By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON

The number of songbirds killed in illegal trapping in the Greek Cypriot administration has dropped significantly, thanks to efforts made by the British armed forces, the U.K. government said Thursday.

The number of trapped and killed songbirds have dropped in 2017 to 260,000 from 880,000 in 2016, the British government said in a statement.

The Ministry of Defence said in a statement the trapping of songbirds is a widespread practice in the Greek Cypriot side of the island, "but British Forces Cyprus [BFC] have worked tirelessly alongside the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds [RSPB] and environmental organisation Birdlife Cyprus to reduce the horrific practice."

“The work being done by our armed forces and sovereign base area police has made a significant difference to the survival of these magnificent birds [...] and I applaud them for it. We will continue to do everything we can to protect them," Minister for Armed Forces Mark Lancaster said.

More than 150 species of singing birds are trapped and sold to restaurants in Greek Cyprus for the preparation of a local dish called ambelopoulia.

A total of 82 οf the 155 species are listed as “conservation priority species” under the EU Birds Directive and BirdLife International.

Overall, 400 bird species have been recorded in Cyprus, of which 280 are regularly occurring species.

Trappers use mist nets, limesticks and bird calling devices hidden in generally Acacia trees.

“Since 2014, the equivalent area of 45 football pitches of Acacia has been removed and over 60km of irrigation pipes destroyed,” the ministry statement said.

The illegal bird trapping in the Greek Cypriot administration is "widespread and extensive, taking place at an industrial scale, contributing to the large-scale killing of hundreds of thousands of migratory and wintering birds," according to the BirdLife Cyprus.

The worst year for bird trapping in the island was 2014 with 2.5 million birds were killed.