“Nothing…nothing…nothing prepares you for the reality of what the hell’s going on out there…Malta messes with your head” Ceri Levy, 04 Oct 2011
A conversation with documentary filmmaker, writer, and ‘Ghosts of Gone Birds’ organiser Ceri Levy on his reaction to witnessing first-hand the illegal hunting of migrant birds on Malta.
Ceri is perhaps best generally known for his film Bananaz, which followed the rise of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlitt’s cartoon band Gorillaz, but within conservation circles it’s his ‘Ghosts of Gone Birds’ initiative (which supports BirdLife International and aims to raise ‘a creative army for conservation’) and his latest film project ‘The Bird Effect’ – which explores the many effects that birds have on people – that are gaining him a deserved reputation as a passionate and effective activist. We spoke just one day after Ceri arrived back to London from Malta where he had joined a Raptor Camp to support the work of BirdLife Malta, help protect migrant birds, and to document the lawless and indiscriminate illegal hunting that takes place on an island sometimes described as ‘at war’ with wildlife.
The featured image at the head of this post is of a Short-toed Eagle which was photographed flying low in Mtarfa (central Malta) late afternoon September 24th shortly before it was illegally shot down. Photo copyright Kim Skelmose.
TN63 Ceri Levy talks about illegal hunting on Malta.mp3 [ 32:08 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadDisclaimer: This podcast has been produced by Talking Naturally to support conservation. Neither Ceri nor I represent BirdLife Malta in any way and views and opinions expressed are ours and ours alone. No fees were charged or accepted by Talking Naturally for making this podcast. Bandwidth costs for this podcast are sponsored by Digital Spring.
Show Notes
The BirdLife Malta website: http://www.birdlifemalta.org
BirdLife Malta is part of an international network of fully co-ordinated ringing stations and National Ringing Schemes that have been indispensable for the efficient management of scientific bird ringing in Europe. We are the leading voice in ensuring that Malta’s hunters WILL conform with EU Directives and spring hunting will be banned in accordance with those directives. Birdlife Malta currently manages two nature reserves, Ghadira and Is-Simar, and also joint manages an afforestation project known as Foresta 2000 (located adjacent to Ghadira): the two nature reserves are both Ramsar-designated wetland areas and represent the largest free-standing sources of water in Malta.
Links etc:
- Ghosts of Gone Birds on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ghostsofgonebirds
- Ceri Levy on Caught by the River.net: http://caughtbytheriver.net/2011/04/the-bird-effect-diaries-28/
- Interview/podcast with Ceri Levy on Australian birding website Bird-O.com: http://bird-o.com/2011/03/30/from-gorillaz-to-ghosts-of-gone-birds/
- The Bird Effect: http://www.thebirdeffect.com/
- Creative Agency ‘GoodPilot’: Good Pilot
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