A golfer was enjoying a leisurely round with his mates when a cheeky magpie hijacked the game. Nick Livings, 36, was with friends Chris and Alex at Coulsdon Manor Golf Club in Croydon when the cheeky bird swooped in, brazenly perching on his golf ball.
Despite his best efforts to scare it off, flinging sticks and marching up to it, the feathered fiend seemed unfazed. Circling back, the bird landed on his golf bag, attracted perhaps by a shiny zip. In a hilarious turn of events caught on camera, the plucky bird didn’t shy away, even going so far as to nibble on Nick’s thumb as he tried to wave it off.
Recounting the encounter, Nick shared: “I saw the magpie fly out of the tree and land on top of my ball, which I thought was weird. Then it started really pecking at the ball, throwing it, and digging all around it. The closer I got I thought ‘maybe it just wants to be friends’ but apparently not. It latched onto the end of my thumb and I screamed like a little girl.”
The bird pecked Nick
Nick admitted that the incident ‘caught him off guard’ but luckily no golfers, or birds, were hurt. The trio apparently couldn’t stop laughing, but the bird ‘kept following (them) for a while after’.
Once the trio made it to the next hole, the persistent bird decided to part ways. Nick laughed off the encounter, sharing how his family and friends found the whole incident hilarious. He joked about his manhood being questioned, saying, “It doesn’t show me in the most manly of lights! I was attacked by a tiny little bird as a 6’2 bloke.”
Nick joked that the incident ‘didn’t show him in a manly light’
But it wasn’t just his pride that got pecked – the experience has left him wary of returning to the golf course. “I definitely wouldn’t go back to the course- especially now because magpies attack you! ” he exclaimed.
Revealing what went through his mind at the moment, Nick said, “I was definitely shocked. I put my hand out thinking ‘I am going to befriend a bird here, I can’t wait to show the kids’ and it obviously got the hump. I must have been near its nest or something, but either way the bird was having a sh*t day and it took it out on me.”
Stay updated on the top South London stories. Sign up to our MySouthLondon newsletter HERE for the latest daily news and more.