Swedish birdwatchers record 'shocking' experiences

Two young Swedish birdwatchers are today leaving Malta after spending close to eight weeks bird watching as part of a project between the Swedish Ornithological Society and BirdLife in Malta.

Linus Blomqvist and David Kihlberg said the Swedish society had already raised some €20,000 for BirdLife Malta and hoped that through a report they would be making, more money could be roped in.

"We had read that extensive illegal hunting of raptors has been going on for many years. Now that the country has become a member of the EU, it is important to put pressure to convince the Maltese government and the EU of the need for increased bird protection," they said.

The Swedes have kept a low media profile in Malta not to encounter problems with hunters. Still, they said they were shot at on three occasions and told to move away, even though they were on public land. They also had their car tyres slashed on another occasion.

Mr Blomqvist and Mr Kihlberg were watching birds every day from three sites: Delimara, Migra l-Ferha and a site close to the airport at Luqa and recorded the birds they saw on migration as well as those they saw being shot.

"It is with mixed feelings one sees birds of prey close and at a low altitude; on one hand it is enjoyable to see the raptor but on the other hand one knows that it could be killed any second. Although we saw only about 50 raptors being shot, all the birds we saw flying at a low altitude were shot at, irrespective of whether they were protected or not. There seems to be a total disregard for the hunting law," they said.

Mr Blomqvist and Mr Kihlberg said they were impressed by the amount of hunting activity they witnessed.

"At Migra l-Ferha, we could count over 250 hunters' or trappers' hides in a small area of the valley. We saw relatively few species being shot mainly because the birds were generally flying at high altitudes. But of those that have been within shooting range for the hunters, a majority were shot at. Some birds have also attempted to roost and almost all of them have been shot at," they said.

Their diary contains interesting observations showing the extent of illegal hunting from the very first day they started on August 22, when the hunting season was still closed.

"Two herons were spotted in the early morning but before they could be identified they were shot down. Some shots were heard though and these were illegal since this is a closed season for hunting. A hunter was seen with a shotgun waiting for birds to come in from the sea.

"The following day, five little egrets were spotted and they flew so close to the shore that David said 'it is lucky the hunting season has not started yet because otherwise they would have been killed'. Another little egret joined the flock and before David had finished the sentence, a shot was heard and one of the little egrets fell to the ground," Mr Blomqvist recalled.

Their diary is littered with similar observations: "On August 26, we saw three Eleonora's Falcons which came in on a high altitude but which later flew lower and lower and finally were shot at by two hunters. Shortly after, two marsh harriers were seen and one was hit by a shot and fell to the ground. Simultaneously, a flock of seven night herons was shot at".

On September 1, when the hunting season opened, they were told to move off from a public road they were using to observe birds at Luqa.

On September 2 they noted that "even though the migration was poor, the hunters seemed to find birds to shoot at. More than 400 shots were heard during the day!".

On September 7, they saw "at least three of five raptors being shot at. One of them, a honey buzzard, was killed. A hunter was also seen shooting a small bird which he just threw in a bush after the dog had collected it. The hunting has increased every day in the past period. Today almost 900 shots were counted".

On other days they saw a short-eared owl, a marsh harrier, a honey buzzard, an osprey, a Montagu's harrier, various falcons, a grey heron, a night heron, crossbills, swallows as well as glossy ibis being shot. The latter fell in the sea where it could not be retrieved.

On September 17 "three night herons were seen flying low and as soon as they reached land they were shot at. One of them fell to the ground and was soon after picked up by the hunter who put it inside his shirt while he looked nervously around for someone who could have seen him shoot the heron".

"On October 9, an exhausted honey buzzard landed on a shooters' hide and was shot soon after."

"We spent two months here and made interesting observations. But we had shocking experiences of illegal hunting and close contact with hunters," they said.

"Obviously far more than the 55 birds of prey we saw being shot had in fact been shot. The fact that birds seen flying at a low altitude were shot at shows the hunters' lack of respect for the law and also indicates how many raptors are shot when they migrate at a low altitude," they said.

A detailed summary of the project will be published in the next issue of Vår Fågelvärld, the magazine of the Swedish Ornithological Society, they said.