Falconry Experiance Day
5/09/06
For my 40th birthday, my daughter and her fiance gave me a Falconry Experiance Day at the National Birds of Prey Centre at Newent nr Gloucestershire - and it was great!
The day started at 9.30am when the six of us on the day met the main falconer who would look after us for the day, Simon, then it was on to meet Craig and "Los Angeles" a Harris Hawk who flew from tree to tree while we walked around the flying field. We then got our first experiance as LA flew from one of us to another while Simon and Craig put bits of beef on our gloves.
Then after a short coffee break we went to the Hawk Walk where we learnt how to do the falconers knot and then how to pick up, put down a bird which we then practised with a Harris Hawk, letting it sit on our gloves for a short while before swapping for a Falcon.
Then it was lunch time and after a great meal of home made veggie soup, bread, cold meats, salad, local cheeses and local apple juice it was out to learn how to swing a lure - which isn't as easy as it looks as you have to turn 180degrees when you throw and pull back the lure, not too bad after practise in a field but with a hawk coming at you it's totally different as I later found out!
After we were all OK with swinging we had a break (to rest our arms!) and watched one of the three flying displays on the day where we saw a hawk diving in at full speed just above our heads - amazing! Then it was our turn, being macho (!) i wanted to try it with the faster of the two birds which they were using on us, which turned out to be a bad idea as it was too quick for me and caught the lure twice in succession so Simon decided that it was best to stop then and I missed out on the 5/6 goes that everyone else had!
Next up was having an Owl flying to us, (in a barn as two birds at an ealier flying display were still sat in tree's!) and then we went to the freezer room to see all the food supplies - rabbit, rat, chick, beef, squirrel and Palm Nuts! The latter was for the Palm Nut Vulture. obvious really!
The final event of the day was to have a Fish Eagle sit on our glove which got heavy quickly as it was about 10lbs in weight.
Altogether a great day and a great place to visit for the day so will shall return soon!
For my 40th birthday, my daughter and her fiance gave me a Falconry Experiance Day at the National Birds of Prey Centre at Newent nr Gloucestershire - and it was great!
The day started at 9.30am when the six of us on the day met the main falconer who would look after us for the day, Simon, then it was on to meet Craig and "Los Angeles" a Harris Hawk who flew from tree to tree while we walked around the flying field. We then got our first experiance as LA flew from one of us to another while Simon and Craig put bits of beef on our gloves.
Then after a short coffee break we went to the Hawk Walk where we learnt how to do the falconers knot and then how to pick up, put down a bird which we then practised with a Harris Hawk, letting it sit on our gloves for a short while before swapping for a Falcon.
Then it was lunch time and after a great meal of home made veggie soup, bread, cold meats, salad, local cheeses and local apple juice it was out to learn how to swing a lure - which isn't as easy as it looks as you have to turn 180degrees when you throw and pull back the lure, not too bad after practise in a field but with a hawk coming at you it's totally different as I later found out!
After we were all OK with swinging we had a break (to rest our arms!) and watched one of the three flying displays on the day where we saw a hawk diving in at full speed just above our heads - amazing! Then it was our turn, being macho (!) i wanted to try it with the faster of the two birds which they were using on us, which turned out to be a bad idea as it was too quick for me and caught the lure twice in succession so Simon decided that it was best to stop then and I missed out on the 5/6 goes that everyone else had!
Next up was having an Owl flying to us, (in a barn as two birds at an ealier flying display were still sat in tree's!) and then we went to the freezer room to see all the food supplies - rabbit, rat, chick, beef, squirrel and Palm Nuts! The latter was for the Palm Nut Vulture. obvious really!
The final event of the day was to have a Fish Eagle sit on our glove which got heavy quickly as it was about 10lbs in weight.
Altogether a great day and a great place to visit for the day so will shall return soon!
posted by Colin | 6:29 AM
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