As a naturalist who describes himself as being “obsessed with birds,” Chris Packham, who presents BBC’s Springwatch programme, has long known about Malta’s spring hunting season, but felt he needed to see things for himself.

Together with  three colleagues and with the assistance of BirdLife Malta, Mr Packham thus opted to embark in a self-funded, independent project through which he is seeking to raise awareness about the issue in his native UK and show support to those who are campaigning against spring hunting in Malta.

His experiences are being relayed in video diaries which have been published on a daily basis over the past week.

These video diaries do pay considerable attention to positive aspects, including interviews with people Mr Packham describes as “Maltese heroes” for their conservation efforts.

“I am surprised at their dedication, their passion and their commitment because it has been such a difficult issue for so long, and they are still as determined as ever to fight.”

Mr Packham even opens with the positives when asked how his impressions of Malta have changed now that he has finally paid a visit, highlighting the country’s natural beauty and its “very friendly” people.

“But the shooting situation is worse than I imagined it,” he adds.

“At times I’ve been very upset and very depressed and angry about what I’ve seen. My hands have had the blood of all sorts of rare and beautiful birds,” Mr Packham explains, holding his hands up for effect.

“I thought it might just be one or two incidents, but they happen every day and we know that we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg.”

The video diaries provide an indication of the emotional rollercoaster his Malta experience has been: for instance, he is brought to tears when a Montagu’s harrier whose injuries are too severe to allow for a full recovery is euthanized.

Mr Packham’s interactions with both hunters and police have proven to be a mixed bag.

He notes that he met “very polite, helpful and friendly” hunters who explained what hunting meant to them and how they would feel if they were no longer able to practise their sport.

His team has also encountered police officers who were equally polite, who had no problem with being filmed and who freely talked about their efforts to enforce the spring hunting season.

But they’ve also had negative experiences on both fronts.

One particular encounter with police made the news, as a BirdLife employee was arrested for the dubious crime of filming police officers, only to end up released without charge.

“I haven’t made a judgment about the whole of the Maltese police... there are clearly good officers working hard to implement the law, but there were others who did not seem to want to do that,” Mr Packham maintains.

As it turns out, his dealings with the police were not over: he was himself summoned to Police Headquarters yesterday, after the interview took place.

His attempt to film at the Mizieb woodland – shown in his fifth video diary – also showed that not all hunters were particularly pleased with his visit: the team is met with shouting, vulgar language and the odd threat of legal action as hunters accuse them of provoking them.

Mr Packham has also faced the ire of hunters’ federation FKNK, keen as always to decry acts of “foreign interference,” who filed a judicial protest in which it insisted that the police act to prevent the crimes – including trespassing and invasion of privacy – that the BBC presenter may have been “contemplating.”

He takes this action in stride, stating that he expected to face such criticism and announced that he was hoping to meet the FKNK in person to help both sides better understand each other.

But he rejects accusations of foreign interference.

“In simple terms, these are not your birds,” he observes, pointing out how the birds flying over Malta winter in Africa and breed in Europe, and that no country could lay a claim on them.

“Birds have no boundaries... I am only interested in the birds and do not see this as a nationalistic issue.”

 ‘I am not anti-hunting’

Mr Packham also rejects the FKNK’s claims that hunting in Britain takes place year-round, without limitations, insisting that Malta is the only EU member state which allows hunting to take place during the spring migration, which sees numerous species of birds which winter in warmer climates return to their breeding grounds in Europe.

Malta, it turns out, is also in a strategic location as far as birds are concerned; it lies in the middle of what is described as the central European flyway, and is thus a stopping point for many species of birds.

Legally, hunters may only target turtledove and quail, but Mr Packham notes that he has now personally witnessed how this is not always the case. He acknowledges that most hunters are not interested in illegal hunting, but adds that the hunting season gives poachers a perfect opportunity to hide within their midst, making it harder to police them.

However, the BBC presenter insists that even spring hunting for turtledove and quail is unsustainable, as the species were in “critical decline in many parts of Europe.”

“When I speak to the hunters, they say that there are fewer birds every year... these are not the good old days,” he notes, recounting how one particular hunter explained that he has not shot a single turtledove this year because there simply weren’t any to shoot at.

He recognises that other factors are contributing to the decline of the species, including agricultural practices, but stresses that hunting birds heading to their breeding grounds cannot be considered sustainable in any case.

But Maltese hunters also practice their sport during the autumn migration season, as birds head to their wintering grounds. Should this hunting season also be consigned to history?

Mr Packham makes his own personal preferences clear – no hunting would take place in an ideal world – but he stresses that he has no practical objection to sustainable hunting.

“I am not anti-hunting at all. What I am opposed to is unsustainable hunting, and I would argue that spring hunting is unsustainable... that is why it is not allowed all over Europe and sadly only practiced here in Malta,” he maintains.

He draws parallels with the UK, where a number of species are targeted during their winter migration, and insists that such a hunting season would need to be properly monitored, with bag numbers that properly reflect bird populations. This would mean, for instance, that bird quotas would have to be reduced if few birds are seen.

But he also points out that a ban on spring hunting – coupled with conservation efforts – would ultimately provide hunters with more birds to shoot without harming bird populations.

No boycott

Suggestions that Malta should be boycotted as a tourism destination for as long as spring hunting persists are often made whenever illegal hunting makes headlines elsewhere, but Mr Packham makes it clear that he is against such a step.

“A boycott won’t hurt the hunters, it won’t stop spring hunting... it will hurt the hospitable, friendly Maltese people and many of them are against spring hunting,” he explains.

If anything, he calls for more people to visit the Maltese islands: but he does urge tourists to express their concerns about spring hunting as they do so. He also observes that spring hunting is denying Malta a lucrative tourism opportunity, as the country could be “one of the very best places in Europe for birdwatching.”

The BBC presenter does recommend two courses of action, however. He is asking people to write to their MEPs over the matter, in a bid to pressure the European Commission to act on the loophole allowing the spring hunting season in Malta to take place.

He is also urging people to donate to BirdLife Malta as it seeks to build up a war chest in preparation for the upcoming referendum to abolish spring hunting.

Over €40,000 have been collected through crowdfunding site indiegogo.com this week alone, bringing the total amount of donations up to over €46,000 at the time of going to print.