A dog walker has captured on video the moment he was violently attacked by a 'mad crow' and forced to flee.
Wayne Woollard was strolling along with his friend's West Highland White Terrier, Lilly, when the bird went for him and clawed at his head before turning on the pup.
After the 'vicious' animal swooped down and grabbed his coat, the 55 year old laughed it off but began filming as he noticed he was being followed overhead.
As he continued walking along Southsea Common in Portsmouth, Hants, near the city's Naval Memorial, the bird then struck his head.
Mr Woollard, of Southsea, videoed the crow flying down and clawing at him on his phone.
Eventually, he was left with no choice but to flee as the carrion crow began attacking Lilly.
The RSPB has now said it will send a worker to the area to check on the bird.
Mr Woollard said: "I was walking across the Common and I suddenly felt something grabbing my coat at the back and I realised it was a crow and laughed it off.
"Then I walked a bit further and it was following me. It was hopping behind me.
"I thought 'this is weird' - I’ve a funny feeling it was something to do with my hood, it was black so it might have thought it was another crow.
"It hurt the second time - it got my head so I swore at it.
"My friend’s dog started barking at it and chasing it, and it [went] at the dog.
"It lasted 15 minutes [in all] so I had to turn off and go home and get off the Common.
"They seem to be vicious at the moment."
It comes amongst a spate of attacks with the crow - or potentially crows - clawing walkers and runners along the seafront.
The reason behind them remains unclear but Keith Betton, chairman of Hampshire Ornithological Society, even suggested this bird may once have been someone's pet.
The 'Where to Watch Birds in Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight' author said: "For it to happen at other times doesn’t really make sense.
"So I’m beginning to think of whether this crow that’s in Portsmouth, Hants, has been, for example, someone’s pet and therefore associates people with food and friendship, and isn’t necessarily attacking but more approaching in the hope that someone is going to offer it food.
"Sometimes people take birds from the wild and think it’s a fun thing to have but they realise it’s going to be a bit more demanding than expected and let it go into the wild.
"If it’s happened there, it’s probably a bird that’s associating people with good as it’s been fed by hand as a baby and then been let out."
