Archbishop Charles J Scicluna visited the Simar Nature reserve in Malta on Sunday morning, where he discussed the protection of Malta’s environment through the management of nature reserves..

The Archbishop was welcomed to Simar by BirdLife Malta President Darryl Grima, CEO Mark Sultana, Head of Land Management Mark Gauci and Communication Manager Nathaniel Attard.

As well as hearing details on the restoration of Simar and the nature conservation efforts carried out throughout the years by the eNGO to preserve, protect and restore the natural environment, BirdLife Malta said that Mgr Scicluna was very interested to hear about the work carried out by BirdLife Malta in environmental protection and awareness through its multiple initiatives and programmes, mainly in the conservation, research and education fields.Showing a keen interest all along in the flora at Simar, the Archbishop was taken on a tour around the nature reserve in Xemxija and he also found the time to meet families with children who were visiting the reserve on Sunday morning.

Starting from the reserve visitor centre where he met BirdLife Malta volunteering assistants at work, the Archbishop also spent some time in the birdwatching hide and the bird ringing hide where he was given an explanation of bird ringing and the objectives of this scientific study.

BirdLife Malta said that ”there was unanimous agreement that nature and our countryside need more protection, even so because they remain the only means of entertainment, with a social aspect, which is free of charge in the country.”At the end of his visit Monsignor Scicluna was presented with a copy of BirdLife Malta’s Nature Reserves report and also our latest book about bird photography authored by nature photographer Aron Tanti.

Photos by Ian Noel Pace, Archdiocese of Malta

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