Falconry World

Well I’ve been flying a sparrowhawk with Simon Higham for a few weeks now. The young bird is a captive bred imprint that belongs to another friend that doesn’t have time to fly so we stepped up. For two weeks now she has caught a magpie every day, some days even nailing two in succession.

Yesterday we spotted a magpie near the area we hunt Partridge, sitting on top of a thorn hedge. As we approached the magpie slipped off but as we looked around, we found what the magpie was after. A late brood of partridge huddled together no bigger than wrens, the magpie must have got a taste for them. No wonder our grey partridge is in such decline. We shall of course be doing all we can to try and protect our game. Sparrowhawks on magpies give classic falconry slips and you can appreciate why Jack Mavrogordato and many others before him rated this courageous little bird so highly.

The picture shows my son Aidan holding the two magpies we caught that day, wearing Simon’s jumper to keep out the cold. I think at least if he gets a realistic appreciation of nature in his early years he can make up his own mind about nature management when he’s older. So far the Sparrowhawk has killed well over fourteen magpies. She’s giving great long slips now as she gets stronger and fitter. I’ll keep up on the posts.