A man has spoken of his living nightmare after his menagerie of racing pigeons was destroyed in a suspected arson attack in Cobham.

William Smith, 39, saw his pigeon lofts and aviary in White Post Lane, Sole Street, go up in flames at just before 11pm on Wednesday.

Two fire engines were called to the scene but it took an hour to extinguish the blaze and all 27 of his birds were killed.

Mr Smith, whose countryside farm was left crippled by a similar attack in 2013, said: "I got a phone call from the security guard here at about 10.45pm and he was shouting and screaming that the pigeon lofts were alight.

"I immediately phoned the fire engines, got in the car and went down there and it was just a huge blaze. Flames were up to 20 feet in the air."

The land is patrolled by a security guard at night, based in an on-site caravan. He was able to stop the fire from spreading into the neighbouring field.

Horses are kept in the field and Mr Smith credits the security guard with saving their lives. However, he says the loss of his birds has left him devastated.

"It is a nightmare, an absolute nightmare — I have kept pigeons all my life," he said.

"Through childhood and growing up I had them — I had my first lot of pigeons when I was nine years old.

"The pigeons had been kept here for about 18 months. These poor animals were my pets."

Mr Smith said this was the latest in a long line of incidents in recent years. The 2013 attack saw a fire rip through five stables, a barn and a static caravan.

Before that he has had three caravans set alight and another one stolen, two dead horses dumped on his land, five gates stolen, rubbish dumped by flytippers and a number of stable doors taken.

“It is a nightmare, an absolute nightmare — I have kept pigeons all my life." William Smith.

The eight acres of land have been in Mr Smith's family for eight years but he is fed up with the attacks.

He said: "We have been targeted here and it is an ongoing problem.

"We have had the property for about two years but I soon realised that the previous owners had trouble here as well.

"I do not know what we can do. No one will buy it because they will know it is being targeted. It is soul destroying."

Police are investigating last week’s incident and are treating it as a suspected arson attack.