The facts in hunting diaries

Many local hunters have been keeping records of their game catches for years. This was long before the introduction of the compulsory carnet de chasse which is a simple uncontrolled declaration a legally-licensed hunter requires in order to have his permit renewed for the following year.

Old yearly records kept by hunters, many times accompanied by a detailed weather report and the time and place of their catch, helped them plan their hunting season in a better way by analysing data of the previous years. Looking at the records of various hunters, one may also come across data such as the earliest and latest catch, or the largest catch in one day of turtle-doves and quails, which never challenge normal catches in other EU countries. There have been years where the so-called "best week" would have been marred by strong northerly winds which are not considered ideal by local hunters during the spring season.

This does not mean that birds are not migrating, but that their migratory flight path would be pushed even further away than usual, resulting in the fact that Malta and Gozo would be getting far less than their normal share of game crossing the Mediterranean. Many a record exists of hunters in the northwest of Gozo seeing flocks of turtle-doves migrating over the sea barely visible at a very long distance, and without observing a single bird on land.

Then there would be days which are disliked by most housewives for their characteristic weather conditions with low clouds, a south-easterly wind bringing light rain and with relatively high temperatures and humidity.

Records show that on such days hunters usually enjoyed the sight of migrating flocks of turtle-doves, and most of them managed to get their fair share of the day's bag. However, records also show that even such "good" days sometimes turned out to be really miserable ones for the hunters who were kept waiting.

These records show why many hunters go out hunting every day during the season. This is because hunting in Malta is totally dependent on the weather conditions affecting bird migration. A hunter could miss one day, which could be the day on which a passage of birds occurred, and if that happened to him, he would have to wait until the next year, always hoping to be there if ever it happened again. This unpredictability of the weather and the way it affects bird movements during the migration period gave rise to an old saying: Fil-passa kisser il-pinnur u oħrog kuljum (during the migration, smash the weathercock and go out [to hunt] every day), as one can never know if and when birds will turn up.

By further analysing records one immediately recognises the fact that the autumn migration is extremely poor when compared to the spring migration.

As asserted by the local hunting representatives and as maintained by the Maltese government, autumn hunting does not provide a satisfactory alternative to spring hunting.

Local and foreign bird-protection campaigns emphasise that no country should allow spring hunting because birds would be returning to their breeding grounds. My direct question to these bird-protectors is the following. You admit that turtle-doves do not breed in their African wintering grounds, and you are against hunting in spring because that is the time they return to their breeding grounds in Europe.

After breeding is over, their numbers are greatly increased, and the autumn migration should be more spectacular and rewarding. But in real fact, the opposite is the case with Malta, because in autumn their migration over Malta is extremely meagre, unlike in the spring.

Therefore, since the birds are not procreating in their African quarters, how does one explain the undeniable fact of a poor autumn migration over Malta?

How does one explain the far greater numbers occurring here in spring?

I do not expect BirdLife Malta to provide the correct answer, as this would give their game away. BLM know that the birds behave differently during the two migrations, and in autumn their tendency is to leave Malta completely out. This is exactly why the government justifies its application of a derogation in terms of Article 9 of the Birds Directive to allow spring hunting.