WILDLIFE experts are carrying out an investigation amid fears that seven geese which have lived on the River Nadder in Wilton for around eight years have been shot just as their nesting season begins.

One goose has been rescued alive and is now living in safety in the care of Wiltshire Wildlife Rescue.

As to the fate of its seven friends, Phil Groombridge, who runs the rescue charity, fears that they have all been shot.

Mr Groombridge said there was no reason to shoot the geese and he is now trying to find out who did it.

He told the Journal: "I understand that the geese have lived on the river in Wilton for a long time.

"Some residents loved them but some people did not want them because they came into their gardens and on to their land.

"All they had to do was to ask Wiltshire Wildlife Rescue to collect the geese and move them away from the area."

Mr Groombridge received a call last week to say that a number of geese living on the Nadder at Wilton had been shot.

He said: "I went to investigate and saw there was one goose left.

"It was very frightened and would not be caught.

"I returned with help and we were able to capture it and take it away to a safe place.

"It is their nesting season now.

"I am trying to find out if they were owned by someone or whether they are wild. Either way, they should not have been shot."

The Avon Advertiser's sister paper the Salisbury Journal has also received an anonymous letter claiming that some residents living near the Nadder in Wilton, disliked the geese because of the mess they made.

The letter writer said the geese swam daily on the Nadder "causing no harm to anyone" but overnight they had vanished.

The letter said: "The truth is they have been culled. Was this really necessary, could they not have been found a new home?"