Archive for July, 2017

Windy Day – 21st July

Not been a great day weather wise but all the birds flown – light rain but quite windy. I am going to include a picture of ‘Brian’ flying at Blenheim Palace earlier this year. It shows how angular and slight he is – he lacks the size of the female – but he is so speedy! As I said in a historical blog I bought him as a second hand falcon – although he comes from a well known line of lanners – and wow has he found his feet! so to speak and flies just brilliantly. He has Peregrine pace but with a whippy flight – just great to watch. He flew well today in the wind – showing his true class when conditions are testing. Photo by Karl Drage of www.eventandweddingphotography.co.uk 

 

July update

Things have been quite busy. Normally it is July that is the hectic time but this year it has been June. We have just finished a group of events ending in a school display in Slough. Everybody has been flying well which is wonderful.

I continue to fly our peregrine  ‘ Sprite’ everyday and he has started to fly at Thornbury Castle in the bottom field for guests – which is great. I am hopeful that we can start flying him in other displays – we are generally working towards that goal – they are such iconic birds – nearly everybody has heard of the species and so it is great to bring one along to events.

As I have said previously he is a clever flier and swinging the lure for him is very challenging – as he tends to fly at me – it is a tactic that is effective! but I try to stay one step ahead of him. Of course this is just natural behaviour for any falcon to develop tactics to outsmart their prey.

With lure swinging in mind I leave you with a picture of ‘Phillip Glasier’ the father of modern falconry flying a falcon at the then Falconry Centre. It gives encouragement to us all!