Break-in at Għadira nature reserve

The Għadira Nature Reserve was broken into last Friday, the second time in under a month.

BirdLife Malta yesterday said the night watchman spotted a man crouching next to one of the bird watching hides and immediately called the police.

Reserve manager Mark Gauci said the police thoroughly searched the grounds but left when they didn't find the man. They returned when he was spotted a second time. No birds appear to have been harmed.

On Christmas Eve, the fence surrounding the nature reserve was cut open and the vandals laid a plank across the moat. However, that time it appeared more than one person was involved as two sets of footprints were found. Three live shotgun cartridges were also found by the reserve's warden on that occasion.

The reserve is one of two protected wetland areas and is the home of nationally important breeding populations. It is the only site on the island which has a breeding population of little ringed plovers.

Mr Gauci said BirdLife has now taken further security measures to prevent more break-ins.