I took a bird strike on takeoff from Shobdon. My passenger, who was a birdwatcher, assured me that it was a house martin, quite a small bird, but there was a hell of a bang, which I also felt through the controls. It hit the starboard wheel and then got deflected up by the propwash to hit the port elevator, putting a dent in it the size of my fist. At the time I didn't know what the damage was as I could not see either impact site, but the last thing I wanted to do was a low circuit and land back on a short runway in an aircaft that may not fly right at low speed.
Instead I climbed to 4000' and tried slow flight to see how the aircraft handled. When all was okay I decided that I'd if there was any damage to the undercarriage, brake pipes etc, that I'd rather return home to LPL and land on their nice long runway, with full emergency backup.
I sure as well wouldn't have been happy crossing water in it though!