Hundreds of thousands of birds have been illegally trapped and killed in a British-controlled area of Cyprus, conservation charities revealed.
Around 1.4 million songbirds including robins and warblers have been slaughtered to be used as ingredients for the Cypriot delicacy ambelopoulia.
A large proportion of the birds were caught at Dhekelia – a UK Sovereign Base Area in the southeast of the island.
Scientists have warned of an “ecological disaster” after data compiled by BirdLife Cyprus, the RSPB’s BirdLife International partner, revealed this autumn’s trapping was the highest for 10 years and was five times higher on the British base than in the Cypriot Republic.
Experts believe birds that have nested in the UK, such as lesser whitethroats (a small, grey warbler) will have fallen victim to the trappers as they migrate for the winter.
Ambelopoulia is a dish of pickled or boiled songbirds, which although illegal, is still served in some Cypriot restaurants.
BirdLife Cyprus’s Martin Hellicar said: “The picture emerging from this autumn is one of a bird-trapping disaster unseen since we began monitoring almost 10 years ago. Bird trapping is an illegal indiscriminate practice that threatens many birds of conservation concern, especially migratory ones.”
Ambelopoulia is popular and expensive, the illegal trapping is highly lucrative and organised by criminal gangs.
Trappers go to great lengths to attract the birds. Recordings of bird calls are played from loudspeakers to attract them in.
The duped birds are then trapped in virtually invisible mist-nets attached to trees and bushes.
Mist-net trapping is indiscriminate, catching not only common birds but other endangered species.
Some trappers believe it bad luck not to kill all the birds caught in the nets, even if they are too big to be used in the dish.
Live birds are wrenched from the nets during collection, often with such force that their legs or wings are left behind.
Tim Stowe, the RSPB’s international director, said: “The millions of Britons feeding songbirds in their gardens to help them survive this harsh spell will rightly be horrified at the level of slaughter that is happening in an area of Cyprus under direct British control.
“The fact that more than five times the level of netting activity were recorded on the UK’s Sovereign Base Area compared with the Cypriot Republic is a major embarrassment for the Ministry of Defence and the UK government.
“We know that some efforts have been made to clear trapping equipment from the base area, but this serious organised criminal activity and annual carnage will only be ended by increasing the level of arrests and convictions.”
The MoD said efforts were being made to tackle illegal trapping at the bases.