BirdLife Malta said today that in the past 48 hours it recovered five shot protected birds, bringing the total number of protected birds recovered since the start of this year’s spring hunting season on April 13 to 12.

This, it said, was almost equal to the total number of shot protected birds received  during the same time periods in 2008, 2009 and 2010 when 13 shot protected birds were recovered.

One of the birds was a Purple Heron  recovered by a member of the public who was asked to give the bird to individuals to be stuffed and mounted.  This person refused and instead handed the bird over to BirdLife Malta.

The bird received veterinary care and one of its legs, which was broken beyond recovery by gunshot, was amputated.  The bird was released this afternoon at the Simar Nature Reserve (see video).

The other birds recovered were a Black Kite, a Common Kestrel, a Cuckoo and a Racing Pigeon.

BirdLife said Black Kites and Purple Herons are both species of conservation concern in Europe and therefore offered the highest level of protection, being listed under Annex 1 of the Birds Directive.

These birds are also highly prized by illegal hunters for inclusion in collections of stuffed protected birds.

Apart from rare species which are highly prized by illegal hunters, BirdLife Malta said it had also received shot protected birds of commoner species, such as Common Kestrel and Marsh Harrier.

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