Malta - some thoughts

A pretty amazing thing happened last Friday evening, for a couple of hours it seemed that half the world was talking about a pressing conservation issue. That issue was the annual spring slaughter of migrant birds (including many rare and declining species) arriving in Malta on their long, hazardous journeys to their breeding grounds in the north. It was a surreal thing to witness - a demonstration of unity and passion for a subject that is rightly close to many people's hearts. Of course, I'm referring to the 'tweet storm' (which is apparently quite similar to a 'thunder clap') promoted by the bird lover, naturalist and all-round top bloke, Chris Packham, to highlight the sad events surrounding his trip to Malta. I duly flicked on to twitter that evening, to be met with a solid stream of messages all supporting an end to the #MaltaMassacre. It was pretty cool and there was, in fact, nothing else happening on my timeline.

Skimming through some of the messages, one that particularly stood out for me came from Chris himself who tweeted this horrific statistic:

"Just picked up a book on Malta's breeding birds . 18 regular species . What a disgrace"

A disgrace indeed, and completely unbelievable when you consider that your local park probably has as many breeding species as a sizeable, sun-baked island in the middle of the Mediterranean. The reason for that low number is that the birds are all shot for fun.

There were many more humbling anecdotes shared along with some good banter and some pretty weird bits also (in my opinion). The trouble is, despite feeling encouraged by the response, I felt a little disconnected too. I think that is largely due to the medium used - twitter. I can't help but feel that when it comes to protest, twitter is not an efficient means of communication, it's like clapping with gloves on; it just feels too much like a blur of sentiment, all too quickly washed away.

But perhaps I should be more objective and look at what it achieved. It succeeded in helping Birdlife Malta raise 50,000 euros (and more) to help continue funding their crucial work and it did inevitably send a message to a wider audience - particularly in the UK where there was a considerable amount of newspaper coverage off the back of Chris Packham's quest, aided by his grim but essential improv video bulletins posted to YouTube. I'd like to think also, that it sent a message of support to those Maltese people who'll go to the polls soon to vote in a referendum on spring hunting amidst a climate of intimidation (watch episode 3 of Chris's diaries when the hunters use the police to move honest families of weekend campers off one of the island's few public spaces because it interferes with the hunting!)

I guess it's what happens next that's important now - the part which never inspires me about twitter. They say a tweet has a life span of 9 seconds but hopefully that won't be the case here.

One thing that struck me about the responses was the number of people claiming they would boycott visiting Malta as a direct result of the callous and unsound spring hunting season. Just like protesting via twitter, this is something that I just don't buy as a meaningful long-term solution to the problem. It is a response born out of anger and frustration - and rightly - but to me it misses the point somewhat. Surely, fewer keen and knowledgeable birdwatchers is exactly what the hunters on Malta want and what the long-suffering people want more of. It doesn't feel to me like the economic argument - that of money lost because of fewer tourists - carries much weight either when the protest is fought between nationalist pride and so called 'traditions', and conservation. And from what I can tell, the tourist board have done little more than criticise the efforts of conservationists anyway. Another thing I wondered is that if people are intent on boycotting Malta because of the illegal hunting, then shouldn't they also boycott Cyprus, Italy, France, Spain, Egypt...and for that matter, what about Scotland or Lancashire or...

Everyone's entitled to their opinions but a boycott doesn't work for me. Go there, take photos, get angry and then come home and tell everyone about it. Last autumn, I spent a week in Cyprus, volunteering some of my annual leave with the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS). I spent most of the week feeling tired, stressed and, at times, terrified...not everyone's idea of a holiday (!), but I'd still go back as a birder.

I think what Chris Packham and all those people achieved last week (and continue to do) is nothing less than inspiring, it was good to watch and feels important to be part of - but it will need more than twitter to work and that's down to us.

If you haven't seen any of the courageous and heartfelt videos posted by Chris Packham from Malta last week then you really, really should - here's the link for Episode 1, the rest will be then be listed.

Finally, I've written to my MEP, Peter Skinner, about it, why don't you write to yours on the issue (just don't bother with Farage though, he wouldn't listen...)

Link - 'Malta is a bird hell' 

 A Turtle Dove freed from a limestick trap in Cyprus, October 2013
(its wing was permanently damaged, it will never leave Cyprus)

Crane spectacular

Prior to a more in depth account of my trip to Cyprus, here is some footage of a spectacular event that I witnessed yesterday evening.

