A British royal shooting party has apologised to a local school, after children watched in horror as pheasants were blasted out of the sky and fell yards from their playground, the headmistress said on Wednesday.
Media said the Queen's husband Prince Philip, was one of the shooters on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, eastern England.
The children from St George's Middle School were shocked as dogs took the bloodied, dead birds back to the marksmen in full view of their playground.
"The school has a very thriving bird-watching club and a lot of the children that were upset were members of this club," headmistress Carol De Witt told BBC radio on Wednesday.
The party moved away from the school after a teacher asked them to stop shooting because the children, on a mid-morning break, were so distraught.
The children know that shooting is a countryside sport and occurs throughout the year "but we have never actually seen the birds being shot", De Witt added.
"Some of the children wrote letters to me to pass on to the royal estate asking that the shooting not take in place in the field when they were playing."
De Witt said the Sandringham estate has apologised and would try to stop shooting during school break times.