A visit to the Ghadira Nature Reserve

Many years ago, 23 to be exact, I heard on the radio that the government had decided to set up Malta's first nature reserve at Ghadira. Last Sunday morning I phoned the warden, Charles Gauci, and arranged a visit to his forest nursery.

We exchanged notes on the way to grow a few indigenous trees and shrubs, for Malta's real conservationists who do care are few and far between.

We are a few individuals who regularly share our knowledge to enable and empower each other to be even better in our task of conserving and restoring Malta's native species and habitats.

Birds under police protection

I arrived in mid-morning and I saw two Administrative Law Enforcement (ALE) policemen, a rare but important subspecies of the local police force, talking to the warden. Ghadira is a magnet for birds in Malta and, like what takes place at Savannah waterholes, where bird and animals congregate to drink, the hungry lions prowl and await their kill.

In Malta the predator lions are replaced by the poacher humans who, unable to catch the bird with their hands and agile ability, rely on a two-barrelled machine to do the job which nature has not endowed them, or ever required them, to carry out. Indeed, the ALE seems to be deliberately left understaffed and hence over-stretched by the Police Force.

This results in this section not being as effective at law enforcement as the public would like it to be. This is a matter for politicians with a backbone and the environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs) to deal with as soon as possible. The government should heed the countless requests made to it by ENGOs to institute the Environmental Police Section within the Malta Police Force.

Sure enough, Charles has phoned the ALE to help in patrolling the area as some rare bird had decided that Ghadira was a good enough and decent place to spend the night. The innocent bird was oblivious to the fact that Malta has a number of poachers whose only interest in the resting bird was to grant it eternal rest.

Warden at work

The warden has no rest in his job. Charles showed me around Ghadira's small nursery with its araar (gharghar) trees, Aleppo pines, holm oaks and common hawthorns, among others. Then he looked at his watch and excused himself.

It was time to check the mist nets. I opted to follow him along the footpath, where a warbler was trapped. With all the care of an experienced ornithologist, Charles untangled the bird from the net and put it into a cloth bag. This prevents any stress for the bird during the few minutes it takes to take it to the observatory.

Then the usual procedure takes place, weighing, examining, recording, ringing and release. For the ornithologist is a true lover of birds. He studies their migration in conjunction with other ornithologists abroad. Together they increase our knowledge and hence appreciation of birds, and the role they play in the environment.

I imagined what greater knowledge of bird migration to and from the Maltese Islands we could gather if bird trappers converted to ornithology and real conservation, but I knew that this would only remain a dream now and only a distant possibility.

With patience, education, convincing arguments and good will from the human chameleons in the political parties, coupled with good law enforcement, the goal should one day be achieved.

Once examined, the bird was properly registered and released. Charles and I proceeded to check another mist net and this time he caught another two birds, a sub-Alpine warbler and a willow warbler. One had just been caught the day before and so was immediately released; the other was to undergo the same procedure I have explained.

This particular mist net was set up over Ghadira's shallow water and Charles had to wade in the grey mud wearing his Wellingtons. The water was greyish brown, with its level low as we were at the latter part of the dry season.

The water was teeming with fry of the killifish, buzaqq, a fish of brackish water that should be deemed our national fish.

Ornithological ethics

This procedure over, Charles and I visited the nursery again and, like a Swiss cuckoo clock, Charles only allowed himself and me another 15 minutes as he was back to his mist nets. He explained that he would not dare leave a bird caught in a net longer than that.

Ornithologists have ethics and Charles showed me that he observes them. I thought of the thousands of songbirds which will be left in their micro-cages on raised platforms to sing and attract other birds to share their fate.

Humans are a strange species indeed! They capture birds because they have a beautiful song and ostensibly because they 'love' them. What kind of love is this? To capture a beautiful songster and lock it up in a cage for one's enjoyment, never to play a role in its natural environment again!

And all this, because of the 'love' humans have for the birds. How can one love a bird, moreover how can Catholics 'love' birds by taking them from the wild to put them in a caged prison? But that question is for the theologian to answer and not the forester.

When Charles found the last two birds caught in the mist nets, he decided it was time to put the nets down. It was nearing noon and Charles had been up since 4 a.m. This work goes on day after day every week of the year and, even though Charles is listed as a member of the teaching profession, his office has no air-conditioning. He works in the sun even when during a heatwave.

The mist nets down, Charles proceeded to show me the newly planted trees on the embankment. From a distance we looked at the area of the Masgar 2000 project, which aims to create another swathe of forest to complement Buskett, a nature reserve, and the Mizieb and Ahrax forests, the last two being de facto bird killing fields.

As we walked along the path towards the main hide and the warden's office quarters, Charles had another surprise for me. He looked up at the clear sky and pointed to a small flock of four grey herons. They were flying free.

They were overhead and we could enjoy them, admiring their flight pattern and leaving them alive for others to enjoy them too. Hopefully they would return in the spring for us to enjoy them again.

Charles and I shook hands. It was time for me to depart and enter the world of habitat restoration in the south of Malta. Like the migrating birds, I promised Charles I would return.

Dr Grech is a consultant in the forestry, agricultural and natural environment fields. This article reflects his personal views and opinions and not necessarily those of any environmental NGO mentioned. His e-mail is cf.grech@mail.global.net.mt