Have been a supporter of Birdlife Malta, & CABS (Committee against bird slaughter) for a number of years now, & have brought their youtube videos to the attention of a number of birding friends. CABS also highlight the issues in Cyprus, Italy & Spain. Gozo tends to get off quite lightly compared with the ritual slaughter on the island of Malta, but the problem shows no sign of improving, especially when the Maltese government blatantly ignore any instructions from the EU, & also allow members of their Hunters federation to become government members, thus allowing any anti hunting proposals to be voted out. Until the EU take a stronger stand, & the Maltese Government realise that they are losing revenue from birders who refuse point blank to set foot on the island, the situation will never improve. The Police do their best, but its impossible to cover the terrain when resources for monitoring hunters are almost non existant.
I was recently initiated to the horrible situation carried out in Malta - why? Why is such stupidity allowed to reign at all in any shape or form? I saw the range of species, including Cuckoos afflicted and was just sickened. I'll never set foot there as a holidaymaker and certainly not as a birder
I don't doubt there are some positives Andy, nor that the situation on the relatively few reserves may be okay but overall the situation on the island remains worrying and depressing. I, like so many other birders who closely follow the unfolding annual hunting season on the island, can only hope that the positives increase, as does the excellent work by birders and conservationists over there and eventually the situation dramatically improves.
There are positives, I saw quite a few very good new signs/information boards describing the flora/fauna in the area, including the birds to be seen in each area, so there is a recognition that a lot of tourists are interested in the local wildlife. I can only comment on what I saw during my short stay, but chatting to the local birding experts at the Malta reserves, they tell me things are much better.
Relaxing holiday with binoculars at hand, weather mild & windy. Just caught the tail end of the main migration season for the Maltese Islands. Our first visit for 10 years, after spending some time researching on the internet, half expected a dearth of birdsong with dead birds and shotgun catridges littering the streets. Nothing could be further from the truth! Birds observed: Blue Rock Thrush (the national bird of Malta, quite common), Tawny Pipit (common), probable Richard's Pipit, Woodchat Shrike, Swallows & Red Rump Swallows, Swifts (too flighty to distinguish Common/Pallid), House Martins, Kestrel, Lesser Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Eleonora's Falcon (fantastic views from the ferry), Hobby, Honey Buzzard (seen daily), Montagu's Harrier, Spanish Sparrows (everywhere), Sardinian Warbler (everywhere), Zitting Cisticola (everywhere), Cetti's Warbler (quite common), Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Subalpine Warbler, Dartford Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Common Sandpiper, Yellow Wagtail (Cinereocapilla), Little Ring Plover, Spotted Flycatcher (everywhere), various gulls too distant for positive id. At Ghadira on the way back to the airport, Black-Winged Stilt, Little Ringed Plover, Little Stint
No signs of any hunters until the ninth day when a couple of bangs came from the valley near the hotel, the Honey Buzzard appeared flying sharply away from the bangs, a target for the shots? I do not know, there are hundreds of pigeons on the island that may be the target? Overall, a pretty exciting place to look for birds, you have the hotspots to yourself! Any freshwater you can find will hold a multitude of birds. Has the tide turned for the better? In my opinion definitely, speaking to the warden at Ghadira, he thinks so to, you will always get the odd bad egg, (there are enough over here) but it is perhaps time to talk about birding in Malta without mentioning shooters & trappers in the same breath.
No, the overall situation hasn't really got any better over in Malta. There are numerous links on the birdlifemalta website illustrating the absolute and total disregard for EU regulations and the restrictions on shooting and the season and some of the images portraying the amount of species and individuals shot have been completely disgraceful.
Whilst I don't doubt Malta has some great birding, the hunting issue over there continues to overshadow anything else and I'm afraid we should rightly be ensuring the issue remains highlighted in order for us to attempt to continue to combat it.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Thursday 23rd of May 2013 06:51:08 PM
