■■■■■■ was toddling along and nearly across then, as it sensed me, it started flapping, took off, and hit my right in the middle of my MAN grille before bouncing down the road!! No damage to the truck thankfully.
Ive killed loads of pheasants they are thick as ■■■■! Killed a BMW once, swerved a few deer in my time cause they cause a lot of damage. Never hit any animals though even though you see badgers,foxes all sorts at the side of the road. I would be devastated if i hit a bird of prey love it when they fly near you but sometimes they get awful close.
I used to night trunk on fridges years ago…one night im just about at my turn off …suddenly fridge motor goes silent i thought check it out when i pull up …would be ten minutes or so…climbed up…poor old tawney owl stuffed through the radiator …luckily no back load.
Pheasants are the worst I got 1 stuck between the cab and headboard on a rigid scania didn’t realise until 4 days later fair to say it stunk once the engine started cooking it lol
grumbo:
Hit a Deer in a car…now thats what you call scarey.
Kin right it is . . didnt realise they could drive
Now that’s funny!
+1, pmsl
i like it when you see the crows on the hard shoulder or crash barriers, they are normally egging the pigeons on to fly across to the other side, i can see the crow saying, “yeah go on percy, go for it now, you’ll make it no sweat.”
percy goes for it, SPLAT, straight into the first truck, dead as a doe-doe, well, pigeon.
the crow and his mates wait for a gap in the traffic, hop out and drag the dead pigeon back in, then all have a good feast on old percy.
Bloody pigeons are pricks, I’ve had loads over the years. Had one week where i seemed to have one every day. Had one idiot the other week who thought he’d try and be clever and fly just high enough to clear the cab. Didn’t count on the cb aerial though did he? ■■■■.
Only ever had one owl. Passing Bristol on the M4 he splattered into the windscreen and slid up and got lodged in the external sun visor. He ended up staring at me through the windscreen, his head lolled at an unnatural angle. Eww. Had to pull the internal visor down to block the view. He was still there when i got to Reading, and i thought I’d have to pull him out, but as i slowed for the sharp bend into the services he slid back down and onto the road.
Had this little fella too somewhere in mid Wales a few years ago. Quick squirt with the jet wash gave him a final glorious flight
, and just this week had one smash the sun visor on a m.a.n 
