TERRIFYING buzzard attacks along a quiet country lane have finally come to an end as their nesting season has ended for another year.

Walkers through Kerswell Green, between Kempsey and Kinnersley, near Worcester, had been hit by a series of four separate swooping attacks in the last six weeks.

Parish councillors put up posters warning residents after Group Capt Richard Bridges, a 69-year-old RAF veteran, was knocked to the ground and badly cut in one attack.

And a fifth incident, when an aggressive bird "dive-bombed" a car and tried to grab its aerial, was also recorded some weeks before.

Birds of prey experts were surprised by the attacks, but said they were not unheard of.

"It's very rare, but sometimes buzzards can get quite defensive if people come near their nests," said Valerie Osborne, of the RSPB's wildlife team.

"They have been breeding fairly successfully in the last few years, so they may be somewhere they haven't been before, and not be used to people there.

"There were a couple of reports last year, but there's not too much to worry about, especially now the nesting season is finished."