A BEWDLEY lollipop lady has to fend off an unpleasant pheasant, which is attacking residents and cars, as she helps children on their way to school.

Linda Hughes, of Wassell Drive, who works in Grey Green Lane and Clarence Way, said the male bird chased cars down the road and had also begun pecking people as they walked along the street.

She added: "He pecks at the wheel of my car as I drive down the road. He's not a bit afraid. How he doesn't go under the wheel, I don't know."

Mrs Hughes, who has been a lollipop lady in the town for three and a half years, believed it was nesting in a nearby tree and said the bird walked "around as if he owns the place".

The 53-year-old sees the pheasant every morning when she starts work and said it was often hanging around in the afternoon as well.

Mrs Hughes added: "If I didn't have my stick for protection, it would claw me to death. He has got really sharp claws."

She said her friend, David Mould, who lived in Clarence Way, was chased by the boisterous bird every day as he walked down his drive, adding: "It attacks him every time he comes out of his door. He has scratches all across his back from when it jumped on his shoulders and it pecks at his ankles."

Steve Bloomfield, a conservation officer for Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, said: "It is very difficult to know why it is acting in this way. They are not the cleverest of birds.

"There are thousands of pheasants around but I've never heard of one chasing cars before.

"It may be associated with the fact it has been fed by gamekeepers at some point. It may be relating this vehicle to one that has delivered food. It thinks food is available for some reason and is chasing vehicles to try and get it."