Three shot Mediterranean gulls retrieved from Salina in one day.

The 2017-2018 autumn hunting season which came to a close on Wednesday was the worst one for illegalities in the past five years, according to BirdLife.

A total of 62 known illegally shot protected birds were retrieved between September 1 and January 31, with very low enforcement figures.

Of the protected birds which were collected during the past five months of the hunting season, 49 were recovered by BirdLife Malta while the other 13 were received or collected by the police.

The Wild Birds Regulation Unit mentions only six bird callers being seized during the whole season

This autumn hunting season was also particularly bad when it came to the use of electronic callers with little or no enforcement on the matter, the NGO said. In its annual report for 2017, the Wild Birds Regulation Unit mentions only six bird callers being seized during the whole season.

BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana said when the government took a clear stand on illegalities in 2015 when the spring season was closed prematurely, the illegalities went down.

"This is because hunters felt that abuse of the law would not be tolerated. Unfortunately, in the last two years, the Government failed to keep this momentum allowing a significant amount of illegal hunting to re-emerge," he added.

The Ornis Committee has already given its go-ahead for the upcoming spring hunting season. In its meeting on January 24, the committee agreed to discuss the parameters of the next spring hunting season for Common Quail, with BirdLife Malta being the only entity voting against. The spring hunting of Turtle Dove is still subject to a moratorium and there will be no hunting permitted for this vulnerable species.