The annual carnage brought by the hunting season in Malta looks set to continue despite legal and political action taken by the European Commission. Malta is on an important migration route for a number of species especially for Turtle Dove and Quail. Invariably raptors get caught up in the flak and only last week Honey Buzzard and a Pallid Harrier was found shot, the latter possibly a bird from what is a diminishing European breeding population. Thus a single hunter could significantly impact of the survival of a rare species. For further information see http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2007/04/malta_hunting_start.html