A shotgun, believed to belong to a hunter, was found hidden in the grass at the marshland in Kennedy Grove, a bird sanctuary not far from popular picnic grounds.
The gun, loaded with two cartridges and placed inside a plastic tube-like container, was discovered yesterday morning by members of BirdLife Malta who alerted the police Administrative Law Enforcement unit.
Andrè Raine, BirdLife Malta conservation manager, said BirdLife personnel went to the marshland to check the find after they received an anonymous tip-off that a hunter was noted going in the area with a shotgun and leaving without it.
"It was reckoned that the gun was hidden so that when the hunter returns it would not be obvious, he is going hunting," Mr Raine said.
Kennedy Grove is a notorious area as far as hunting goes, despite its closeness to a number of residences and the main road, Mr Raine said.
ALE police are responding to reports about illegal hunting but they should definitely be given more resources, he added. "They are really trying to do a good job but they cannot cope with the situation. They should also have undercover officers.
"Earlier this week, there was shooting at birds in many areas as though it was open season," Mr Raine said.
BirdLife Malta said it continued to receive reports about illegal hunting in various parts of Malta and Gozo.
Sources close to ALE said that although shots were reported in various localities yesterday, this activity over the last two days dropped drastically compared to Monday, which was exceptional.
Several hunters were apprehended on Monday as a wave of migrating birds flew in during what would have been the start of the spring hunting season. There was a record surge of birds on their migratory passage on Monday, which, coupled with the good weather, drew a large number of hunters to the countryside.
The spring hunting season is still closed pending deliberations by the European Court of Justice on whether to issue interim measures banning spring hunting until a case initiated by the European Commission against the government over the spring season is heard.
The government has held back from deciding whether it will open this year's season - which, going by what happened last year, should have started this week.
On the other hand, the hunters and their federation insist that banning the shooting of quail and turtle dove in spring would be a grave injustice to them.
This was because the hunters were given two guarantees to this effect, one before the EU referendum and the other before the 2003 election by then Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami, the hunting federation said.