Woman plummets to her death chasing feather

Apparently, feathers are as deadly as they are beautiful as a middle-aged British woman has had the misfortune of learning.

Soft, fluffy and pleasant to observe with the eye, feathers are truly a magnificent expression of the never ending awe and wonder of nature. Beautifully intertwined within a bird's delicate plumage, these epidermal growths are in fact quite multi-functional. Birds use them to insulate against the cold, keep dry from water and as communication and mating tools. Of course, birds are also dependent on them for flight and this is precisely where the trouble begins. Curiously, these appendages tend to fall out and are replaced by fresh ones. When birds fail to collect and properly dispose of them in waste baskets, they inadvertently transform something as innocent as the down of a newborn duckling into a weapon of mass destruction. Left unattended, they can be found in forests and fields where birds are known to nest but also in urban settings near areas where certain species choose to regularly congregate like pigeons in a public park. In some instances when meteorological conditions are breezy enough, considering their light aerodynamic composition, they have been known to independently take to the air and float about like a plastic bag caught in an updraft. Some find this phenomenon utterly mesmerizing and are drawn in like a moth to a light . Such is the case of our unfortunate British friend who, in chasing the magic dragon, flew too close to the sun and paid with her life. In her 40s, the women was out enjoying a nice walk with her brother along a coastal footpath in the South-western English county of Devon when she encountered a floating bird feather. Picked up by the wind and moving away, the woman decided to chase after it in the process Ignoring safety warnings and coming dangerously close to the cliff's edge. With the feather still out of her grasp, she lost her footing and tragically fell, dropping more than 80 feet to her death on the beach below.

A spokesman for Portland Coastguard said: "A woman had slipped down the cliff after she went to retrieve a feather.

"She had been leaning over to pick up the feather and just toppled over. She received head injuries from which she later died."

Paramedics arrived on the scene and airlifted the victim to a nearby hospital but were unable to save her life. Sustaining massive head wounds from the fall, she died of her injuries the following day at Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester, Dorset.