Nature Trust has expressed its concern about the degradation of the Buskett and Baħrija’s valley systems, which are both protected sites.

The environmental group received reports and photos of tracks made by a tractor on the valley bed at Wied Il-Luq, limits of Buskett, which is home to restricted watercourse vegetation.

A patch of grass of the species Cyperus longus had been completely wiped out and educational activities had to be cancelled because of the damage to the path close by the watercourse, the organisation said.

In the Baħrija valley, rubble and fresh tracks were seen at the habitat of the Maltese Fresh-water Crab. Part of the stream alongside a rubble wall has been filled with soil and no water streams run through this protected site any longer, according to the organisation.