DARFIELD churchyard has fallen silent this year after a spate of attacks on wildlife in the area.
Greater spotted woodpeckers, pheasants and nuthatches all frequented the All Saints Church churchyard, on Church Street.
But this year, the birds have not returned - and those that have, have suffered at the hands of a group of rifle-wielding youths hunting them down in the area.
Members of the Friends of Darfield Churchyard, the group which voluntarily maintains the church grounds, have found the ravaged corpses of hen pheasants near the mining memorial and have seen a group of four men taking a dead squirrel out of a tree.
** The full story appears in the Barnsley Chronicle, dated August 28. **
