RSPB volunteer, Phil Hughes, has just returned from helping BirdLife Cyprus in the grim task of monitoring the illegal bird trapping that blights the country. Our work to protect the natural world is full of stories of people stepping up ... Phil's personal commitment is an inspiration, here's his story, in his own words.
For the second time this year, I'm going out as a field survey volunteer with BirdLife Cyprus to monitor the illegal trapping of wild birds. The first time I joined birdlife Cyprus was in January. In January it was evident that trapping was widespread and we found nets erected in broad daylight, but the activity did not appear that effective...we did not find many captured birds.
It was felt at that that time that this lack of trapping activity may have been down to the late arrival of the thrushes, the main target species during the winter period. I went away from Cyprus wondering if the trapping activity was really as extensive and damaging as was being alleged.
Returning to Cyprus in September, during the main migration season, for my second stint with BirdLife Cyprus, my questions were soon answered. As with the winter monitoring we went out every day, the difference this time was that we daily encountered extensive activity and found dead and dying birds.
The use of limesticks was widespread and devastating: birds such as fan-tailed warblers, red-backed shrikes, lesser whitethroats stuck to lime sticks desperately trying to free themselves, with the result that their wings and beaks also get stuck and the birds end up hanging upside down, awaiting a slow death.
The pictures we took of the birds trapped on limesticks are so shocking I have not shown tem to my wife or children. It would upset them too deeply.
The limestick activity knew no limits; our attention was drawn one day to the activities of an elderly man sticking lengths of bamboo into an earth bank. These lengths of bamboo were to support a limestick to act as a perch - three birds were already caught. This activity was being carried out in broad daylight in plain view of adjacent houses.
If I had any doubt after January's monitoring about the extent of the trapping activity, September really put me right. Limesticks were shocking. Even if you remove the bird from the lime stick and try to clean the horrible gooey substance from its feathers it is unlikely that it will be able to fly again.
As shocking as the lime sticks are, they do not take the numbers that the nets capture. This was brought home to me starkly one day when we stumbled into a relatively short length of net squeezed between citrus trees. Six birds were in the net, five blackcaps and a garden warbler. This was a very small net tucked away in a location that had not even been prepared as a net ride and yet six birds had been caught, I assume in a very short time. We released the birds – we could not not intervene.
Another gory find was the heads of birds in a net ride, once the trappers return to the net all birds not already dead have their heads cut off to make their removal from the net easier.
Areas where nets are normally sited are called net rides; the net ride is prepared by pruning the trees either side to provide a clear passage to erect the nets and to collect the catch. The net rides are a good clue to look for when monitoring for this activity.
Again, after my experiences in January I found myself wondering, are we right to question this practice, is it just a few birds that poor dirt farmers catch for the pot? Another question was answered in September, this is big, this is large-scale; this is not a few birds for the pot but organised crime on a large-scale.
I now hope, having seen what I've seen this September, that the thrushes again stay away in January - otherwise they'll be slaughtered. I find it distressing think of any bird and in particular a bird that sings so beautifully as a song thrush, more beautiful than the Nightingale in my opinion, being slaughtered for a so-called 'luxury' dish.
If any RSPB groups would like a presentation on my experiences monitoring and working with Birdlife Cyprus - please contact me! If you are interested please contact Phil via this blog.
A beeeater trapped - and this time released alive. Picture credit: BirdLife Cyprus
If you can add your voice in protest at this sickening activity - here's where to go. If you already have, thank you and do forward this blog.
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