Falconry Displays

Well we are practically in mid April – best time of the year. Things are happening so fast in the countryside. We have seen a number of swallows the first group of 3 passed through on the 6th of April heading northwest – I think as I recall I may have seen a single swallow or sand martin  pass through a couple of days earlier.

Our swallows where I fly the birds are also back – great to see them hawking insects over the sports ground – but it is still quite cold – slightly different from Africa! It looks like our buzzards are back – the nest has new green material added and I saw an adult bird pitch into a tree. They are very quiet when nesting and one can never be quite certain they are there until you see nearly full grown youngsters about to fledge looking down.

I saw saw a lovely male peregrine hunting and Frank my lanneret started calling to him – he has a touch of breeding condition on him.  The male peregrine or  tiercel was hunting for the female peregrine known as the falcon who would now be on or near the nest depending on whether she had finished laying her clutch and started to brood. I also saw a lovely male Sparrowhawk carrying a kill into a copse – no doubt as a gift to the female – they tend to lay in the first week of May – so later.

So plenty has been happening. I have re-read my own book ‘Falconry – aspects of care of the trained falcon and hawk’ and I am really proud of it and thank Choir Press who published the book and everybody who helped to get it out. I think I may have short changed myself on the sections on the development of falcon and hawks. They are more than just comments but extensive notes. But there you go. There would be a couple of things I would add to the book if I were ever to revise it – maybe sometime in the future.

Like all country sports including fishing we need more young people to get involved – which is our future. We all agree with that and great benefit of it for well being and mental health. Things tend to come and go and then circle back – like a falcon – so with restriction on social media coming for young people they may venture out go fishing or fly a bird. It is up to government not to legislate this activities by stealth out of existence.

Anyway here are a few pictures of Spring. Wild Garlic just coming out in the shade by the brook, a bunch of Cowslips under a gate and stock just out. Wonderful!