Taking a final stroll on my adopted patch for the week before leaving for the airport, I heard an odd grating sound somewhere in the distance. At first I thought it was a radio or the local restaurant gearing up for another night of karaoke, but then it got louder and sounded more familiar. I scanned each way until I picked out a thin, dark, wispy line on the horizon to the north and watched it drift closer until the line became a large flock of common cranes, circling and calling in the cloudless sky. It took my breath away. After a few minutes the flock drifted south and out to sea in loose formations.

I ran back to get my camera and tell one of the other guys. By the time we returned, the first flock of around 90 birds had disappeared but after a few minutes another flock again appeared from the north, this time around 70-75 birds. As before, they passed overhead, calling and circling somewhat erratically. It seemed miraculous how such large birds could sustain such flight over so many inhospitable miles. I wonder if these birds were en route from breeding grounds in north/eastern Europe to wintering areas in Israel/Middle East? Wherever they were headed, I hope they get there safe.

Migration in full, epic flow...what a privilege to see.

Common Cranes over south eastern Cyprus 13/10/11:

Boom: Emptying the Skies trailer

I'm excited to see Jonathan Franzen's documentary about the horrific annual slaughter of birds in the Mediterranean making its fist appearances. He chose to premier it in Britain because we're the "bird-craziest country in the world"...I hope it's huge and stokes old fires and ignites new ones.

Check out the trailer here http://vimeo.com/67906317

Bee-eater trapped on a limestick
Photo via CABS http://www.komitee.de/en/projects/cyprus

CABS on Franzen and 'Emptying the Skies': http://www.komitee.de/en/actions-and-projects/species-protection/emptying-skies

EU - don't CUT the CAP budget

HLS funded field margin near Meopham, north Kent, June 2012

You'd be forgiven for thinking  that us humans don't really care much for the environment at the moment; that we've got it all figured out and have decided we can probably do without clean air, secure food supplies, healthy ecosystems and such like. The daily barrage of narrow-minded, destructive attempts at undermining our environment continued yesterday with the announcement that a vital part of the EU budget that funds and encourages wildlife-friendly farming across Europe is set to be slashed.

As part of the 'Pillar 2' funding stream of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), farmers are rewarded for employing sensitive, wildlife-friendly practices under such schemes as the Higher Level Stewardship. This scheme has evolved over recent years to advise farmers and landowners and ensure that money is spent on strictly observed and tailored practices, designed to enhance farming landscapes for biodiversity without compromising the needs of farmers to make a living. It has a massive role to play in the UK where farming landscapes have changed radically over the last hundred years, resulting in the loss or steep decline of countless species of flora and fauna. In the UK there are more than 58,000 agri-environment schemes, covering a total of over 6 million hectares of farmland! These schemes are an amazing achievement and vital to the continued conservation of our wildlife and the health of our environment as a whole. The announcement of a proposed 17-20% cut to this part of the EU agricultural budget therefore threatens to blow a hole through this and leave a vast shortfall that in current conditions will be nigh on impossible to make up.

Walking around the arable fields near my home town over the last few years, I have seen a number of positive changes to the environment. Several years ago, the local farmer installed a superb new hedgerow, several hundred metres long, filled with native plants and shrubs. A nice scrubby area has been allowed to regenerate in one corner of a field and this year, last time I looked, it appeared a sizeable weedy cover crop has been left to stand for the winter. As a result, this spring I saw and heard more corn buntings in the fields than ever before. I'm fairly sure several pairs of Linnet nested successfully and just a few weeks ago I spotted a pair of reed buntings in the area for the first time. In one corner of the field, mostly obscured by a tangled hedge, a little hand made sign makes reference to the fact that these changes have come about as a result of the HLS scheme. It's great to see this close to home and I hope the farmer is aware of these things. Cutting funds like this will see us take one step forward and two back. We stand to lose so much.

It was good to see the Wildlife Trust's statement today, as well as the many others. They suggest emailing David Cameron before next week's EU summit to make our voices heard. I know we're in financial dire straits at the moment but we can't afford to let this slip now. Worth it don't you think?

If you care about farmland birds or butterflies or bugs or sustainably produced food or just a nice walk in the countryside, email the Prime Minister through the RSPB campaign page - it only takes a minute! Or write your own. Don't cut the CAP budget!

