As the spring hunting season reached its height, Kurt Sansone headed out into the field with BirdLife volunteers monitoring bird migration and reporting illegal hunting

Binoculars in hand and standing on the ledge peering towards the horizon, Joe Cockram, 25, spotted what appeared to be the silhouette of a bird.

“It’s an egret,” he shouted as he rushed off to the powerful telescope and zoomed in on the magnificent white bird as it flapped away over the sea. “It is a great white egret.”

With blonde dishevelled hair, Mr Cockram is a typical avid birdwatcher armed with binoculars, a camera and an ability to identify birds that would otherwise look like black blotches for the untrained eye.

BirdLife volunteers spotting birds and hunters at Għargħur. Photo: Jason Borg

“You learn to spot tiny little dots in the sky and filter out the rest,” he said with a smile that carried with it the enthusiasm of somebody who regarded every bird spotted an adventure. “I’ve been a birder for 18 years, practically all my life.”

Mr Cockram is one of 50 foreign volunteers forming part of the Spring Watch camp organised by BirdLife Malta, a bird conservation group.

The camp, spread over two weeks, coincides with the spring hunting season and is intended to monitor bird migration and help the police enforce hunting regulations by reporting instances of illegal hunting.

Nick Barbara, a BirdLife volunteer, explained that the volunteers were divided into nine teams of between four and five members with each team assigned to a particular location around the island.

Volunteers wake up early to be on location just as the sun begins to rise and when hunting is most likely to occur. They also do field work in the afternoon until the sun sets.

With a map of Malta and Gozo spread out on a large table, Mr Barbara coordinated the locations where each team would be. “Delimara is a particular hotspot and hunters are well organised there because there is practically only one road leading to the peninsula,” he said.

Some hours later, while standing on the Għargħur ledge, Mr Barbara received a report from one of the teams stationed at Delimara. “They spotted a peregrine falcon and four shots were fired but it managed to escape.”

Hunters, who applied for a special licence, are allowed to shoot only quails and turtle doves until the end of April in a limited spring hunting season also conditioned by quotas. The government allowed 11,000 turtle doves and 5,000 quails to be shot, substantially more than last year when the season was limited to 9,000 turtle doves and 2,500 quails.

Hunters also have individual daily and seasonal bag limits: they can only shoot two birds a day and a maximum of four in the whole season.

From the Għargħur vantage point, the BirdLife volunteers recorded about 70 shots being fired in just over three hours. Identifying from where the shots came was very difficult.

“It is already difficult to monitor hunting areas and ascertain that only licensed hunters are actually in the field let alone monitoring how many birds are killed,” Mr Barbara explained.

BirdLife has consistently opposed the opening of a spring hunting season even if the European Court of Justice did make a conditional concession in Malta’s case because autumn was not considered a satisfactory alternative.

On the day migration was weak and, yet, various bird species were spotted flying over Għargħur. From little house martins that twisted and turned graciously to a solitary blue rock thrush that rested on a rocky ledge and bee eaters that darted behind bushes, the volunteers noted the numbers.

Mr Cockram spoke of last year’s spring camp visit. “In one day I saw as many as 200 marsh harriers. It was breathtaking. It was as many as I’ve seen in England in my whole life.”

The central Mediterranean migratory flow was less voluminous than those in the east and west but it was no less important, he said.

However, he was also surprised there were very few resident birds that nest on the island and blamed hunting for the situation. “It is astonishing how there are so few resident swallows despite the numbers that pass over the island or the complete lack of resident kestrels despite the perfect environment for them.”

It is a sentiment shared by Rupert Masefield, another volunteer, who has doubled up as the camp’s media contact. Malta is a small island but rich in bird diversity, he said.

“In the areas where hunting is not allowed or which are inaccessible such as cliff faces, birds flourish. This is why there have to be more protected areas,” Mr Masefield noted.

He explained that, last week, an atlas flycatcher was ringed for the first time in Malta by a 17-year-old BirdLife member on Comino.

As he spoke, a hunter far below the ledge scoured a field of wheat with his dog hoping to flash out quail that would have rested on the ground. There were none. The hunter had initially not worn the mandatory yellow arm band signalling he was licensed to hunt in spring, raising the alarm. But after some time he produced it from his pocket and wore it on his upper arm.

A similar situation occurred in Żonqor Point, near Marsascala, where two hunters only wore the arm band when they were approached by the police.

“This happens a lot and my suspicion is that hunters don’t wear the yellow band to waste police time,” Mr Barbara said.

It is symptomatic of the non-stop waltz between some hunters and law enforcers, a dance unlikely to end as long asthe aerial displays of migratory birds continue.

A birdwatcher’s timeline

• 5.15 a.m.
At the hotel, Nick Barbara from BirdLife calls out the names of the observation teams and dispatches them to various vantage points.

• 5.45 a.m.
A journalist and cameraman from The Times head out with a team to Għargħur, arriving on site above Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq some 20 minutes later.

• 6.10 a.m.
A hunter is spotted in the field below without his yellow arm­band. He puts it moments later.

• 6.25 a.m.
A marsh harrier is spotted flying over Magħtab and heading out to sea. Numerous swallows, swifts and house martins are counted over the course of the morning along with bee eaters and a wheatear.

• 6.35 a.m.
A kestrel flies high over Għargħur.

• 7 a.m.
A second marsh harrier is spotted flying low over the Magħtab landfill and eventually flies out to sea.

• 7.10 a.m.
Shots are heard very close to the team’s position and, although no visual contact is made with hunters, Nick suspects someone may have tried to shoot at a barn swallow, the only type of bird flying in the area at the moment. There is no proof to report the matter to the police.

• 7.30 a.m.
Joe Cockram, a member of the team, rushes to the telescope after spotting a great white egret flying out to sea.

• 7.45 a.m.
The team posted near the San Niklaw chapel at Żonqor Point in Marsascala reports that two hunters are without the mandatory yellow armband. They put them on 15 minutes later when the police arrive on scene. At the same time, a team posted at Delimara reports the sighting of a peregrine falcon that got away despite four shots fired in its direction.

• 8.25 a.m.
A blue rock thrush, Malta’s national bird, flies onto a rocky outcrop just below the team’s position.

• 8.55 a.m.
Yet another kestrel is spotted flying overhead.

• 9.10 a.m.
A hunter is spotted at Qaliet Marku, on the Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq coastline, unclear whether he is wearing the yellow armband. The team drives to the coast to get a better view before calling in the police.

• 9.20 a.m.
The team arrives near Qaliet Marku but two police officers say the area is a crime scene (following Thursday’s death of a woman in her car in the area) and nobody can enter. When it is pointed out that there is a hunter, the policemen ask Nick to call the administrative law enforcement unit. The hunter is no longer visible from the main road.