A beautiful photo of two Collared Doves mating was published in The Sunday Times on Easter Sunday; my sincere congratulations to the photographer.

The beautiful picture was unfortunately accompanied by a caption, quoting Birdlife, stating that this species has benefited from the ban on spring hunting. It is a pity that such an artistic picture was used to send out another false and misleading message.

The species' presence is usually linked with human activities and in many European countries this dove is very common and also considered a pest. It harms farming produce, other birds, especially its cousin the turtle dove, and the environment in general.

In Malta, the Collared Dove is a very rare visitor; a vagrant, and in many years of field experience I do not know of a single bird being taken.

The bird breeds profusely with an extremely high success rate and, more importantly, all year round. Over the past five years or so, well before last year's ban on spring hunting, a colony of this bird started in Santa Maria Estate; possibly by an escaped pair or a spill from Sicily, where the species is sedentary.

In Santa Maria Estate, the birds are more commonly seen on the north easterly part of the valley, in the gardens of the surrounding villas. Anyone can go there and will probably note the birds doing exactly what they are doing in the photo - mating. This can be done at any time of the year; it has nothing to do with spring and much less with the ban on spring hunting.

In the name of science and respect to the public, I ask Birdlife to desist from publishing nonsense.

Those who wish to learn more about the species may find sites using a search engine, under 'Streptopelia decaocto', besides 'Collared Dove'.