Another three pairs of kestrels are breeding in Gozo, the Federation for Hunting & Conservation – Malta (FKNK) said.

It said that these were in addition to its recent announcement of a couple of breeding pairs on Malta.

This, FKNK said, further discredited BirdLife Malta’s recent statement that a pair of kestrels had bred in Malta for the first time in 15 years.

It also said that the pair of cuckoos that had been at the Mizieb reserve were still there, making Birdlife’s statement that these had been shot by rabbit hunters another fabrication as part of their present campaign against rabbit hunting.

The federation said it was kept continuously updated about the status, breeding and quantity of Malta’s birds through its network of thousands of members who carried out observations on their hunting lands all over the Maltese islands throughout the year.

It thanked these members for this contribution, saying most of these people would be hunting rabbits at this time of year and respecting the relative regulations.