Conservationists appalled at illegal killing of 25m birds a year in the Mediterranean

Glued, poisoned, trapped, shot - a shocking report reveals enforcement failure at a colossal scale as hunters across southern Europe and the Middle East kill birds with impunity

The Egyptians line their beaches with fine two-metre high nets that can stretch for miles across the Nile delta and will catch any bird coming close; the Maltese will cover whole trees in nylon; the Cypriots smear branches in glue to stop birds flying; the Italians will kill nearly anything that flies and the French like to set metal traps for small birds.

But the sheer scale of the cruelty of the illegal wild bird killings around the Mediterranean which was revealed last week has shocked conservationists and bird lovers across Europe.