Leonardo, an Egyptian vulture that spent a night in Malta last week, was recorded flying over Libya, south of Misurata – 820 kilometres away from the island.

The bird left Malta at 10.28am on Wednesday and reached the Libyan coast, 400km away, at 8.19pm, according to tracking information.

But it was only on Saturday that Guido Ceccolini, the director of CERM, the Centre for Threatened Raptors in Italy, received the signal indicating the bird’s location.

The bird is being followed by a satellite tracking device but it needs good mobile transmission to send signals.

Leonardo was bred at CERM in Rocchette di Fazio, southern Tuscany, and was released alongside five other vultures at Matera in mid-August. 

“Leonardo is actually the youngest of the birds that have been released and the one that migrated first and arrived in Africa,” Dr Ceccolini said.

“I would like to thank the Maltese hunters who looked after the bird to ensure it survives, like they did with Tobia, another vulture we had passing through Malta in 2015.

“This year Tobia returned to Italy and this shows the importance of co-operation in these initiatives,” he said.

Conservationists in Malta said the police arrived shortly after the bird had landed to ensure its safety, and Birdlife had requested round the clock protection. 

There are only about seven breeding pairs of Egyptian vultures in Italy, concentrated in Sicily and Basilicata.

The Egyptian Vulture Project (Progetto Capovaccaio), which is run by CERM, puts in place practical conservation measures in an attempt to prevent the loss of the species.

Releasing birds into the wild to re-stock populations and increase the available breeding stock is one of its aims.