Updated: Government received Ornis recommendation on June 15

Neil Collins

Nov 1st 2011, 20:18

Lets pretend for a moment that Birdlife are liars. Better a liar than an animal slaughterer. Dont you think

What is sad is the number of hunters on The Times website trying to make out they have the majority view. You DONT. Your sport is barbaric, vulgar and totally offensive to huge majority of Maltese citizens.

And you know what, if Birdlife need to lie to stop barbarians walking around the countryside blasting innocent endangered birds out of the skies, then so be it. Lets face it, hunters aint exactly the defenders of everything truthful now are they.

keith chetcuti

Nov 1st 2011, 14:47

proset tal kumment

Peter Galea

Nov 1st 2011, 14:52

Sur Xuereb, l-ewropa thoss li ghalkhemm mhix xi haga sabiha toqtol sempliciment ghal gost, imma bil bosta ahjar mill tittertura uissakkar ghasfur go gagga zghira sa kemm imut, hafna drabi jamel b'qalbu u jmut ftit ftit. Din hi krudilta aktar harxa. Nahseb li issa tifhem. AVOLJA MA INTIX KACCATUR JEW NASSAB????.

Clayton Borg

Nov 1st 2011, 15:28

@ Peter Galea,

Jien Kaccatur, u naf hafna nassaba. Dan li qieghed tghid int mhux veru li jhalluwhom go gaggeg zghar, imma go guvi apposta, fejn anke jipprovaw jihdu minnom. Guvi li jkun fihom daqs kamra tas-sodda (tal-flattijit tal-llum. 13ft x 13ft x 10ft fuq gewwa u tkompli xi 6ft barra...

Barra min hekk l-iskalora u awrofak u medicini u hafna affarijiet ohra li juzaw biex l-ghasfur sew jekk malviz jew inkella tal-ghana ikun fl-aqwa tieghu u imbiddel FULL. Meta ghasfur ikun mizmum sewwa ibiddel ir-rix tieghu u jigi qisu tal-passa.

Din tal-mohqrija tal-ghasfur hijja hrafa li il-BLM qeghdin jghidu, ghax in-nassab lanqaw holiday ma jmur ghax inkella ma jkollux min jaghlef u jnaddaf...... (Imma dan intom fejn tafuh hux) tal-BLM ma jghiduhx dan...

George Mifsud

Nov 1st 2011, 17:17

Mr.Xuereb - I reply in English since this newspaper IS in English. You state that you are neither a shooter nor a trapper. Even if you are playing the wise guy, I will explain.

When you shoot at birds you get one, maximum two. When you trap with decoys you get whole flocks. When you take a bird/s out of its natural habitat, that bird is finished as far as nature is concerned. This is irrespective of whether the bird was shot dead or caught alive.

Mr Joseph Scicluna

Nov 1st 2011, 17:54

@ George Mifsud..I admire your imagination, thrushes do not even migrate in flocks let alone trapped in flocks!! Lol. I Guess you beleive all that BLM says..??

Steve Zammit

Nov 1st 2011, 19:27

@Joseph Scicluna,

You've never seen song thrushes migrate in flocks??? You spend too much time on your PC...

What about finches? don't they migrate in flocks too???

Johnny Xerri

Nov 3rd 2011, 09:27

Flocks? do you bird watch in large aviaries by any chance....Thrushes migrate as single birds or in small groups tallying 5 to 8 (max)....for me a flock would be double digit numbers...the only common encounter of flocks (of game birds) in Malta relate to starlings and skylarks...occassionally plovers and on rare occassions ducks (not inland but offshore).

I have been hunting for the past 10 years and never have I seen flocks of thrushes (10+ or 20+) within gunshot range...let alone within trapping range (gun shot range is within 45 yards...trapping range is excatly on the trapping area).

Steve Zammit

Nov 3rd 2011, 16:37

Mr. Xerri technically speaking a group of 5 to 8 birds flying together is considered to be a flock. Thus if seeing 8 Thrushes together flying over, it is right in calling them a flock. But rightly so, it is a small flock. Obviously as you rightly stated, one is never going to see thrushes in large flocks as one would see Starlings or Skylarks. I have personally never seen more than 8 Song Thrushes together, simple because at this time of the year I am too busy with other personal commitments such as studies to be out all day in the field but i have friends of mine (even hunters) who have seen flocks of 20+ song thrushes migrating, usually high up on good migration days.

You wrote that you never saw ''flocks of thrushes (10+ or 20+) within gunshot range'' but that doesn't exclude that you've never seen a flock outside that range. My reply was solely to reply to Mr. Scicluna who stated that thrushes never migrate in flocks, when we all know that they do, irrespective if in or out of the gunshot range. Now if thrushes are trapped in flocks (like finches) i do not know because I'm not a trapper

Johnny Xerri

Nov 4th 2011, 05:15

Rest assured that when thrushes migrate in large enough quantities to warrent a day off work...the only 'large' flocks are high up (refered to by hunters and trappers nas nemus)...when they come to alight they start forming small parties of max 8...occassionally 10...but in 10 odd years of hunting I have yet to see a flock of 20+ within gun shot or trapping range...

A trapper would at max trap 4-5 thrushes at one go...something that would still be done by 2-4 hunters...once they hit ground irrelevent of the method (trapping or hunting) some will be shot and some will be trapped...but the volume caught will still be comparable....one must not forget that a trapper needs around 5-10 minutes to realease...put in cages...overturn the nets....and re-enter the hide...thus lossing time and opportunity...secondly it is easier to lure (by decoys or whilst) song thrushes within gun shot range than within trapping range....so although in one haul a trapper may catch more than in 3 shots...the process to catch the gamebird is more timely...

Same with finches..yes they do migrate in flocks...but its very hard to lure a flock onto a net which is just a spot...many a time the birds alight outside the trapping site or on a tree and the trapper ends up waiting for quite some time to entice the birds into the nets...at times not all the flock would have alighted onto the nets and he ends up making a haul on just a few (2-4)...apart from the fact that not all song birds migrate in large flocks...hawfinches, chaffinch, siskin, goldfinch, serin, are mostly seen in solitary numbers or pairs...occasionaly in small parties of 3-5, the only one song bird that is occassionaly trapped in flocks is the linnet...

If one had to stay for a season with a hunter and/or trapper for the duration of the whole season...he/she would understand that we do not catch the imaginary high volumes....if this were so we would have EU hunters coming to MAlta on holidays to trap and hunt....and not the many Maltese who go on hunting holidays to other EU countries!!!!

Steve Zammit

Nov 4th 2011, 15:06

Thanks Johnny for your time in writing your detailed reply on thrush and finch trapping locally. Cheers

D. Xerri

Nov 1st 2011, 17:27

most Probably yes next year with local council elections - Along with the 4 Euro something increase in wages in next budget and maybe maybe the lowering of the income tax - such things are done in the last budget pre-election !

Johnny Xerri

Nov 1st 2011, 19:18

did you complain in 2003 when hunting and trapping were guaranteed to continue? Most probably no because you stood to gain from EU membership....now put up with these traditions...just like we put up with other things that we don't like.

Should we assume that the election is near every time we get mistreated by the govt...maybe claim that he is doing so to attract your votes? Insomma votes...ask Alan Deidun and Edward Demicoli...and Alternativa Democratica (mediocrita) how important your votes are