Falconry Displays

As I have now said, sadly I am no longer involved in falconry displays. It came to a sudden halt when the frailness of my own mortality became apparent through illness. It is through that illness and the right decisions on treatment that I have been at least able to write my book ‘Falconry – aspects of care of the trained falcon and hawk’. Obviously, there is a legacy component to the work, but I am hoping it will be a useful resource for the falconry community once it has found its feet. There are many other works out there. My book does reflect a lifetime of connection with birds of prey with the last 35 years of which I have been occupied as a professional falconer.

Half of all animal husbandry work or more for a large collection is a wheelbarrow and a shovel. This along with the establishment of a routine that animals set their clocks to. From hawks and falcons to walking a dog or milking a cow. Through routine you get repetition and to make life easier all round you respond by honing your skills and perfecting your craft.  I hope this is what my book shows.

I reflected while writing the book that if I had been flying birds for 300 years I would know more, and the book would be better. But 54 years will have to do, and I am of course carrying legacy skills from previous generations of falconers. One of which was Major Hawkins Fisher the Stroud falconer who died in 1901 at the age of 74. What follows is part of a news blog entry from me in 2018.

‘We made time just before Easter and went down to Stroud to find the grave of Major Charles Hawkins Fisher the noted Stroud falconer whose family home – a fine-looking property – was known as the Castle. He died in 1901, and I remember as a schoolboy in Stroud visiting the local museum to look at a few of his artefacts – some stuffed falcons including a merlin, a photograph of him, plus various bits and pieces of falconry furniture that at some point had been donated to the museum.

He was a remarkable character – a Victorian gentleman – who was Champion archer of England 3 times! and was a noted and brilliant falconer who left one of the best books on falconry ever written called ‘Reminiscences of a Falconer’.  An anecdotal book of his falconry experiences, thoughts and observations. It is a timeless historical document.

He died in October 1901. Fisher’s long-time falconer, James Rutford attended his funeral in Stroud with a hooded falcon on his fist.

I did some research and visited what I thought would be the graveyard where he was most likely to be buried. We were most surprised to find not only his grave, but it also happened to his family grave – as they were a well-known family. It was a great moment, and we felt a real sense of history’.

I regret not mentioning him in my book because I admire him so much. He was such an adaptable falconer – challenged the rules – and was way ahead of his time on thinking ahead about the survival of our sport. He also conveyed the sense of fun and adventure of being out with his birds.

He was in a great deal of pain when he wrote his book. He apologised for some repetition in the book and that for reasons of incapacity he felt better able to dictate it rather than write it himself. For reasons of his failing health there were long intervals between sessions, and he did not have the energy to go back over the text. With the support and encouragement of friends he chose to publish it as it was.

I have a lot of empathy for him in the sense that I feel the same way about my book in that it was important for me to get it out there rather than sit on it and make endless changes to the point that it would never have got published. Particularly if I was too ill in the end to do it. Like Fisher I apologise for any in eloquence and some repetition but I am glad it is out there.

One of the characters in my book ‘Jarvis the lanneret’ is flying again. We left him to moult when the book was finished. But he has now finished moulting and is flying again and with a new set of feathers he is really looking great. He spent the main part of the moult in the loft. Anyway, below is a picture of him on the scales in the hawk room looking very smart. I am keeping a record of his flying weights possibly for future use in a revised edition. But that is a long way off! I am glad to report he is flying well.