Corn Bunting on telegraph wire, Isle of Sheppey, Kent, 2012

A Silent Slaughter

What they don't put on the postcards

I’ve followed the work of the German group Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) for a while now. I’ve been impressed by their relentless campaigning against the persecution of birds across Europe, often alongside groups such as Birdlife but often striking out on their own in areas less widely known as being certain black holes for birds. Without them I might never have read about the plight of Ortolan Buntings in the south of France or the efforts to conserve breeding pairs of Bonelli’s Eagle in Sicily. Through this I heard about the annual ‘camp’ in Brescia, Northern Italy, set up every year since 1984 to monitor, prevent and inform on the widespread illegal poaching that occurs in the region every autumn. The area is famed for its beautiful lakes: Garda, Como, Iseo - all desirable tourist spots, but you rarely hear about the birds silently disappearing in the hills and valleys all around. The chance to volunteer for a worthwhile cause, in an area I’d never been to was an exciting prospect, so the Saturday before last I flew to Bergamo for a week.

Upon arriving I had a message saying I would be met shortly by a “tall, nearly hairless German” who I couldn’t miss. This proved to be a more than adequate description and my hairless lift soon arrived to take me to meet the rest of the team. I had no idea what to expect from the week before I went, would I be shocked or angry or nervous? Or perhaps it wouldn’t be as bad as I thought? I guess all these feelings came to be at some point during the week, but I knew as I stood watching birds flit through the gardens of the hotel early on the first morning and the first cracks of gunshots rang out from the hills nearby, I was curiously looking forward to it all.

The laws pertaining to bird hunting in the Lombardy region seem like a tangled web. Shooting is permitted 5 days a week to licensed hunters and the legal quarry amounts to some 37 species – including ducks and waders but the majority small passerines. It was hard to accept that the shots I heard, sending birds like Song Thrush, Skylark, Blackbird and Redwing plummeting from the sky, I just had to reluctantly get used to. Apparently there are 40,000 registered hunters in the Brescia area alone, each with permission to harvest the skies of 30 birds a day for 60 days a year*. You can do the maths if you want. It’s appalling and I’m shocked how it gets past the EU Birds Directive. You can’t avoid seeing or hearing the hunters, from dawn to dusk every day bar Tuesday and Friday when hunting is not allowed (I don’t suppose birds have got anywhere to keep a pocket diary?) shots would ring out at intervals, the hillsides are pock marked with small capanos – private shooting ranges. Of course with so much legal shooting it’s likely that other birds are shot illegally too - we recovered a wounded Brambling, observed illegal Siskin decoys and observed a hunter we suspected tried to shoot a Nuthatch in frustration. Trapping of birds is even allowed at some installations called Rucculo where with a permit, live trapping for hunters’ decoy birds is allowed. Birds are lured in by decoys or food and then spooked into nets before being caged and presumably spending the rest of their lives unwittingly calling members of their same species to their deaths.

And then there’s the illegal killing – the trapping of birds, by numerous means, by and large for profit. Cruel bow or archetti traps, ‘snap traps’ (trappoli) and mist nets are illegal, yet as I found, still widely used in the area - the majority in remote villages, away from prying eyes. Birds caught in these, if live, may be sold as decoys for hundreds of euros (I was amazed by this), sold to restaurants where traditional ‘delicacies’ are still served despite being outlawed, or simply eaten by the poacher. I understand that in centuries past, birds may have represented a valuable, seasonal meal for rural people but times have changed. Illegal archetti, snap traps and mist nets are what we set out to find.

Following breakfast every day the group met for a briefing which laid out the plan for the day. CABS work closely with the Italian Forest Police, a dedicated team whose aim is to catch poachers in the act in order to prosecute. And our aims, in most cases, revolved around this – quietly checking the remote valleys between the lakes Iseo and Idro, a trapping hotspot, for traps and if present, informing the police. Leaving a trap or net standing might not be easy and birds may die, but nailing a poacher may ultimately end up saving more.

On the first day, in pairs, we were given an area to cover and I learned from an experienced volunteer what to look out for. As we hiked up through spectacular alpine scenery and skirted remote cabins, I checked for odd tracks and casual pathways in the grass, notches cut on young trees and clearings in woods – all things that might suggest a trapping site. There were some days when we found nothing and other days when we did. At our last stop on my first day, we checked an area that had been flagged as a possible trapping site. Close to a property and with dogs barking nearby, I admit I was uneasy. As we moved quietly through the scrub, my companion stopped and pointed at some bright red berries stuck to a notch cut into a tree. In the fading light they almost glowed and then I saw the archetti trap below. As I saw one, I turned and realised they were all around us, on metre high sticks set in the ground in rows. I lost count how many in the end, but more than 20. They were recently set and so we noted the location to the pass on the info. In one we found a Robin, hanging upside down, the cord wrapped tightly round its crushed legs. This we freed but it was too late.

