As Birdlife Malta's raptor camp came to an end, 25 participants from eight countries gathered in the Buskett Bird Sanctuary to send a message to the authorities to intensify efforts to curb illegal hunting.

The conservationists held photos of some of the dead or injured birds delivered to Birdlife during the past eight days.

Birdlife received 17 shot protected birds, in contrast to the five protected birds handed over last year. In the first 11 days, the teams recorded a total of 398 shots after 3 p.m., despite the fact that hunting was banned after that time.

Over this period, the teams also watched a further 19 protected birds shot down but not recovered, including two black storks.

The use of illegal electronic bird lures and modified shotguns capable of firing more than the legal number of shots was also recorded.

The analysis of data gathered by the teams is still ongoing and figures resulting from two weeks of monitoring will be released in a report.

Anna Giordano, Goldman Prize winner for her efforts to stop illegal hunting in Sicily, joined the camp and expressed her dismay:

"Malta is like Sicily in the early 1980s. It is unacceptable to witness the widespread killing of protected birds in this day and age. The turning point for us in Sicily was when the government stopped seeing this as an argument between two sides, but as a national problem," Ms Giordano said.

Bob Elliot, head of investigations at the Scottish branch of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, joined the camp for the second year running. He said: "The situation is much worse than last year... There was also more hostility towards the camp participants - I was shocked at the abuse that my Maltese and foreign colleagues had to endure," Mr Elliot said.

Despite the illegal hunting, the camp was successful in reducing levels of poaching in areas where teams were operating, Birdlife said.

On the morning of September 25, raptor camp teams watched the safe departure of three lesser spotted eagles that had roosted overnight in Buskett.

On September 26, intelligence gathered by the raptor camp teams led to the recovery of six live protected birds from an aviary where they had been kept illegally.

Over the last two weeks, six poachers were also apprehended as a result of information passed on by the raptor camp teams to the police.