The owner of a small holding said he is on high alert after hearing the news that five of his neighbour's chickens had been slaughtered.

Derek Barnes, known as Barnsey, of the Wild Patch, Brampton, was devastated to learn that the birds had been killed with sticks and stones.

Offenders broke into a secure enclosure in Tarn Road, sometime between 4.30pm on Friday and 8.30am on Saturday and carried out their brutal attack on the helpless birds.

It brought back chilling memories for Barnsey, who lost 45 of his birds and poultry following a shooting last May.

The air rifle attack wiped out about 90 per cent of his ducks and in total there were about 45 ducks, chickens, geese and pigeons killed.

A mound of stones now lies as a mark of respect to the birds buried beneath them.

The 59-year-old of Hornsby, who runs The Wild Patch with his son Chris, said: "If this is happening again it is soul destroying.

"I'm relieved it wasn't us but one minute you are on cloud nine and then it's like your legs have just be kicked from you.

"When I buried them birds for Chris, I knew every one of them by name.

"It's horrible. The people out there who are doing this, it's not nice."

Following the shooting Barnsey stepped up to ensure the stock he had left was protected and often carried out patrols on a night.

He has since managed to re-home a lot of the birds he had left but still keeps pigeons.

"It's very scary for me. Now I'm on high alert again," he said, shocked it had happened again so close to home.

"I will be sitting in my car at night.

"I don't want to have to dig a big hole and put my birds in it again."

The Wild Patch managed to bounce back after readers responded to the killing on Facebook.

By June the patch was thriving again after so many donations of ducks, chickens and geese as well as guinea fowl and even turkeys were handed over.

Anyone with information is asked to contact officers on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.