Production still: EMPTYING THE SKIES star Sergio and his bounty of confiscated ortolans moments before returning them to the wild. Poaching of ortolan buntings in the Landes region of France continues unabated and unpunished in breach of the Birds Directive 2009/147/EC. Worse still, Sergio and his fellow bird protectors were ordered out of the area last year by the local authorities due to the growing aggressiveness of the “hunters.” You can’t make this stuff up.