Birdlife Malta has released footage of an incident in which two of its members were allegedly assaulted by a man after they found an illegal trapping site in Delimara.

The footage, taken by a third member of BirdLife Malta who was not attacked, was filmed as they were investigating the source of an illegal bird caller in the area.

At the beginning of the clip one of the BirdLife members can be heard to say “There are two guys running towards us”, before a man approaches and begins to challenge them, and swear heavily, in Maltese.

One of the men hit conservation manager Nicholas Barbara and conservation officer Nick Peludu in the face.

The BLM members called the police and handed over audio recordings of the incident to the police. The ALE section is investigating the incident.