cue Hitchcock related "The Birds" hysteria...
Riding along a nice bit of local wooded singletrack and I feel a clunk on my helmet only to then see a large brown bird flying above the path ahead of me. I stopped and checked to see if I had managed to hit any low-lying branch behind me (which I hadn't); first thought was that maybe I'd managed to disturb the bird from it's perch - only explanation I can now think of is I'd got a little to close to her/his nest for it's liking...
I'd guess the wing-span was around 0.75 metres to a metre. Initially thought it may have been a buzzard but seemed to lack the white underside, maybe an owl?



