Low-flying by the RAF caused the death of or serious injuries to dozens of horses, cows, chickens and other animals in a series of incidents for which the Ministry of Defence has paid tens of thousands of pounds of compensation.

Details of the payouts show the damage caused by jets and helicopters, with many claims linked to heart attacks, miscarriages and other injuries suffered by spooked animals. In the past 12 months the MoD has agreed to pay more than £13,000 to a poultry farmer for the death of free-range hens as a result of low-flying training that also damaged the hen house.

Other settlements included £17,535 for two high-pedigree milking cows that were injured in September last year by a jet that flew low over farmland in Carmarthen in Wales, and £12,443 for an eventing horse that had to be destroyed after a Tornado flew over it in Wiltshire in June.

Oliver Harwood, chief surveyor of the Country Land and Business Association, said: “Cows can often sit placidly and are untroubled by aircraft in low-flying areas but on other occasions, particularly if they are in calf, they get spooked by the screech of a Tornado as it comes over the horizon. On those occasions, cows can leap 5ft in the air in panic.”

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