This is the bizarre moment a man hiding under a blanket hangs four dead pheasants outside a gun shop.

The birds were left strung up by their necks on the front door of Jack Hallam and Sons in Whaley Bridge, Derbys.

CCTV appears to show an elderly man with a walking stick and draped in a blue blanket, approaching the closed shop on Sunday (15/12) afternoon.

He then rests his stick against a wall before carefully hanging the dead pheasants on hooks either side of the door.

The man then grabs his walking stick and shuffles off along the pavement with the blanket still covering his head.

Shop owner Robert Hallam, 51, who took over the family shop from his father Jack who died 12 years ago, said he had been left "mystified" by the incident."

The dad-of-one said: "It's the strangest thing to have happened to me while running this shop."

"It happened in the middle of the day and no one saw a thing which is odd too."

"I don't know if it's a prank or a protest but we've had this shop in the village since 1935 and are a fixture here."

"We have hooks either side of the door where we hang Union Jack flags when the town has fetes and festivals. We've never had any issues before now."

Robert is hoping to use his expertise of shooting to track down the blanketed man and solve the mystery.

He added: "I go shooting myself and I can tell these pheasants have all been shot."

"It's still pheasant season but there are no organised shoots nearby which suggests these were brought in from outside the area."

"They [the birds] had not been freshly shot. I would say they were about a week old and I just disposed of them."

"Someone said it could be an animal rights group who did this but hanging dead birds outside the shop would be a strange way of protesting."

"I would like to know who it is, if nothing else than to solve the mystery."

The shop was established by Robert's grandfather Jack in 1935 and supplies equipment outdoor pursuits including air rifles and shotguns.

Robert said he had not contacted the police about the incident.