A buzzard has been targeting blonde women with ponytails while terrorising locals in a Scottish village.
The bird of prey, thought to be protecting its nest, has swooped down on at least three people in Brae, Inverness-shire.
Heather Hughson, 57, said she was left "pouring blood" after being hit on the back of her head while talking her daily walk.
She told the Daily Record : "This buzzard swooped at me from nowhere. The next thing I knew there was a big hit on the back of my head. It was some force.
“I was pouring blood and had two wounds – one more painful than the other. It was very swollen. I never thought in a month of Sundays I’d be attacked by a buzzard."
The laundry worker, who has resorted to carrying a stick to defend herself, said the bird apparently likes people "with blonde hair and who have pony tails".
And it is not the first time the buzzard has attacked a blonde woman. Heather, who has resorted to carrying a stick to defend herself, said: "I was doing my walk with a friend when we met a woman who was having a fit.
"She had a cut on her head and another on her forehead. She was pretty shocked. The buzzard is one of a pair that has a nest at the top. It is just defending its nest.”
She added: "I've been told it likes people with blonde hair and who have pony tails. I’m strawberry blonde and had my hair up.
“The woman I met who’d been attacked was blonde with a pony tail. Maybe it is agitated by the movement of the pony tail.”
Heather took to social media to warn locals about the bird, nicknamed Bertie, with others reporting similar experiences.
One person wrote: "My son has been swooped at by this bird a lot in the last few weeks!"
Another said: "I was too, while out running! He just brushed the top of my head luckily. Last time I ran that way I carried a stick."
And a third added: "I was followed and swooped several times on a walk up there last year."
Buzzards, which can have a wing-span of four feet, are mostly found in Scotland, Wales, the Lake District and South West England, but are now breeding in every county of the UK, according to the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds).
They are commonly found in villages, woodland, pasture, marsh bog, moorland, scrub, arable and pasture.
In some areas they are known as the tourists' eagle, often being mistaken for the larger bird of prey.
The RSPB says female buzzards can be aggressive while protecting their young during the nesting season.
A spokesperson added: “They don’t normally go for people – but it can happen."
