Falconry and Pest Control

I spoke with The Raptor Awards Community Interest Company today about the new regulations coming in on 1st of October to do with Falconry and its Licencing as there seems to be a lot of different things being said. The Raptor Awards have been working with DEFRA to offer training days for bird of prey businesses requiring a licence. In a nutshell for those of you doing pest control using birds of prey here is the conditions that will determine if you need to apply or not. 1. You are based in England OR you are based outside of England but exhibit commercially in England 2. You use birds of prey on a commercial business for one of these activities, or similar:  A. Educational visits M XL L S ​ ​  B.Displays (static or flying)  C. Wedding ring delivery  D. Corporate days  E. Experience days  F. Photography days  G. Film, video or other media work  H. Breeding birds of prey for sale  I. Oth...

The Indian eagle-owl, also called the rock eagle-owl or Bengal eagle-owl (Bubo bengalensis), is a species of large horned owl restricted to the Indian Subcontinent. They are found in hilly and rocky scrub forests, and are usually seen in pairs. They have a deep resonant booming call that may be heard at dawn and dusk. The average size a a male bird is as follows: Length 50-56 cm. Wing length 358-433mm. Tail length 185-227mm. Weight 1100g Females bird are larger than the males but this gives you a rough idea of size. They are seen in scrub and light to medium forests but are especially seen near rocky places within the mainland of the Indian Subcontinent south of the Himalayas and below 1,500 metres (5,000 ft) elevation. Humid evergreen forest and extremely arid areas are avoided. Bush covered rocky hillocks and ravines, and steep banks of rivers and streams are favourite haunts. It spends the day under the shelter of a bush or rocky projection, or in a larg...

The barn owl (Tyto alba) is the most widely distributed species of owl and one of the most widespread of all birds. It is also referred to as the common barn owl. Barn owls living in tropical regions can breed at any time of year, but some seasonality in nesting is still evident. Where there are distinct wet and dry seasons, egg-laying usually takes place during the dry season, with increased rodent prey becoming available to the birds as the vegetation dies off. In arid regions, such as parts of Australia, breeding may be irregular and may happen in wet periods, triggered by temporary increases in the populations of small mammals. In temperate climates, nesting seasons become more distinct and there are some seasons of the year when no egg-laying takes place. In Europe and North America, most nesting takes place between March and June when temperatures are increasing. The actual dates of egg-laying vary by year and by location, being correlated with the amount of prey-rich forag...

Falconry is the hunting of wild quarry in its natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey. There are two traditional terms used to describe a person involved in falconry: a falconer flies a falcon; an Austringer flies a hawk or an eagle. In modern falconry the Red-tailed Hawk and the Harris hawk are often used. The words "hawking" and "hawker" have become used so much to mean petty travelling  traders, that the terms "falconer" and "falconry" now apply to all use of trained birds of prey to catch game. In early English falconry literature, the word "falcon" referred to a female falcon only, while the word "hawk" or "hawke" referred to a female hawk. A male hawk or falcon was referred to as a "tiercel" as it was roughly one third less than the female in size. Many contemporary practitioners still use these words in their original meaning. The practice of hunting with a conditioned f...

A female Harris Hawk will mate with two males & the nest may be made in cooperation of several other birds. Nests are made in the tops of trees or on the top of a tall Yucca or Cactus. Up to 5 eggs are laid & incubation is done by the female (33-36 days). Sometimes two clutches of eggs are laid in a season, between early March to late June. Feeding of the young is done as a joint effort by the female & both of the males. The young are fully fledged in 7-8 weeks from hatching, though the young may stay with the parents for up to 1 year. One study has shown that the polyandry (mating with more than one male) exhibited by the female Harris Hawks is not due to an imbalance in the ratio of males to females, the ratio is roughly 50:50. Whilst it is not certain why the polyandry exists, one theory suggests that the amount of available food may be an issue. Some studies have shown that in areas of large amounts of food, the males (who usually provide most of the food dur...

All falconry practised for leisure purposes had to cease during the Second World War. Most falconers were called away for military service and either had to leave their birds behind or release them into the wild. S L XL M ​ ​ Huge areas of countryside traditionally used by falconers were sequestered for military use: barbed wire prevented access and legislation to protect allied carrier pigeons that where carried in boxes in Allied Planes to be released if they were shot down behind enemy lines all spelled danger for any free flying falcon in British skies. The Air Ministry ordered that the wild falcons on the South coast should be destroyed between 1904 -46, so around 600 were shot and many eggs and young were destroyed.  M XL L S ​ ​ Early during World War II The airborne Carrier Pigeon threat to Britain was believed to be the pet project of SS chief Heinrich Himmler, who was known by British intelligence as an avowed pigeon fancier and Hitler appointed him...

The Harris's hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) formerly known as the bay-winged hawk or dusky hawk, is a medium-large bird of prey that breeds from the south-western United States south to Chile, central Argentina, and Brazil. Birds are sometimes reported at large in Western Europe, especially Britain, but it is a popular species in falconry and these records almost certainly all refer to escapes from captivity. The name is derived from the Greek para , meaning beside, near or like, and the Latin buteo , referring to a kind of buzzard; uni meaning once; and cinctus meaning girdled, referring to the white band at the tip of the tail. John James Audubon gave this bird its English name in honour of his ornithological companion, financial supporter, and friend Edward Harris. The Harris's hawk is notable for its behaviour of hunting cooperatively in packs consisting of tolerant groups This lifestyle, unusual for raptors, has earned them the nickname "Wolves of th...

A little has been explained on our Team page about how the name Spitfire Avian Pest Control came about but there is a it more to the story than there was room to tell on the team page. The Video and the above photograph where shot at Prkos (Zadar), Croatia,Yugoslavia in April 1945. The Lead Spitfire is my Father.They were all Taxing up from having loaded the bombs under the wings before going on a briefing to go out and hit a German Troop train later on in the day. According to my father the film and photo was taken around 10am. The Spitfires are IXs and 73 Sqn was part of the 281 Wing, Balkan Air Force.  Now for the rest of the story about our name. I told Dean about another photograph I had from my Fathers collection and showed him the photo. The story was one my Father had told me many time and as a child I really did not understand until I joined the British Army myself. Then It all make sense. Maybe that's the wrong way of putting it I s...

Falconry is an ancient practice, dating back to 4000 to 6000 B.C.  It uses a bird of prey to hunt wild game, and many of the words and phrases used in the practice are still in use today. For those of you that have knowledge of Shakespeare’s works will know the number of time in his writings he refers to Falconry. Some people believe that Shakespeare may have also been a keen Falconer. So let's start with the words or phrases and there meaning in Falconry terms. Fed-up When a hawk has eaten its fill (in falconry speak, when it’s “crop is full”) it won’t want to hunt. Of course, another way of saying it’s eaten its fill is to say it’s “fed-up.” The phrase has moved from a bird who doesn’t want to hunt anymore to a person who doesn’t want to do something anymore. Hoodwinked The “hood” is used in falconry when the raptor is being trained as it calms it down, but continues to be useful throughout the bird’s “career” (not that it’s paid). The hood is a leather “hat” tha...