Additional police officers will accompany local and foreign birdwatchers as they set out to monitor illegal hunting.

Birdlife said in a statement it had asked for more police officers against payment, together with the Committee Against Bird Slaughter, whose members arrived in Malta yesterday.

This was done following a series of assaults on birdwatchers last year, including that on two Birdlife volunteers in Dingli.

While two men were convicted over the attack, others responsible for firing shots at a car ­windscreen parked 20 metres away from a playground and stoning volunteers in a vehicle have not yet been caught.

Birdlife also said it has received several reports of illegal hunting and shot birds in the past days.

Since the start of the hunting season on September 1, the organisation said it has also recorded the illegal shooting of Osprey, Honey Buzzard, Eleonora’s Falcon, Hobby, Night Heron, Red Knot, Little Egret, Mediterranean Gull, Oystercatchers and Shelduck.