Falconry Displays

Archive for June, 2026

3 news blogs in a week – it must be a record!

I got back from walking the dog and the weather – thankfully is much improved – warm but windy.

As I went into the hawk room from outside I looked up and saw the distinctive black anchor shape (Baker) of a tiercel peregrine holding itself against the wind at about 300ft.

I watched it expecting it to speed away but remarkedly it circled the area for the next 10 minutes. It kept coming back over – dropping it legs to lose height – clearly looking for something. My own falcons were calling to it from their weatherings.

As  a falconer I assume it had seen something go into cover – and was quartering back and forth to see if it would reappear. Even though it was windy at no time did it attempt to hover like a kestrel – something Baker in his book ‘The Peregrine’ – in my opinion got wrong.

Rather it was waiting on – at a typical peregrine height. Bakers peregrines were far too terrestrial in my opinion.

Trained peregrines can be trained to wait on for game hawking – for grouse or partridge  – normally over a dog. In my book ‘Falconry – aspects of care of the trained falcon and hawk’ I talk about teaching a falcon that ‘stoops to the lure’ to also ‘wait on’. This gives variety to whole process and allows you to spend more time flying a falcon. As I say this is distinct from training a game hawk which are not stooped to the lure but taught to circle and climb from the word go.

‘Peggy’ my Lanner-lugger would do everything well including to waiting on. She is featured in my book in the section on the  development of the falcon.

Anyway here is a picture of the peregrine above the house – we live in an urban area now and the peregrine clearly does not mind as long as there is prey in the area. Spot the falcon! it was taken on my mobile phone.

Well it is not ‘nose’ pressed up against the window time waiting for the rain to stop because this morning it is set in. Pretty miserable for June. I think of those late nesting birds like Sparrowhawks with recently hatched chicks getting wet.

So today for us I have fed the two falcons in the hawk room – it allows me to have some contact with them – feed  enough to keep them in flying condition which is more like a winter ration at the moment because it is so cold and then hope for better weather tomorrow.

Sadly my latest flying field is under threat of imminent development – now in train with trenching. I am going to have restricted access to the ground in the short term and no access in the medium to long term. It is such a shame that a sports field used by the community far and wide is going to be ripped up for development – how is that possible? it follows a long line of development in our area and I have lost several places where I fly the birds to development and so now again I must find somewhere new.

I have continued to fly birds – which I still enjoy – and of course I have my book ‘Falconry – aspects of care of the trained falcon and hawk’ which because I continue to have birds I often think about. One is always learning and I ask myself if I would make any changes to the book.. Of course the answer is yes but only small ones. I am  very proud of the book as it reflects my working knowledge and life as a professional falconer – which I hope others find valuable.

At some point this morning the rain will ease and I can take the dog out.

I will sign off with a picture of me I think with Sprite our peregrine taken down at the Knoll some years ago – which was a beautiful strip of grassland – and only 200 yards from home! sadly it has now gone with the building of 460 houses.

We had a trip to Worcester on Saturday to see the John Singer Sergeant exhibition – his association and friendship with other artists in the area. We really enjoyed it – not too big – an hour of intensive viewing and reading. What a brilliant artist! then a bacon sandwich and then a good look round at the other exhibits – very interesting – and then we made our way to the cathedral.

It was raining quite hard and it vindicated not taking the sports car – that we are looking after – it is 36 years old and does not like the rain. We decided to take a tour of the cathedral which was so interesting. It reminded me of the book ‘The Pillars of the Earth’ by Ken Follet that I am currently reading. I noticed on looking up on the way in the shape of a peregrine falcon sitting up high on the tower – huddled like a little old man in the rain. At the end of our tour in the herb garden the sun was out and as I looked up a peregrine flew over head.

Worcester was a lovely city – never been there before – with the river, the race course and some lovely railway arches with many house martins hawking insects. It was race day and place was really vibrant despite the weather. In fact it helped because some race goers decided to stay in town and watch the racing from the various bars. It was Ladies day and the place was very colourful.

