Let’s make one thing clear, writes blogger Andy Richardson.  I don’t wish to trivialise the fate of a poor flightless bird which lost its life in vain on a Shropshire road. No.

The ostrich that died on the A49 on Saturday suffered enough, and, almost certainly, so did the driver who hit it.

As the keeper of six animals, I well understand the bonds we form with pets and livestock. So the ostrich, and its owner, have my sincerest sympathy.

But crikey. What a story. As an exercise in confounding expectations, ‘Ostrich Dies On Ludlow Road’, takes some beating.

I’d always thought struthio camelus, as it’s known to Latin scholars, was more likely to be found roaming the plains of Africa, the Middle East, or some other similarly hot and dust place. A major trunk road in Ludlow? No. A temperate market town in Shropshire…. On A Road…. No.

In many ways, the biggest shock is that the ostrich was travelling at a sufficiently low speed to find itself in a collision with a car.

Ostriches run along at speeds approaching 50mph, which far exceeds the limits of Sheet Road.

The ostrich was lucky not to get a ticket. Although, given its fate, it wasn’t lucky at all.

The thought that shines brightest, however, is this: Aren’t local newspapers great. Where else could you read about ostriches on roads, should you wish to do so?

The comedian Dave Spikey – a star of Phoenix Nights who plays Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn on May 7 – is compiling a book of stories gleaned from the provincial press. Who knows, the tragic tale of the ostrich and its grim fate may well make the final cut.

The title of Dave’s book will be I Gave Him My Kidney Then He Broke My Heart.The title was gleaned from a true story in another provincial newspaper. It was the headline to a story about a woman who donated a kidney to her partner, who then copped off with her best friend.

When he said it was for life, she thought he meant the relationship, not just the kidney!