A FEW days ago outside Stroud Maternity Hospital while waiting for oncoming traffic, a sight I began to think I would not see again locally confronted me, no it was not a stork but a thrush.

Back in the 1960s and early 1970s they were a common sight in my garden, foraging for snails then cracking the shells of the poor unfortunate mollusc to access the tasty morsel inside.

But alas they have long since vanished, so you can imagine my pleasure when out of the hedge popped this beautiful creature complete with a snail and promptly started to disassemble it on the kerb stone. Unfortunately I was unable to witness the conclusion of this rare sight as traffic waits for no man but what I did see certainly made my day.

Francis Ray

Stroud