Children distraught by sight of ducks shot dead at Holbury Manor Pond

DUCKS found dead at a Waterside pond by a mum and her distraught children had been shot through the head.

The woman had visited Holbury Manor Pond to feed the birds on Sunday, but found five of them had been killed.

"I don’t know how or why they have died but I would guess that someone has killed them," she said on social media. “Needless to say, we had two very upset kiddies carrying their bread. So sad.”

Alerted to the post, Edwin Holtham, who runs The Warren Copse and Holbury Manor Conservation Group which cares for the pond, told how he went to recover the birds’ bodies the next day.

"We only found three ducks on the Monday, so it may have been that the other two had been had by foxes," he said.

Mr Holtham said that initially it was thought the birds - two mallard and one coot - had been shot by an air gun.

But he revealed: “On inspection, it was obvious that they had been shot by someone using at least a .22 rifle. They were also probably using a telescopic sight as the birds had been shot through the head which is difficult to do.

“It was a really awful sight and just horrible.”

He has been caring for the pond for over 40 years and says nothing like this has ever happened before. The incident has now been reported to Hampshire police.

Mr Holtham said: “I have been contacted by the New Forest rural country watch police team, who said with no eyewitnesses and little evidence there may not be much they can do.

“What really worries me is that there is someone going round with a riffle who is capable of doing something like this.”