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The mystery of 300 birds that died on a lonely stretch of road in rural Anglesey only deepened today after a report from the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) ruled out most of the more obvious solutions.

The birds died on December 11 last year in Anglesey, Wales, after being spotted by local Hannah Stevens.

She said she had seen the "massive flock" flying overhead before landing and appearing to eat something in the road. An hour later they were dead.

At the time, police officer Rob Taylor said he believed the strange event could have happened before.

He said: "We've also been on Google as well and have checked for this and have found that this phenomenon has happened in Rome previously and has also happened in various areas of the UK as well.

(Image: Daily Post Wales)

"It's one of those strange ones.”

A couple of days later, North Wales Police said they had the answer, although they declined to share that information with the public.

They tweeted: “Thanks to everyone who has contacted us with possible reasons for the starlings dying.

"We believe we may have the reason now... but we are awaiting the toxicology and post mortem results before releasing it.”

(Image: Reddit)

Theories abounded, with everything from new 5G masts to poisoning and – of course – UFO activity.

But the DEFRA report has brought forward a new, and strange explanation that hadn’t previously been considered.

A spokesman for the Department said: "The laboratory's view is that blunt force trauma is the main cause."

poll loading What do you reckon killed the 300 starlings? 0+ VOTES SO FAR They were poisoned They flew too near a 5G mast They all caught a fast-acting virus They were zapped by a UFO

The spokesman added that virology, bacteriology and histopathology tests had all been carried out.

Bird flu had been ruled out and there was "no evidence of infectious diseases”.

A supplementary statement from the North Wales Rural Crime team said that the most likely explanation was that the birds had taken evasive action to avoid a predator,such as a bird of prey, and they had just flown into the ground.

(Image: Getty)

The general sentiment on Twitter was sceptical, with Dave Evans summing up public opinion.

He tweeted: “Not convinced at all. If it was true I would expect it to happen more often.”

Harry Hunter succinctly added: “B**tards.”