SPRINGWATCH fans were left "vomiting and having nightmares" after horrific cannibalism scenes on the BBC show.
Thursday night's episode of Springwatch saw Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan checking in on the various birds they have been observing all week.
Chris revealed something major had happened with the female nightjar, who had already welcomed one chick, before another hatched through the night.
As they showed the footage from the night vision cameras, Chris narrated: "And then she returns to the nest again and the idea of course would be that she would have caught more food to feed her young chicks.
"And initially, though she's facing away from us, we see this movement and we think 'yeah that's her she's feeding that chick again'.
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"But watch what happens next, you simply won't believe it. She begins the same sort of movement but then she lifts her head and she's eating her own chick alive. And she swallows it whole."
A flabbergasted Chris then told viewers the Springwatch team had asked experts and combed reports and couldn't find a single example of a female nightjar eating their own young.
Michaela then shared one possible theory, saying: "We were - like you - so shocked when heard that news this morning, we definitely not expecting anything like that to happen.
"I think there must have been something wrong with the chick although you would expect the adult to at least let it die first. To feed on it live like that is just a complete mystery."
Viewers immediately took to Twitter to comment on the stomach-churning scenes, which had aired as some of them were in the middle of their evening meal.
One wrote: "Really glad I tuned into @BBCSpringwatch just as I served up my dinner! Even Saturn the nightjar cannot put me off my pasta, however… ! Psychotic, infanticidal, cannibalistic birds – this is what you pay your licence fee for!"
A fellow viewer was in a similar situation, writing: "There I was, eating my tea watching #Springwatch, when that nightjar decided to eat her own chick. Not so hungry anymore..."
Another tweeted: "I’m actually traumatised by that chick eating nightjar."
A fourth added: "Us: Well the chick death on Springwatch can’t get any more gruesome The Nightjar: Hold my beer."
Meanwhile a fifth shared: "Watching #Springwatch on delay and OH MY GOD WHAAAAT THE ACTUAL… the Nightjar eating its own chick alive wasn't the start I was expecting."
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A fellow fan of the show admitted: "Seriously gonna have nightmares after watching @BBCSpringwatch tonight. That Nightjar footage will haunt me!"
Springwatch continues on Monday, June 12 at 8pm on BBC One.