Farmworkers were left petrified on Tuesday morning when a hunter entered an Mġarr farm and fired shots metres away from where they worked, one of them being hit by a falling lead pellet.

One of the three workers, Salvador, from Spain, said he was deeply shaken by the incident, which took place when they were planting seedlings in an open field.

While no one was hurt, it was a close call, he said.

“I can’t believe that in Europe you can just walk onto private property fully camouflaged and start shooting a couple of metres from where people are working,” he said.

“This man could have hurt us easily.”

Another worker hit by a falling lead pellet, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, said the sound of three close shots startled them and then he felt the lead hit his back.

“I turned around and saw the hunter next to the tree, metres away. I knew it was just dead lead but I was worried he would shoot again, so we started shouting and followed him,” the worker said.

However, once they got close, the hunter, clad in sunglasses and a mask, turned around and hoisted his gun towards the sky “menacingly”. Fearing confrontation, the workers turned away.

Farm manager Paul Debono said he sought help from policemen who happened to be on the road but they said a report needed to be filed first.

On Wednesday morning he found an injured mallard duck that could have been the target of the hunter. He said hunters tended to be very respectful of the property but ex-pressed frustration at a “few rogue hunters” who came onto the farm and terrorised the owners’ family as well as visiting children, workers and animals.

“We don’t have problems with hunters and our issue is not with hunting. But it isn’t right for this to happen,” Debono argued.

Migratory birds are attracted to the farm because of a waterhole they had built a few years back, he explained.

Last year, one hunter shot a stork there, getting a slap on the wrist for it in court.

The owner of the property, Gloria Camilleri, said she was not against hunting but it was not okay for her family to feel unsafe in their home and her workers to face such threats.

“Sometimes, the shots are so close I fear we are going to get hit by a stray bullet from the trees,” she said.