BirdLife Europe and BirdLife Malta have asked for an immediate suspension of the spring hunting season in Malta "to prevent more protected birds from being killed and injured.

In a statement, the organisations said that in a highly contested move that caused concerns across Europe, the Maltese government opened the season under a unique derogation on the Birds Directive.

"However, BirdLife Malta's field surveys on the ground show that this open season is used as a cover for many illegal activities that put at risk many birds of European conservation concern."

BirdLife said that during its international spring watch camp, held during the peak migration period between April 10 and 24, over 800 illegalities spread throughout the countryside were recorded, including the shooting of protected birds.

Since April 13, the start of the hunting season, BirdLife received 17 shot birds including rare species such as black kite, purple heron, lesser kestrel, and montagu's harrier.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg and the real total number of shot protected birds is likely to be much higher," BirdLife said.

BirdLife Malta and Europe urge the government to immediately close the season.

"We also call on the European Commission to take all necessary steps to ensure compliance with EU bird protection law.

"Malta had already been condemned once by the European Court of Justice for not respecting EU rules on bird protection, it should not be allowed to continue putting our European natural heritage at risk," Angelo Caserta from BirdLife Europe said.