It's been a very busy time at North Devon Hawk Walks. This last August has been the busiest since I started up business three years ago. The hawks and I have been out every day, often twice a day. There seems to be an increasing demand by people to get close to birds of prey. I suppose every county show now has a falconry display of some sort, which excites people's interest, and makes them want to learn a bit more about falconry.
I've been pleasantly surprised at the amount of repeat business, that is people who've been on one hawk-walk coming back for another. Also surprising is the number of local residents who have become customers. I had assumed that most of the customers would be visiting tourists, but I suppose about seventy percent are locals, or people visiting relatives who are locals.
We were out the other day at the Mid Devon Natural History Society and I attach a couple of photos that one of the members took. Looking at the picture of the Sparrowhawk, you can see why they are among the birds referred to as " broadwings" in falconry. Their deep wings help make them very manouverable. Somebody said that they reminded them of the wings of the Spitfire fighter plane, which was also very nimble. This, coupled with their long tails which act as very efficient rudders, mean that the hawks can slalom their way through a forest in pursuit of their prey.
In addition to the hawks, I took along a selection of creepy-crawlies, courtesy of Joe De Witt Vine who runs Reptobug. He specialises in kids parties and educational visits where his giant Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects, snakes etc always go down a storm. Kides love them. ( The adults, of course, are horrified). I often take along a selection of his bugs as an interesting aside to the hawks. I've got used to people assuming that the cockroaches are there as examples of what the hawks eat!
