Members of a private tennis club in Surrey have accused the club of an attempt to “deliberately conceal” the secret culling of several beloved local geese.

The exclusive St George’s Hill Lawn Tennis Club in Weybridge has a star-studded clientele, drawn to its peaceful lakeside atmosphere.

But discontent erupted after management hired marksmen to kill the club’s resident Canada geese, as well as their goslings, previously reported.

Neighbours told they heard gunshots at around 5:25am on 16 July, and were later horrified to learn that eight geese had been killed.

One said members were “furious” after the cull, and claimed they were initially told the geese had been rehomed and “flown off”.

The club’s chief executive Miles Hill had said the cull was “not a decision the Club wished to take, nor one that was taken lightly”.

In a statement, the club said the culling had followed “many months” of attempts to control the geese through non-lethal means, and that the volume of faeces on the courts posed a health and safety concern.

has since reported that members remain enraged by how the process has been handled and one member has now raised “serious questions” about the “judgment, integrity and accountability of the CEO and the club’s senior leadership”.

An email from long-term member Seema Parikh, reported by The Times, asked why members were told the birds had been moved at first.

She wrote: “It appears to have been a deliberate attempt to conceal what had happened until the truth emerged from elsewhere.”

Ms Parikh added that she was: “particularly concerned that staff, including young and relatively junior employees, appeared to have been given the rehoming story and expected to repeat it to members”.

She said that she spoke to a staff member over the phone, who “appeared genuinely stunned” and “upset” when the truth about the geese was revealed.

In response, a club spokesperson told information was “deliberately restricted” to those involved in making the decision.

They said: “This is why, initially and immediately following the cull, staff were wrongly informed the geese had been rehomed. No employee was told the information was false.

“It was intended to shield staff from a difficult conversation, not to deceive anyone, but the effect was the same, and the instruction should never have been given.

“On 24 July, once it was clear that staff were being drawn into questioning they were not equipped for, Miles Hill wrote to the entire staff team setting out the full circumstances, the reasons for the decision, the prolonged hygiene and safety problems, the non-lethal measures previously attempted, and the legal basis on which the licensed contractor acted.

“He acknowledged in that communication that some staff had previously been told the geese were rehomed.

“The decision not to announce the operation more widely in advance reflected concerns about safety, confidentiality and interference with the contractor's work.”

The spokesperson said the cull was carried out legally on club land on the “grounds of public health and safety, following a prolonged period in which non-lethal deterrent and dispersal measures had proved unsuccessful”.

They also said the club social media accounts were suspended after staff began receiving abusive messages following the initial coverage. and it is now reviewing its communications processes and is developing a comprehensive wildlife management plan.