Re: Your question
One big question, though, needs asking - given recent history what sort of reception do birders, esp. foriegn ones, get from the locals? How do you avoid confrontations or cope with the notorious 'downside'?
Hello John Cantelo,
Thank you for your kind comments. I am glad you enjoyed our site and found it informative.:t:
To be honest it was my friend whom did all the techical stuff and designed the website. I just wrote and supplied a lot of the information thats online. Regarding the introduction, we used 'Flash' to create it.
Regarding your question, well thats quite a good question to ask and a good question needs a good reply from my half.
When looking and trying to understand the local situation down here one really has to try to understand the culture and mentality of many of the locals. Maltese were always fasinated by birds and their ways. Being an island in the centre of the Mediteranean, between Europe and Africa many locals found migration fasinating. The only thing, that many people expressed their 'love' and interest in birds by either trapping and shooting them instead. This doesn't apply to Malta only, all mediterranean countries have the same culture.
Birdwatching in Malta has only taken a bit of a boost in the past few years. Before that it was unheard of and the only way how you can 'enjoy' birds was either by shooting or trapping them. This was the norm. Infact when Birdlife Malta was formed in 1962, there only where a handful of birdwatchers back then and I really admire them and their determination because they really had to go through a really hard time always facing threats and abuse.
Today things really have changed. But I still believe it is still matter of where one decides to go birdwatching. To be honest I don't really like to make my hobby open in public. I am not even 18 yet I have been threatened, offended and insulted 3 times at my local patch by a few irresponsible lot just because I had a binoculars around my neck minding my own buisness. So yes, there is that fear. Many european birdwatchers, I am sure never past through experiences us maltese birders have experienced once or more in our life and most foreign birdwatchers probably take their hobby for granted! But then again it really depends where you go. I visitedthe nature Reserves, Buskett, Comino, Ta Cenc and some other places whicha are all protected and I never had any problems at all and always sighted interesting birds. Problems may arise when once prefers to visit any other unprotected site.
Well ok, hunting takes plave all over the world and even though there are some principles that I can never agree with, I just have to live with the fact that there are people that prefer hunting birds rather than watching them. I just ahve to accept it (i am obviously referring to legal hunting)
The problem here is that Malta has so many hunters in such a small area of land that the density is too high. Just imagine visiting your local patch that is merely 2 km across and there are over 20 hunters around waiting for game to pass over. Seeing Song Thrushes, Skylarks and Starlings fall out of the sky isn't the most pleasant site to enjoy.
But yet again that is why I stress that it is merely about birding at the right place at the right time. If one doesn't want to see such scenes even though they are legal then the best is to stick to the protected sites I mentioned above. Besides the main reason that we created our site to promote our birds and birdwatching, we also created our site so it serves as a guide to the safest and best places to visit too
Usually its the birdwatchers that come for the camps of birdlife that may encounter problems. If one had to come as an independent birder he/she shouldn't have a problem with any locals. Actually the Maltese in general are very friendly people.
Re: ''How do you avoid confrontations or cope with the notorious 'downside'''
Well, its very frustrating when you encounter illegalities. If I don't want to see illegalities the best thing I should do is opt not to visit a site where hunting takes place. Because normally when I do and birds are present I always end up going back home in a bad mood witnessing a illegality(maily targeting of protected birds) . Last year I collected a blasted Grey Heron that fell in a garden in my village and I also picked up a Common Kestrel that was injured with gun wounds from my local patch. In both cases both birds had to be put down.
To cope with the notorious 'downside' you need alot of patience and control of temper I suppose. Legal hunting is here to stay wheather I agree with it or not so I will just have to accept it. All one can hope for is that education takes the better stand and persons start o enjoy birds in other ways without causing them harm. Illegal hunting needs to go and fast, although we are heading in that direction there is still so much that needs to be done. Thats why we need the international community to support Malta and help us out. Unfortunately every year I do witness certain incidents. For instance my first Osprey was shot at and came over me with a dangling leg and my first Black Stork was shot down too. This was just two years ago if I remember correctly. But the number of incidents on the whole are decreasing and less and less hunters are risking in braking the law. I don't want to sound all doom and gloom, and please not I do not want to put hunters all in the same bag or light. There are good hunters too that respect the law.
Anyhow, to cut a long story short,
birdwatching in Malta can be a great experience. Foriegners visiting, if they know where they need to visit and expect, shouldn't have any troubles. Locals have started to accept birdwatching as a new hobby and with time things should change for the better good. Infact the mentality of the general public towards the appreciation of nature is improving and this is encouraging. You mentioned a decade ago, in a decade we have seen great improvement. For instance, in 2001 if you had to go to Buskett in Autumn to observe birds of prey, you would have seen honey buzzards and marsh harriers being shot down everytime they pass in reasonable shooting distance. Local birdwatchers had to endure such scenes everytime they go out!! Today, such scenes are now rare thanks to enforcement and the menatlity thanks God is changing! ...and yes today you can go to Buskett and enjoy such birds
alive without getting shot.
John, If you ever will be visiting, do inform me, I'll be more than happy to show you around the island and show you some good birds too.
Yes encouraging birders to visit is the way to go. The quicker people start to realise that maltese countryside is there for everyone to enjoy, the quicker such illegalities should stop.
Wow i wrote so much! Thank you for reading all this
cheers
skylark25
