Shakespeare.

So, a little about the hawks I have. 

Lady Macbeth is 8 years old. I purchased her when she was three months old, from Steve Wright, a well-known falconer in the UK.  He used to run the Heart of England falconry centre associated with the Mary Arden centre, a Shakespearen themed museum and display centre.  There was a tradition that all his hawks got named after Shakespearen characters. We were living in Kelso on the Scottish Borders at that time, so I was looking for a name to describe a blood-thirsty, female, Scottish tyrant.  Hence Lady Macbeth.  Sometimes she live up to the name a bit too much!


The other hawk is Cassius, 8 months old. Purchased from a breeder in Monmouthshire. He's named after the character in Julius Caesar who is described thus : " Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look".
Very appropriate for a smaller, slimmer hawk. He flies at 1lb 9 ounces as opposed to Lady M's 2lb 4 ounces.


Yesterday I met Norman Towe, a very experienced falconer. He and his wife come down to stay at the White Horse in Exford every year.  He usually brings a couple of owls and hawks and undertakes a few speaking engagements while here. He's a very interesting character, and has had some fascinating jobs . He's a Professor of Mathematics at Oxford among other things.  You meet all sorts in falconry.

He mentioned a sobering statistic.  He has twenty-four birds,  twenty-two of which are rescue cases given by people who took up falconry and then realised they couldn't cope.  

The Harris Hawk has made falconry available to thousands who would never have been able to cope with the birds traditionally used.  Unfortunately, many of this new generation didn't do enough research or think hard enough about the costs, time and effort involved.     When I take people out on hawk-walks  ( http://www.northdevonhawkwalks.co.uk/) ,  they are always surprised to learn that no sort of licence or training is required for anyone who wants to take up falconry.

I'm out with the birds tomorrow at the Sportsman's Inn on Exmoor. They're having a charity day with all sorts of attractions and the birds will be giving a flying display.  I hope the weather is better than it is today.
Cassius in particular gets water-logged in damp or rainy conditions. Being young, his feathers don't seem to be as waterproof as Lady M's.  They've both begun the annual moult and have lost half a dozen big wing and tail feathers each, with new bright feathers just beginning to peep through.

Enough for today.

Welcome !

Welcome to my blog.  I run North Devon Hawk Walks and spend most of my time messing around with hawks on Exmoor, in Devon.  I hope to use this blog to help introduce people to falconry and to share my experience of these fascinating creatures.

I've seen blogs described as " vanity web-sites" and I don't intend to let that happen to me!   I'll be telling you what the hawks are up to,  how they are behaving during our outings, either on hawk-walks or hunting for rabbits and pheasants, and passing on any tips or useful information I pick up that may be of use to other people owning, training or caring for hawks.


I have just two hawks,  Lady Macbeth ( an 8 year old female), and Cassius  ( a 9 month old male). Both are Harris Hawks.  I'll be posting pictures of them in the near future.  I hope to buy a female Sparrowhawk later this year.  More about that later.



More about myself and the hawks at my website http://www.northdevonhawkwalks.co.uk/