The rest of the week took us to a number of different places, some remote and some not so. On one occasion we checked a site where a poacher had been caught with archetti traps set the previous year, it was pleasing to find this time there were none. At another spot in a small town in a valley we found a mist net and several snap traps just 50 metres from a school yard. In another valley we found four illegal mist nets - they were not big sites but each held birds: Blackbird, Song Thrush, Robin, some dead already. In this case we removed the nets and freed what we could. Unattended and unmanaged, fine, mesh ‘mist nets’ are death traps for birds. Even whilst looking out for them it was easy to go within several feet of one without realising it was there.

During the course of the week it was great to talk with the rest of the volunteers, who during my visit were all German or Italian. It was interesting to hear what motivated people to come, people from different backgrounds with different interests; during the week I met a lawyer, an electrician and a farmer among others. Not everyone shared my particular passion for birds but everyone recognised what was right and the chance to make a real change. Working with Alex, the camp organiser was a great experience. An energetic, passionate guy, top botanist and grasshopper geek, it was a lesson to watch him breathlessly traverse steep, scrubby slopes while giving instructions on his mobile! I was interested to find out how CABS had changed over the years and the changes he described showed a logical and I think effective, evolution. Occasionally regarded in the past as ‘militant’ in their approach due to not shying away from confrontation, there is now emphasis on working with police and local groups, networking and holding regular meetings with MEPs in Brussels. They’re still not afraid to “kick stones” or be pro-active on the ground and that’s good – from what I saw a combination of both seems to be an efficient way of working. Throughout the week I was told that the situation in Lombardy has improved considerably over 25 years. There may be lots of reasons for that – police presence, political lobbying, increased awareness and a shift in generational attitudes, I don’t know...but the work of CABS is undeniably a massive part of that. They are eyes on ears on the ground, working hard to make real changes and the best of a bad situation. Long may it continue.

But it’s not over yet.

Just before I left, I heard that the police had successfully caught the poacher from the site with the archetti I checked on the first day. He was catching birds to sell in his brother’s restaurant down the road. I don’t know what punishment was handed out although I was told that in most cases it amounts to a fine of several hundred euros although it can depend on other things such as the scale of the incident. I guess you could argue about the effectiveness of that but at least it’s a deterrent.

There were some low points across the week but ultimately it was a unique experience and I left feeling really positive about what the group and I personally had achieved. The days were long and hard and exhilarating but I loved every blistered moment hiking and climbing through the hills. There were few moments to really enjoy the scenery or the birds and other wildlife we came across (I’ll save that for another post) but that’s not why I went after all. This is just a small part of a much bigger problem. Throughout Europe, birds suffer horrific persecution year on year and that has to stop. 

Links:

CABS - LIPU (UK) - Birdlife 

Thanks to all the volunteers I met on the trip (and for all the translating help!) Thanks To Alex for the photo above. Thanks for reading as ever, spread the word.

Arrivederci...for a bit

No posts for a week or two as I'm heading to Italy tomorrow to join up with a team from Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) at their annual bird protection camp in Brescia.

This is my first time volunteering with CABS, a Germany-based campaigning/conservation organisation that tackles the widespread persecution of resident and migrant birds at key areas across Europe. Like many people, the appalling crimes that birds (particularly migrant ones) suffer across Europe sickens me, so I'm realistic but equally excited and grateful to have the opportunity to take part in this. I'm looking forward to going somewhere I've never been and experiencing it for myself. Conversely, I doubt very much I'm looking forward to seeing many birds, since there's a chance the ones I do will be hanging upside down with shattered legs or entangled in trapper's nets.

The Brescia camp in northern Italy has been running since the 1980s to tackle the widespread illegal poaching that occurs in the Lombardy region. Every autumn, as the last weary summer migrants pass through the Alps on their way south, with the first wintering birds on their heels, they begin funnelling through the food rich valleys in the area, where trappers wait with their nets and a range of crude, archaic traps and hunters ready their guns. And every autumn CABS volunteers are there, monitoring the situation, removing traps and working with the Italian Forest Police. Of the birds that are trapped indiscriminately, some are caught live to meet the demand for hunter's 'decoys' while others are destined for under the counter 'delicacies' in local restaurants. The proactive stance of groups like CABS and the continued pressure heaped on regional governments has seen successes of late in Italy but these still can't hide the sad, unjustifiable fate of millions of birds every year. It should be an interesting week, stay tuned...

