A belligerent flock of rams caused havoc in a remote Pembrokeshire graveyard after picking a fight with their mirror images reflected on polished granite headstones.

Police were initially baffled when they were called to Llandilo Chapel, near Llangolman, to investigate what was suspected to be an act of vandalism.

But the damage didn't bear the usual hallmarks of vandalism, and the sheep droppings in the graveyard were the clues that led them to their conclusion.

PC Wayne Ebsworth said the rams, which had broken out of a nearby field, must have seen their reflections on the shiny headstones and taken exception to these "intruders" on their patch.

He said there were several headstones in the same row but it was only the polished ones that had been knocked over.

In one case a headstone and plinth were moved ten inches or more from their original location.

"If vandals had been responsible they would have toppled the headstones over, not moved the whole thing," said PC Ebsworth.

"There were scuff marks on the stones and this is just the sort of damage which would have been caused by a ram knocking its head against them."

The headstones are now in the process of being repaired.

A similar attack was reported three years ago when a ram caused nearly £11,000 worth of damage to a line of new 4x4s in a Pembrokeshire field.

The vehicles had been parked in a paddock next to Greens Motors, Haverfordwest, which was being used as an overflow car park for new registration vehicles.

A ram had wandered through a broken fence and set about battering and denting door panels.