Joggers told to wear helmets amid bird terror

And other stories from the stranger side of life

Two runners

Runners have been told to wear helmets in a Scottish village after an aggressive buzzard left a runner with six holes in his head. Ewan Cameron, 46, said it was the third time the belligerent bird, with a wingspan of up to 60in, had attacked him, sinking its sharp talons into the back of his head. Paul Reynolds, from the New Arc Wildlife Centre in Aberdeenshire, told the BBC that runners should avoid Friockheim in Angus if possible, or “wear some sort of cap or a helmet”.

Party balloons close down Gatwick airport

Abandoned prosthetic leg goes to auction

A fibreglass mermaid, creepy dolls and a prosthetic leg are among the items found on Texan beaches set to be auctioned to benefit a local wildlife rehabilitation group. Haitian money, an old bible, a Chinese beer, steamship coal from the 1800s and a message in a bottle from Jamaica, will also go under the hammer to help raise money for the sea turtles. The items were all found on local beaches during the past year, noted UPI.

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Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.