A Birdlife study has established that various species of birds have returned to breed in Malta for the first time in many years. Not only that, but even birds who previously only paired up in the safest of places, out of range of shotguns, have started - excuse the pun - to spread their wings and fan out to different places around Malta and Gozo.

Let us start here - illegal hunting still went on during the spring migration, but it seems that a good proportion of hunters decided to put their shotguns away and wait for autumn - the return migration.

Even to the naked eye and ear, it is obvious that there have been more birds around this year than there have been in recent memory. Only when people hear birdsong, chirping, or the whoosh of wings, do they realise just how much we had missed them.

It really is quite fascinating to hear of the various species that are now setting up temporary home in Malta over the spring. Cuckoos, kestrels, moorhens, gulls, swallows and swifts are just some of the names that have been mentioned in the report.

It is great news, yet also extremely sad to hear that kestrels returned to breed here after a 15-year absence. Being out and about in the countryside and actually being able to see such birds with one’s own eyes is something that we Maltese have missed for many years.

Many of our children might have even believed that the only birds we had on this little rock in the middle of the ocean were sparrows and robins. That was literally all you would normally see.

Last spring was really quite amazing. How many people have squinted up into the sky and said to themselves “what on earth is that?” The image becomes clearer and it turns out to be cranes, gulls or some other species.

In the said report, Birdlife did, however mention that there were still problems when the rabbit-hunting season opened on 1 June. We will not speculate on the proportion of hunters who abused open season, but what we can definitely say is that there were incidents where birds were shot. A kestrel, a cuckoo and a stilt that were observed at the Ghadira Nature Reserve were shot, said Birdlife.

It is sad. It is no secret that the application for rabbit hunting licences in the summer shot up drastically in the past two years that spring hunting for birds has been illegal. Birdlife re-iterates its call for a Wildlife Crime Unit and this newspaper supports the appeal.

We also believe that the Police ALE squad, as they have teamed up with the Animal Welfare Unit could play a pivotal role in clamping down on illegal hunting.

As always, when an editorial such as this one is published, we will attract the ire of some of the hunting community. But, we must repeat, there are hunters who are obeying the law. Sadly for them, there are those who do not. What law-abiding hunters must realise is that unless they themselves do not act as whistle blowers on those who flout the law, their own situation is just going to worsen, as will the public’s perception of the hunting community in general.