Eight shot protected birds have been received by BirdLife since the start of the season, the organisation said this morning. Half of them, it said, were birds of prey.

It said that a surge in bird migration was seen in Malta this week just as volunteers from across Europe head to the island for two weeks to take part in BirdLife Malta’s international bird monitoring and illegal hunting surveillance camp.

BirdLife said in a statement that the influx of birds in the last seven days has been a treat for anyone out in the Maltese countryside.

Bird watchers at Buskett were seeing up to 300 birds of prey (raptors) daily, with high numbers of marsh harriers and honey buzzards, as well as sightings of some rare migrants in Malta, like a saker falcon seen on Monday.

Flocks of hundreds of colourful bee-eaters were also visible around the island in recent weeks.

BirdLife’s camp starts on Sunday and runs until September 30. It is timed to coincide with the peak period for migration of birds of prey through the Maltese Islands.

The participants include conservationists, bird-watchers, photographers and film-makers from the UK, Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Italy and Denmark, who will join Maltese volunteers and conservationists as they try to ensure the safety of the birds which come through Malta.

BirdLife said it has already started receiving shot protected birds before the start of the camp.

“Since the start of the hunting season we have received eight protected birds brought to us confirmed shot by a vet. Half of these are birds of prey, including a pallid harrier, a species classified as near-threatened on the IUCN Red List of endangered species,” BirdLife conservation manager Nicholas Barbara said.

BirdLife encouraged the public to report illegalities to the police.

It noted that hunting after 3 p.m. is illegal between September 15 and 30, a ban enacted to protect migrating birds of prey.

www.birdlifemalta.org