At last after binging on architecture and culture it was now time for some bird watching. Malta isn't really blessed with much natural heritage, being a heavily urbanised, desert, where large scale hunting is allowed. But there were a few sites and Buskett Garden was the most recommended. This entailed a trip to the more rural west coast. Buskett Garden is a cross between a garden for a stately home and natural woodland. Whilst here I saw some hobbies and a couple of black kites, but not really much about.
Buskett Gardens
With nothing much at Buskett we moved onto Dingli cliffs.
Dingli Cliffs
I saw some large pipits with distinctive markings which I took for Tawny Pipits. But again there wasn't much about. And it didn't get much better...
Up till now the weather had been very sunny with temperatures reaching the late 20s. But today the weather started off as overcast, and by the time we reached Dingli (around noon) it started raining. As we waited for the bus it was full on. By the time we got to Hagar Qim it was like a monsoon. It only relented when we left the site to travel back to Valetta.
Hagar Qim is very much like Ggantija in Gozo, a temple of standing stones that were created right at the dawn of civilisation. There were a large number of large temples spread around the area, all situated on the rocky cliffs..
Hunting in Malta
While I was in Malta I saw no hunters so I guess it was out of season. However on the west coast there were large number of hunters hides, pretty much everywhere.
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