Mystery as dozens of birds found dead on Pembrokeshire road in 'eerie' sight

The woman who found the birds said she didn't want to remain at the scene as it was so eerie. Credit: Media Wales

Around 200 birds have been found dead on a road in Pembrokeshire in an "eerie" incident - and the cause of their death is a mystery.

The grisly discovery was made by driver Michaela Pritchard, who was travelling between the villages of Waterston and Hazelbeach, near Milford Haven, at around 8pm on Thursday evening.

Ms Pritchard described the scene as a "massacre" and said it was such an eerie sight that she didn't want to remain there, instead phoning Pembrokeshire council to report it.

The council later confirmed it had removed around 200 dead starlings from the road, but that the cause of death was unclear.

Another man in the area at the time said he heard a loud noise before several birds rained down on his car.

Ian McCaffrey, who works in Waterston, said the birds fell out of the sky just after he heard a large "electrical"-type bang.

He said: "When I left work last night [Thursday], I heard a bang and then a load of birds landed on my car.

"Every now and again you will hear a bang that is coming from what I think is a crow-scarer that farmers use. However, this bang was more like an electrical bang - not quite as loud as lightning, but similar.

"It’s like there were hundreds of birds in the sky and all of a sudden they just died and fell to the ground. It was quite surreal last night, to be honest with you - not something I have ever experienced before."

Pembrokeshire council said the cause of the birds' death cannot be ascertained. Credit: Media Wales

There is seemingly little explanation for what caused the birds to die so suddenly, and it is also unclear what might have caused the bang reported by Mr McCaffrey.

A spokeswoman for gas firm Dragon LNG, which is based in the area, said there had been nothing unusual at the plant on Thursday and it was carrying on work as normal.

She added: "It's in the vicinity, but it's normal operations at Dragon LNG. There was nothing different at the plant."

Other theories for how the birds died include electrocution or being chased by a bird of prey at dusk before hitting the road surface.

Pembrokeshire council said it was aware of the incident.

A spokesman added: "We received a call at around 9pm on 10 February regarding a number of dead starlings on the Hazelbeach Road, Waterston.

"Officers attended the site and there were around 200 starlings found dead on the road. The authority undertook a clean-up and removed the dead birds from site.

"There is no clear indication as to the cause of these deaths. We have reported the incident to the Animal and Plant Health Agency."

It is not the first incident of its kind in Wales - in December 2019, hundreds of starlings were found dead on Anglesey.