Maltese Cross

Quite a battle seems to be developing between bird conservationists and people enthusing about the 'tradition' of shooting migrating birds as they 'refuel' in Malta (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/20/conservationists-marksmen-malta-bird-hunt). The range of species that are shot is really quite wide and many of these animals have shown marked declines in their populations. Somewhat strangely, some of the shooters blame agricultural practises in other parts of Europe for this. They may have a sort of point but blasting them out of the sky whilst they attempt to rest and feed up can't be a help!