A MOTORCYCLIST who died on the A470 last year had collided with a pheasant, an inquest has heard.

The accident occurred on Sunday, 12 November, when police received reports of a one-vehicle collision involving a black Honda motorcycle near Dinas Mawddwy.

An air ambulance and emergency services attended the scene but, the motorcyclist, named as 51-year-old Robert Neil Patterson of Rhos-on-Sea, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The impact of the fatal collision left the dad-of-four with a fractured skull and forced him to veer off the A470 an inquest in Caernarfon was told last week.

His death would have been instantaneous according to pathologist Dr Mark Lord.

North West Wales senior coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones said tests showed that Mr Patterson had no drugs or alcohol in his body and that his bike had no defects.

He recorded a verdict of accidental death.