Illegal trapping was at an "all-time high" this spring, with more than 200 freshly-cleared sites intended for bird trapping spotted across the islands during an aerial survey.

The Committee Against Bird Slaughter said it filmed and reported six men illegally trapping birds on a one-kilometre square coastal strip west of Mtaħleb earlier this week.

Only three of the trappers were eventually caught by the police, with two suspects managing to escape and one suspect "leaving the scene without question", the group said.

The men were trapping finches using five large clap net installations equipped with live decoys and electronic calling machines, it added.

The operation was the biggest sting of illegal bird trapping this spring season spotted by the eNGO. No fewer than 14 cases of illegal bird trapping, involving at least 20 individuals, were reported in 12 days.

The reports led to the confiscation of 10 sets of clap nets and dozens of live protected birds, the group said.

Western coasts of Malta and the headlands of Western Gozo were the most active sites for trapping, the group said.

"Though the authorities are well aware that these areas are poaching hotspots they seem to do hardly anything proactive to bring the situation under control," CABS operations officer Lloyd Scott claimed.

"This is unacceptable and seeing the massive scale of abuse one could get the impression that this wildlife crime is being actively tolerated," he added.

The footage comes as the Ornis Committee put forward recommendations suggesting the government should open hunting for quail. NGO Birdlife Malta had warned that doing so would be make it easier to conceal illegal hunting of turtle doves.

Turtle doves are considered a "near threatened" species, leading EU lawmakers to insist all hunting for it should be off-limits. 

The government had declared a moratorium on turtle dove hunting in 2017 after the European Commission had threatened legal action against the island if the practice were allowed to continue.