French hunters will be out in force this weekend trying to trap the ortolan bunting as it begins its journey south for the winter.
In coming days, captured birds will be blinded, fattened up, drowned in brandy and then eaten in Europe’s sickest display of gluttony.
Devotees perform strange ceremonies, pulling napkins over their heads so they can drool over the delicacy out of sight of other diners.
Hunting the sparrow-size birds is illegal but the taste is said to be so exquisite that French connoisseurs are willing to pay more than £100 to savour their rich flesh.
Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson sparked one of the BBC’s angriest mailbags when he took part in a clandestine ortolan feast during a French road trip a few years ago.
Millions watched in horror as he popped a cooked bird into his mouth and, licking his lips, could be heard salivating: “Mmm...”
Former French president Francois Mitterrand is also said to have been a fan of the illicit dish.
The ortolan’s delicate song sounds remarkably like the opening bars of Beethoven’s Fifth symphony. It is heading towards extinction in its north European breeding grounds, yet callous Frenchmen are prepared to go to any lengths to get their fill.
Conservationists face an annual battle to stop the birds being trapped for the table. Since the early Eighties numbers have fallen by 86 per cent on its breeding grounds in Scandinavia. Only a handful are seen in Britain.
Alison Duncan, of the Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux, the French version of the RSPB, said: “It took 10 years of lobbying to get the ortolan bunting put on the protected species list for France but each year 30,000 of these birds are poached.
Captured birds will be blinded, fattened up, drowned in brandy and then eaten
“Since 2006, LPO has been carrying out actions to counteract the poaching.
“This involves finding the trapping sites, releasing the caught birds and then breaking up the traps.
“South-west France has always been a hugely important area for migratory birds and local people have always shot large numbers passing through, such as wood pigeon, turtle doves and blackbirds. Today the ortolan bunting is sold for as much as £127 a bird.
This commerce is completely underground. Once trapped, the birds are put in the dark and force fed like geese for foie gras. These birds can gain three times their weight.
“Ortolans are considered delicious, perhaps for the way they are cooked in Armanagc. It is well known that President Mitterrand ate them regularly.”
RSPB spokesman Grahame Madge said: “The bird has declined so much that for every 10 ortolan in Europe in the Eighties there is now only one.
“These migratory birds belong to all Europeans rather than just those selfish French ‘gastronomes’ who clearly have more regard for cuisine than for conservation.”
The LPO is calling on British supporters to help their crusade by writing to French president Francois Hollande urging him to crack down on illegal hunting. See www.elysee.fr/ecrire- au-president-de-la-republique