Sunday 24 July 2016

Nature Series 7 - 1. Bird Wars On Malta

BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 31st July 2012

Twice each year the skies above the Mediterranean island of Malta are filled with the spectacle of thousands of migrating birds. Kestrels, Bee-eaters, Honey Buzzards, Turtle Dove and Quail, among other species fly first north, in the Spring, to the breeding grounds of Europe.

They return south in the Autumn to their wintering grounds in sub Saharan Africa. If their migration takes them over Malta, twice each year they must run the gauntlet of hunters' guns. Many of the migrant bird species are protected, only two species are legal quarry for Maltese hunters.

Investigative journalist Matthew Hill travels to Malta to talk to the hunters about the age-long culture of hunting birds on Malta and to investigate allegations of widespread illegal hunting.

Presented by Matthew Hill
Produced by Lizz Pearson.

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