A dead Marsh Harrier found at sea by kayakers to the northwest of Gozo had a ring on its leg, the details of which were passed on to BirdLife Malta.

The ring on the dead bird was – BirdLife Malta Valletta FF02841. BirdLife Malta said that information from its database showed it was a rehabilitated Marsh-harrier that they had released at Comino Bird Sanctuary on the 3rd of November – just two days before it was found dead at sea.

This Western Marsh-harrier was originally rescued by the Environmental Protection Unit (EPU) of the Malta Police Force, after police were called to its find in Girgenti, limits of Siggiewi, on the 23rd of September.

BirdLife Malta in a statement explained that the bird of prey had originally been seen to by the vets and was found to be suffering from a fractured ulna on its right wing as a result of shotgun injuries.

It was then passed over to BirdLife Malta for rehabilitation where after a period of confinement, the fracture on this bird healed.

Further veterinary checks confirmed a good recovery of the injuries sustained, warranting the bird to be given more space to once again gather strength to fly, the NGO said.

BirdLife said that ”after clearance following further improvements on the conditions of this bird, we took advantage of a good weather gap between the storms of the past weeks to release this bird back into the wild to continue its migration.”

The NGO stated that, ”the northwest of Gozo is one of many areas which sees the brunt of illegal hunting happening without much enforcement, enough to guarantee that birds such as this Marsh Harrier don’t even get a second chance to make it in the wild after all the efforts at rehabilitating this bird to good health.”

According to the kayaker who found and sent BirdLife Malta photos of the bird, ”it is unfortunately difficult to see the injuries sustained in the shooting as the bird had rolled over in the water. Three of us clearly observed the injuries though. It was floating in the sea just to the south of San Dimitri Point on Gozo.”

The first photos were sent to BLM by the kayaker who found the bird dead at sea. Another photo shows the bird when it was recovered by police, and the last photo documents its release back into the wild.

Video footage of the Marsh-harrier being released back into the wild on Comino on 3rd November, together with two Honey-buzzards, one of which was also treated for shotgun wounds.

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