Falconry Displays

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.