Falconry World

The other day I was asked a question regarding the best batteries to use in Marshall transmitters. There’s a few points to remember when buying and using battery transmitters, and I thought it might be useful to post my reply here.

When using a battery for a falconry transmitter, always take the old battery out and leave it a minute before putting in a new one. Alternatively, place a battery in the wrong way around to reset the falconry transmitter memory. This procedure causes no harm, and has to be done on all Marhsall Radio Powermax transmitters as a matter of course due to the nature that some power is still present in the transmitter after a battery has been taken out.

If you check the voltage on a RT+ battery, from many manufactures you’ll find that [Read more]

The title to this post about falconry telemetry begs an obvious answer.
Of course you should use falconry telemetry to locate your bird, to offer some kind of solace and reassurance against loss. However a great many people don’t use falconry telemetry, especially those that fly the most popular bird of prey in the UK, the Harris Hawk.
I myself flew for two years without telemetry.
I was a poor student at the time and falconry telemetry was a large investment into something I thought I could live without, I thought I could simply use magpies or crows to locate my bird.

Then, as I started to hunt more, I would lose my Harris Hawk through sloppy weight management (trying to fly the bird to heavy) and then finally on a shooting estate whilst on a field meet. The Harris Hawk, a large female, had killed and then hidden in some deep cover. Every time I called she kept still and I heard no bells [Read more]

Well its time for the summer brood grouse counts, so yesterday morning at 5am i made my way to Wemmergill moor in the north of England. The weather was poor, but the counts were good. Another year of high brood counts with a ratio of 3.5 young to adults, which is great. I’ve been so busy with Marshall telemetry (which is going great) but also dealing with silly things on the falconry forums it was a great feeling to get on the moor and remember what all this is about. The English pointers worked well in the rain and so did the new canon 40D digital camera. It was also the first time I’d really tested out the Marshall tracking collar on the dogs. It’s so easy to loose the dogs here if they go on point out of sight, or in the mist. The marshall collar even gives out a double bleep if the dog is pointing as opposed to running. Great bit of kit that should pay for itself over and over this year. I’m sitting here at present feeding my jack Merlin on fist after sorting out the many parcels leaving this office. It won’t be long until he’ll get the chance at larks and hopefully give a ringing flight. Well that’s all for now, I hope you like the pic…….

I set off for Salt Lake City from Manchester Airport early on the 28^th May 08. I was up at around five and was sitting chatting away to the boxer Ricky Hatton by 8am whom I’d filmed on the 24^th May in Manchester Cities football stadium beating Juan Lazcano. His swelling had gone down and he was in good spirit and looking forward to his next fight in the states. I had my own battle to contend with. A long haul flight to Chicago. Hang around for four hours in the airport and then another three hour flight to Salt Lake City.

I eventually got to Salt Lake City at 9pm Salt Lake City time or 4am back home. It was a long day and I was relieved to see Robert Bagley and Dave Marshall some 23hours after I’d got out of bed back home. Robert had also just got back from Australia the day before so goodness knows what time his body clock was at. I was stopping with Dave Marshall, who’s house was on the side of mountains that frames the city on nearly all sides. The view from his living room window was fantastic. A million street lights, with black mountains rising into the sky filled with shimmering stars.

It was an amazing sight, but I needed some sleep. I went to bed at 11pm and was up at 7am just like at home.

The view in the morning was even more spectacular. I’d expected a vast desert but as you can see it isn’t. The great thing with the city is that in the day it looks so wooded. Apparently Dave tells me, nearly every tree in the city was planted. From up here for the most part all you can see is trees except for the Central Business District. On the roof of Daves garage was what a Californian quail.

They were all over the city running around in pairs. Just the right size for a sparrow hawk or should I say sharp shin now? Dave took me to a diner and we got the day started with an egg and bacon bagel and a fine cup of tea. Marshall Head Quarters is about 15 minuets from the city in a now industrial area. We go past a large oil refinery, built during the Second World War to prevent the Japanese bombing the fuel supply and pushing up prices….If only they’d have known. Anyway, the HQ is just like the picture on the Marshall web site. However inside are a number of rooms with technicians, working on receivers with microscopes,

Checking the board on the new digital field marshall before testing and “Burning in” for 24hrs

engineers working machines slicing solid blocks of aircraft aluminium into the smallest part from a remote computer.

The noise inside is like a falconers nightmare; Bleeps from every direction yet it is somehow very peaceful with everyone just going about there business. After a quick introduction I was given the guided tour….

Above:- Marshall digital receivers getting “Burned in” over night

Well I’ve just returned from Utah, I’ve had no sleep for nearly 24hrs, and was in training with Dave Marshall until 12 at night before getting up at 5.30, talk about burning the midnight oil. Oh, and I’ve got to film darts in a tinder box at Bolton, England tomorrow for five days in a row…..and I still can’t stop smiling.

I didn’t really know what to expect on my visit to the Marshall Head Quarters in Salt Lake City, but what I covered in five days was fantastic for a falconry “addict” like myself. I’m going to post over several days as it would be too much, to cover my trip to Utah and Marshall radio telemetry in one go.

Marshall radio HQ surpassed any expectation for quality and demonstrated meticulous attention to detail, and testing like heating every falcon transmitter to 120c then freezing to -40c before starting to test. I’ve also seen and read a hand written copy of Jack Mavrogordato, A Hawk for the Bush, written in one, by the very man.

I’m working solid for five days after today so I’ll post when I can and give you a details of:-

• Marshall radio telemetry HQ.
• Robert Bagley’s paradise for longwingers,
• meeting Steve Chindgren and Ed Pitcher
• having a personal tour of the Peregrine Fund world center for birds of prey,
• being trained how to understand telemetry better by Dave Marshall.

Plus whatever comes back to me after some sleep….

‘To sleep perchance to dream, back in those open spaces

of Bagley’s longwing paradise thy would be….’

Shakespeare I’m not, but I bet even Willy didn’t have hawking ground like this.