On our way home we went past the cathedral and Patricia took a short film on her phone of two peregrines chasing each other  around. The female telling the male that the rain had stopped and to go hunting! Here is a still from the movie. The two dots upper centre right are the falcons! Subsequent to this posting I learnt that the falcons nested on a nearby Church and then returned to the Cathedral – where they had nested last year – once the chicks had fledged. This means that the two falcons in the picture could well have been youngsters having fun and chasing each other about.

And here is our own trained peregrine ‘Sprite’ taken after flying. He is peering down at the meat on my glove. As I say in book ‘Falconry – aspects of care of the trained falcon and hawk’ it is important that the hawk or falcon feeds properly on the fist – sitting the right way round and not snatching or trying to rob the fist of food.

It has taken me a while to get over the passing of Bo our Indian Eagle Owl who we had for 38 years. A passing of an era – I thought at one moment she may outlive me. But her absence has left a big hole.

She was the most amazing demo bird and once I had got the hang of flying an owl – it took me several seasons – she went from strength to strength. Owls are not like hawks and falcons – they need a different method of training and I often used to say to guests that they are tamed rather than trained.

It is not quite true because food still has to be the motivation for them to do anything but since they are hand reared or imprinted from a young age they are excessively tame seeing their human companion almost as a parent.

They are sensitive to loud sounds – they have excellent hearing and with both eyes facing forward – in the facial disc – they have little peripheral vision and can panic on hearing on hearing a loud noise like a motorbike.

So introduction to shows is a  slow and gentle process and building up to flying at a show takes time.  Bo was coming to shows to sit on or in her canvas t-pee long before I started  flying her.

But once I had the confidence she was flown almost everywhere and was always centre stage – people love owls. She would also chase the dummy rabbit. I wanted people to see owls as highly evolved hunters and not just as a cuddly toy.

She is in my book ‘Falconry – aspects of care…’ on the section on casting – not quite in keeping with the title but nonetheless useful to show that particular hold in the absence of an available Harris hawk.

Here are some picture of Bo from down the years.

At Blenheim

At an Army fun Day. Bo sitting relaxed in her t-pee

At a wedding – flying to a guest.

At home with me – many years ago!

Well June is here and I hear myself saying do not wish away May – we will have to wait another year for it to return. It is, however,  the best month of the year along with the last two weeks of April. The weather in the last part of May has been very warm and for those that like the heat – just great!

Finally the House Martins have turned up and there are now several pairs in the village – in their usual spots. This is good news because I was lamenting their absence in an earlier blog. I counted 9 swifts the other night flying around the village – which again is good news and a wonderful watch.

Both the falcons are flying well. It looks like we are about to lose another flying ground to development – which is such a shame as it is a loss of a green community space absolutely packed with wildlife. Lets hope the pressure group – that is to be formed – can have some effect on the planning outcome of this valuable space. The thought of football pitches being dug up for an industrial park is unbearable and unacceptable.

In this green space this morning we saw our first Hobby of the year. Frank the lanneret was on the lure and he started calling looking skyward. Initially I could see nothing. I thought it was either a kestrel or a peregrine – more likely the later but I was delighted to see – after a while – the distinctive shape of a hobby. I left Frank on the lure hoping it would draw the hobby in. It came over our heads and suddenly closed up and with great pace stooped at some swallows hawking insects along a high hedge. It was so exciting. Seconds later the hobby appeared empty footed – I have yet to see a hobby catch a swallow – after having seen  several attempts – but they must be able to do it.

The hobby disappeared to continue hunting no doubt – hopefully we will see again it over the summer. A few minutes later a male Sparrowhawk appeared carrying prey – it made its way – straight lining it – to some distant nest to present it to the female.

It reflects a busy time of year. Last night from our front room we saw a peregrine – a male or tiercel – carrying heavy quarry into a stiff breeze – again on a journey to a distant nest site. He was flapping wildly under the burden but still making headway. It may have been a pigeon.

Our own falcons Sprite and Frank are both flying well. Both are featured in my book ‘Falconry – aspects of care of the trained falcon and hawk’ which is available at all good outlets including Waterstones, Amazon and Coch-Y-Bonddu books.  I am honoured by those people who have bought the book and I hope they have found it useful in the daily care, training and housing of their birds.

I sign off with a picture of Frank on the lure on a lovely sloping meadow.