South London residents fear for their safety after four birds were shot dead with an air rifle at one local park.

Met Police will be patrolling Beddington Park after the incidents reported last week.

Four pigeons were shot in the park over two days, and a further four ducklings went missing, a local wildlife campaigner has claimed.

Saffron Gloyne said it is not the first time this has happened after swans were shot by a catapult in the park in 2021.

Your Local Guardian: A pigeon that was shot in Beddington Park last week (photo: Saffron Gloyne)A pigeon that was shot in Beddington Park last week (photo: Saffron Gloyne)

A graphic photograph shows a dead pigeon with a bloody wound through its body.

Last year the bodies of the swans were taken to the charity Swan Support where they were X-rayed to confirm it was the work of an air rifle.

Ms Gloyne, 42, said: “It has been going on for quite some time.

"Last year it wasn’t just pigeons it was cygnets and we hadn’t had baby swans for quite some time and they were shot through the head.

"It is so viscous I don’t know whether they are doing it for fun or for target practice.

"It’s a problem that seems to emerge in the summer.”

Your Local Guardian: one of the swans that was shot in the park last year (photo: Saffron Gloyne)one of the swans that was shot in the park last year (photo: Saffron Gloyne)

The activist said the incidents tend to happen in the late evening but worries that somebody could get hurt.

She said: “They are using air rifles in a very big family park, I am really concerned.

"We’re asking people to be vigilant and to take photographs if they see something suspicious. The hardest part is finding ot who is doing this.

“I worry that somebody is in a park with an air rifle. I don’t expect everybody to care about wildlife in the way that I do but somebody is shooting indiscriminately in a public park.”

Ms Gloyne said she has been in contact with local police who have stepped up patrols in the park.

The incidents have also been reported to the police by Sutton Council.

The council said it has told the Safer Parks Team, a service staffed by police officers but funded by the local authority.

It assured the team would be patrolling the area of the park the shootings happened when on duty.