Mind you, the pheasant is probably glad he didn't: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-22342037

That Golf grille looks very familiar...

Reminds me of the time I hit a pheasant on my VFR. I saw a cloud of feathers in my mirror and assumed it had bounced off fairly obliquely, though whether it had survived the experience I couldn't tell. A few miles down the road, though, I began to detect the delicious smell of roast fowl and decided that maybe not all of the bird had been left in my wake. Sure enough, upon stopping I found a small pheasant barbeque sizzling away on the front exhaust downpipes. Mmm, nice... Subsequent investigation at home showed that a fair few of the plastic fasteners holding the front fairing together were broken, and a couple of the fairing mounting brackets needed bending back in to position. Surprisingly chunky things, pheasants, and can do a bit of damage when hit at 60mph+.

(Also brings to mind the unfortunate incident many years ago when a chap who died after hitting a fox on the A38 near Burton on Trent. IIRC he was driving a Triumph Spitfire and the impact demolished half his front suspension :( )

It reminds me about two "cat" incidents:

While belonging the Fiat Tipo, one morning my wife returned home minutes after leaving, shedding tears: "Come and see, I think I have killed a cat, the power steering is not working, I just drove 1 meter backwards and can't turn the wheels...there's a dead cat on the ground where the front of the car was !"

Poor cat was hiding in the engine bay, on the bottom enclosure. I have realized that while the engine was started, the cat's neck was trapped by the alternator / hydraulic pump belt, and the belt even went out from the pulleys ! It was the 9th life! That's the bad one.

The bizarre and happy end one:

While belonging the Fiat Doblo, before a drive to a project site, heading towards the car, I could see a small cat playing around the engine area, running on and off under the car. While approaching and entering the car I was sure it ran away beneath the car. Even slapped with the palm over the hood as I sometimes was doing because the above incident. Drove away for about 60 Km on highways. After the meeting, while heading the car at the site, I couldn't believe my eyes seeing the same cat playing in front of the car. As I approached the car, the cat jumped into the engine bay from the underside and placed itself on the partial bottom enclosure- shock horror- just few cm beside the pulley and belt- the only place it could seat during the drive! Unbelievable but that cat took the journey in the engine bay. A fireman from the fire brigade in front of the site helped me to get it out and I think he adopted it ! Not the 9th life but a scary journey for the cat !

Some years ago I was a passenger in a Carlton estate with some mates going sea fishing off Lowestoft. There was a few ducks in the road and the driver just kept going and scattered them. No feathers and no injuries. About thirty miles later we had parked up and were getting our gear out of the boot when we heard quacking at the front. Looking at the source it was a duck sitting in the void in front of the radiator, unharmed (duck and radiator). We got it out and it wandered off quite happily albeit at the seaside thirty miles away from its mates.

tom

I don't have any animals-I-got-stuck-to-my-car stories, but one night on the way home from the pub as a front seat passenger with my wife driving, something popped out of a hedge and took a glancing blow from our old Renault Megane. The conversation went a bit like this:

Her: "What was that?"

Me: "You don't want to know"

Her: "Why?! What was it?"

Me: "Are you sure you want to know?"

Her (now panicked and thinking she's hit a tramp or something): "WHAT WAS IT??!"

Me: "It was a wallaby"

Her: "...."

Me: "I saw it as clear as day - it was a wallaby"

Her: "....... are you SURE?"

Me: "100%"

Anyway, it turns out there are a few wallabies in the Oxon/Berks borders from escapes from local collections etc. We found some hair trapped in the bumper/wing panel gap although I'm sure it hopped away with little more than a headache and bald patch.

In the Highlands in winter the biggest risk is deer, especially at night. You have to keep a sharp eye out for the reflections from their eyes in your headlight scatter as they lurk at the side of road waiting to launch themselves out in front of you. If you hit them straight on it can be nasty for you as well as for the deer. If you hit them a glancing blow then you may get lucky and bag a freezer full of venison - plus a hefty bill for straightening out your side panels.

A few years back our younger daughter hit a muntjac deer in my wife's Citroen C3. It appeared to have done only superficial damage to the bonnet, but a full check showed up all kinds of bent and broken bits that cost about £500 to put right. And the deer just ran off!

A few years back our younger daughter hit a muntjac deer in my wife's Citroen C3. It appeared to have done only superficial damage to the bonnet, but a full check showed up all kinds of bent and broken bits that cost about £500 to put right. And the deer just ran off!

Around Woburn there are 1000's of Muntjac deer and it's quite normal to see them on the roadside. If you do hit them square on at speed then the damage can be substantial. A work college hit one on the way to work on the A5 and more or less wrote the car off.