Friday 19 August 2011

Sparrowhawk pictures



Here are some photos of Artemis ( she's got a name now!) having just enjoyed  a gruesome dinner.
She's now 2 months old and looks almost fully grown-up.  An amazing change from only a few weeks ago.  She's come out with me on all the hawk-walks for the past few weeks, and although she doesn't fly, she  gets lots of experience meeting new people and seeing new sights.  When I leave her in the car, she perches on the steering wheel, much to the amusement of passers-by. Tomorrow, we're off to visit a care home in Taunton to show the residents the birds, then off to the Mid Devon Natural History Society meeting near Tiverton.

Friday 5 August 2011

Out and about with the hawks.

This is a busy time of year at North Devon Hawk Walks. Since I last posted, we've been to the North Devon show as well as the Mid Devon show. My friend Tom, his wife Sam and baby Daniel ( also known as The Youngest Falconer in Britain) helped me run the stall and display the birds. 

This year, as well as having Lady Macbeth and Cassius the Harris Hawks on hand, we also had the Sparrowhawk and Tom's latest addition, an African Eagle Owl. ( Pictures to follow). The birds were, as always, extremely popular and we spent the entire day on our feet showing them to the crowd around the stall, answering questions and posing them for photographs.  There is something about being close to a bird of prey that appeals to an awful lot of people!

The Sparrowhawk is growing at an alarming rate and has gone from being a ball of fluff to a proper bird in about three weeks. People at the show were amazed that the cute lump of fluff in the photo was the same as the bird standing on my fist.   She doesn't have a name yet, so we invited people to think of a name for her, with a prize of a free hawk walk voucher to the best name. I haven't yet had time to look through the seven pages of suggestions.


The Harris Hawks have been busy over the past weeks introducing people to falconry on Exmoor. It's school holiday time now so lots of children have been getting up close to Cassius, who most agree is a friendly little fellow, and Lady Macbeth who most agree is a lot more aloof, and aware of her own power  and dignity.  That's the trouble with giving animals historic or literary names, they tend to live up to them.






The whole gang can be seen at the tearooms in Withypool on Exmoor, most weekend mornings or lunch times as we wait there to meet customers. I have the Sparrowhawk in her portable nest sitting on one of the outside tables, where she spends her time absorbing new sights and sounds, and giving the local blackbirds and sparrows the evil eye.    It's important for a young falconry bird to be exposed to as much as  possible, in a controlled and safe way, as soon as possible.  That's so that in a couple of months time when we're out hunting she's not going to be scared witless just because she sees a man on a horse, or someone wearing sunglasses or whatever.  It's part of the manning process, and as I said in one of the earlier posts, it never stops.