Follow the CABS daily blog for updates.

An excerpt from Jonathan Franzen's essay, 'The Ugly Mediterranean':

Italy is a long, narrow gantlet for a winged migrant to run. Poachers in Brescia, in the north, trap a million songbirds annually for sale to restaurants offering pulenta e osei-polenta with little birds. The woods of Sardinia are full of wire snares, the Venetian wetlands are a slaughtering ground for wintering ducks, and Umbria, the home of St. Francis, has more registered hunters per capita than any other region. Hunters in Tuscany pursue their quotas of woodcock and wood pigeon and four legally shootable songbirds, including song thrush and skylark; but at dawn, in the mist, it’s hard to distinguish legal from illegal quarry, and who’s keeping track anyway? To the south, in Campania, much of which is controlled by the Camorra (the local mafia), the most inviting habitat for migratory waterfowl and waders is in fields flooded by the Camorra and rented to hunters for up to a thousand euros a day; songbird wholesalers from Brescia bring down refrigerated trucks to collect the take from small-time poachers; entire Campanian provinces are blanketed with traps for seven tuneful European finch species, and flush Camorristi pay handsomely for well-trained singers at the illegal bird markets there. Farther south, in Calabria and Sicily, the highly publicized springtime hunting of migrating honey buzzards has been reduced by intensive law enforcement and volunteer monitoring, but Calabria, especially, is still full of poachers who, if they can get away with it, will shoot anything that flies.

Reprinted from Telegraph article 8/11/10.  All copyright/respect to Jonathan Franzen. Thanks to Lisa A.

Buzzing about Batumi

I couldn't resist posting this amazing story that I heard about last week.

The Batumi Raptor Count group, based on the south eastern coast of the Black Sea in Georgia, posted their figures from a couple of incredible sessions held early last week. I'll let the numbers do the talking:

Batumi - Saghalvasho Monday 3 September 2012

Counting period: 6:30 - 19:00 Weather: Cloudy Observers: Mael Sinoir, Johanna Yourstone, Guillaume Peplinski, Jan Hullen, Erwin Booij,

Black Stork 6 Hen / Montagu's / Pallid Harrier 1145 Honey Buzzard 165080 Common Buzzard 1 Black Kite 7150 Booted Eagle 37 Marsh Harrier 282 Osprey 2 Pallid Harrier 18 European Roller 277 Montagu's Harrier 479 Totals: 174477 individuals, 11 species, 12:30 hours Bold = Remarkable observation (scarce or rare species or large number)

Yep, you read that right - 165,080 Honey Buzzards in just over 12 hours! And that's not the end of it, here's a bit of a summary too:

"However our observations of two days ago on August 30th surpassed the expectations of even the most experienced counters currently working in Batumi. After one day of continuous hard rain on the 29th, where hardly a migrating bird could be spotted, a record-breaking number of 99,038 Honey Buzzards out of 102,293 raptors appeared out of nowhere above our observatories; an astounding number by any measure. The count was even more astonishing as in the week preceding the rain event we had already observed Honey Buzzard migration exceeding 150,000 birds. It is hard to put to words the awe that overcomes you when confronted with such a tsunami of birds. Quite frankly, one should just be here to have any sense of what such numbers really mean. It is  magical to feel excitement build among the observers with the ever increasing numbers collecting in vast kettles over the Kobuleti plains to the north … Huge towers of raptors, growing up to several 1000's of birds strong and several 100's of meters in height. And when finally the never-ending stream of birds arrives overhead, and when you hear the tally counters clicking like mad and see your fellow observers laughing -nearly hysterically- with hardly any time to eat, that's when you know what the Batumi craze is all about. As far as natural spectacles go, the migration in Batumi must be one of the most thrilling in the world".


As pictures like the ones here show, bird migration is surely one of the greatest spectacles in the natural world. It is confounding, mysterious and exciting to ponder; from Chaffinches suddenly arriving en masse in urban gardens in autumn to raptors heading south - an absolute joy to witness. While everyone's heard of Falsterbo, Gibraltar and the Bosphorus, it's great to see Batumi on the map, literally - I had to look it up (just north east of Turkey FYI). Worth a visit I reckon?!

BRC are a nature conservation NGO, working to monitor and protect the hundreds of thousands of birds of prey that migrate through the Republic of Georgia every year. Check them out here. Fantastic work.