Lifelong hunter Michael Barbara reluctantly packed away his rifle yesterday marking the end of what could be the island’s last spring hunting season.

Fighting a worried expression, he insisted this will not be the last time.

“I don’t think spring hunting will be abolished, no matter what they say. It’s just unthinkable,” he said, adding that the Prime Minister “would not let that happen”.

“The government made its position clear on hunting. It won’t turn back on that,” he said.

Mr Barbara believes the government, and, in particular, its patriarch “Joseph”, partially owes its electoral victory to a perceived commitment to allow spring hunting to continue.

My daughter was ashamed to tell people her father was a hunter because we’ve been made out to be barbarian

“The manifesto put forward by the party in government did not make any mention of abolishing hunting and this won’t happen,” he says, adding that the political repercussions if this were to happen would be grave.

To date, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has made his position in favour of spring hunting very clear but was vague when asked if the government was planning on blocking an abrogative referendum.

Proposed by the Coalition Against Spring Hunting, the referendum is geared at abolishing the legal notice that makes spring hunting possible.

More than 40,000 signatures have been collected – some 33,000 were needed – and the Electoral Commission is in the process of verifying the documentation.

Support for the referendum gained significant momentum in recent weeks after garnering the support of the international press, especially though coverage by BBC journalist Chris Packham, who filmed a series of short documentary clips aimed at exposing hunting illegalities.

Asked if he was concerned about the referendum, Mr Barbara reiterated his belief that spring hunting is here to stay.

“I have hope. That’s it. I don’t see this stopping, at least I don’t want it to,” he said.

His resolve, however, was betrayed by the same worried expression shared by all the hunters gathered in his wood lodge in the limits of Marsaxlokk.

“Am I worried? Of course, I’m worried, I can’t sleep at night. This is terrible. A part of my life and love could be taken away,” his brother, Hector, said.

Joined by a third brother, referred to as ‘the sheriff’, the Barbaras made tea the same way their father taught them: using a stone oven and a tin pot.

“This is what you do: you add the wood and the taste of the wood makes its way into the tea. Isn’t it relaxing?” Mr Barbara asked, serving ladles of tea before taking up his watch post.

Sipping at their steaming mugs, Hector watched out for oncoming turtle doves, while the ‘sheriff’ took his place in a stone hunting post (dura) some 50 metres away.

A marmalade sunrise cuts the crisp morning sky over Mr Barbara’s Marsaxlokk lodge.

The three share an ordinary conversation: “Did you watch the football?” “No, we’re terrible this year.”

Unlike most brotherly chats, however, the conversation is held with all participants several metres apart as they are on the lookout for the elusive turtle dove.

The same pattern is repeated across the Marsaxlokk countryside with groups of men spreading thick along the sloping valleys.

A hum of “Did you see it? No, wait, yes there it is” echoes across the countryside.

Like most seasoned hunters, the three Barbaras have developed their own method of communication, based loosely on whistles and calls passed down by their father.

What to the untrained ear might sound like meaningless chirping, to the three hunters becomes a conversation of birdsong.

“Ah, they know. The birds know what’s going on and they tell you.

“You just have to listen. People don’t listen anymore,” Mr Barbara said.

An hour passed, then two, and a browbeaten Mr Barbara retired from his post.

Nothing to write home about, not a single bird, he said, as a thud is heard on his iron gate.

It was two police constables on foot patrol who wanted to make sure everything was in order.

In what seemed more of a courtesy call than an inspection, the officers refused a second mug of tea and head off to the next hunting spot.

“If I were you, I’d hide that flamingo,” one officer joked as he shut the door on his way out.

Enter Noel, an administrator at the University of Malta who would only go by his first name.

He is widely considered to be the educated (ta’ skola) member of Mr Barbara’s crew and he feels the hunting population has been short-changed by the local media.

The hunters who ignore the rules are ruining everyone

“My daughter was ashamed to tell people her father was a hunter because we’ve been made out to be barbarians,” he said.

“A lot of people have this idea of us roaming the island shooting down eagles and flamingos. This is as far removed from reality as it gets,” he went on, admitting that a number of “bad apples” was inevitable in any group of people.

Meanwhile, on a nearby ridge, a group of four ‘birders’ kept a log of all the hunters’ activity.

The young ornithologists were members of Birdlife, a conservationist NGO leading the way for the spring hunting referendum.

Birdlife conservation manager Nicholas Barbara is among the group, which scoured the area in a rented hatchback.

Mr Barbara, who is unrelated to the hunting family, told Times of Malta he recorded more than 800 shots fired in the area in under two hours yesterday.

More than 70 birders monitor the countryside during the spring hunting season, collecting data for an annual report that will be handed over to the European Commission.

Holding a clipboard and rubber binoculars, Mr Barbara drew the disconcerting stares of nearby hunters, many of whom grunted obscenities when he walked by.

He agreed with Michael Barbara that repeated illegalities are only committed by a portion of the hunting community and has consequently labelled the practice.

“The hunters who ignore the rules are ruining everyone.The reactions to controlling measures were also damning. They haven’t helped themselves,” he said, pointing out that hunters are reluctant to report their peers.

This year saw less hunting but this was not down to better practices or even increased enforcement.

The Birdlife team insisted poor weather conditions and differing migration patterns were responsible for the “relatively quiet” season.

Reacting to fears that abolishing spring hunting will drive the practice to extinction, Mr Barbara said this is not the case.

“The autumn hunting season is five months long. We are just calling for spring to be enjoyed by the whole country and for the illegal attacks on migrating birds to finally stop.”

Although the two sides are at odds, the Birdlife representative does have a degree of respect for the hunting community.

Asked if any birds make it through the dense woodland, he replied: “The birds are fast but some hunters have the skill that is passed on through generations. It takes a certain knack to do it right and some of them do get it right.”