After the hunting season resumed, this newsroom received a number of reports from Siggiewi, Zejtun, Ghargur and other rural area residents who said they woke up to the sounds of multiple rounds of gunfire at 5am yesterday.

The law stipulates that hunters can practice their sport two hours before sunrise and two hours after sunset, besides three cartridges can be spent consecutively and any more is illegal.

So unless hunters target protected species of birds and go by the above mentioned rules, all is within the law. In a nutshell, if residents heard more than three rounds at a go, then this is illegal.

Ghargur residents who spoke to this newsroom said that they feared walking in the valley as a result of the gun fire while others said that they looked out of their windows the minute they heard the sounds of multiple rounds of gun fire very close to their homes. Some described the rounds as abnormal and far worse when compared to past hunting seasons and this is what sparked their curiosity.

One might say hunters are making up for lost time after the hunting season had been suspended by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat after the police had received several reports of protected species being shot down.

After the season was cut short, around 200 hunters had taken to Valletta's streets to protest the decision, some going even as far as hurling beer cans at the Labour Party Club in Republic Street and insulting the Prime Minister and the Labour Party in government. A number of hunters were arrested and charged ever since the illegal protest took place.

Before the hunting season resumed, Dr Muscat warned that those who broke the law would pay a sore price. While it cannot be ascertained, as yet, as to what the hunters were shooting at, it can certainly be said that they were firing a lot more shots into the sky than is usually heard at this time of the year. Some people who contacted this newsroom said they thought they were in a warzone. In addition, some hunters have taken to social media to encourage their mates to shoot as many birds - which are not protected - out of the sky.

Over the next few days, we will no doubt see the full toll. The warmer weather has resulted birds taking refuge in Malta before they continue their onward journey. This newsroom has contacted the police to ask whether there have been any cases of illegal hunting over the past days, but as yet, we have received no reply.

One understands that if the hunting season is open - hunters will exercise their right to shoot at birds. But one must seriously question the amount of shots that are being fired into the sky, where they are being fired from and what they are being fired at. No doubt, in the coming days we will find out more.