Falconry Displays

Considering we are in early November we are having an incredibly mild spell of weather and today without any wind it felt quite balmy. I am not complaining with the continued fall of leaves the overriding feeling was one of the beauty of nature.

As I drove down to where I fly the two lannerets I saw a lovely buzzard perched on a very spindly small tree – a feat in itself. It was clearly hunting and it had the usual entourage of crows and magpies hanging around – waiting for a piece of the action. The buzzard was a splendid looking bird – I stopped for a moment in the van and I took a photo through the window.

Usual mobile phone camera limitations but you can make it out. I was moved on by a car behind me so I could not linger.

When I flew ‘Frank’ I noticed the buzzard had gone  – or so I thought – and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a buzzard stall in mid flight and make a sharp stoop into the grass and caught something. I could see it grappling with something in the grass. It then flew with its prey hanging out of its talons – a vole I assumed –  into a tree. It did not eat it on the ground. Crows and magpies followed.

In the meantime I fed Frank on the fist after his flying – he had not see the buzzard – and so was unaware of it and did not make a fuss – or panic. However when I flew ‘Jarvis’ the buzzard suddenly appeared in the grass along a fence on our side. I could see it trying to foot something unseen under the grass – but was not successful and after a while it flew back up into a tree. Moments later it appeared to have dived down and got something in the stubbles – possibly a small rat feeding on grain spill. This time it eat it on the ground suggesting something bigger.

As I concentrated on Jarvis I lost sight of him. Anyhow I noticed a buzzard flying up the tree line of this hedge and I thought it was moving on. Then there was another buzzard following on behind and I just assumed it was the buzzard I had been watching.

As I left the flying field and turned back I saw a buzzard still sitting in a tree along the hedge line. This was clearly the original buzzard that I had seen first and the two others were just passi9ng through. So three buzzards!

Of course it reminded me of my old buzzard ‘Ted’ that I had for three seasons before releasing him in the knowledge that he was well able to look after himself. I can remember the astonishment on his face when he caught his first rabbit – he could not quite believe it nor could I – but it was the making of him. He was great fun to fly and I flew him at weekends through the winter.

I refer to him in my book ‘Falconry – aspects of care of the trained falcon and hawk’  when I talk about buzzards. Sometimes I forget that I flew a male red tail buzzard/hawk for a number of seasons.  I used him in my demo work but even though he was something different to  show he did not quite make the grade in that department. In the hunting department he was prolific and he would soar out from the hill and stoop vertically at rabbits – amazing! he was successful in all terrains and caught a lot of ‘end of season’ partridge for the owner and good friend I passed him onto. I mentored him and he did an excellent job with the red-tail and flew him successfully for several more seasons. Red-tail hawks are very strong and I show in the book a different way to cast such a powerful bird for tail belling or coping – through the legs allowing the bird to flop back to be gathered up and placed under the arm. This is easier than the cast across the shoulders where the bird can wrestle its way out.

Anyway to conclude for today. It was a lovely day – lots of wildlife and the lannerets flew well.