Falconry Basics: An Introduction to the Care, Maintenance and Training of Birds of Prey

◆ Getting started ◆ Preparing for your first hawk ◆ Training and flying ◆ Hawking for quarry ◆ Maintaining your hawk ◆ Hawk anatomy ◆ Falconry glossary ◆ Equipment checklist Mike Nicholls has done an excellent job of revising this staple ‘how to’ book.

I hope all who read it will learn from it, and come to love the sport of falconry as much as the author.

Nick Kester (President, The British Falconers’ Club)

Adrian Lombard (Past President, International Association for Falconry and the Conservation of Birds of Prey)

Falconry Basics is not only a must-have book for beginners, it will also provide inspiration for experienced falconers with information and details not found in other books, along with important ethical reflections relevant to this changing world. Dr Mike Nicholls has done an excellent job of using his life-long experience, knowledge and scientific background to update the already high standard of the original book, taking it to a new and modern level that will have an important influence on future falconry generations.

Walter Bednarek (Former Regional President, Deutscher Falkenorden)

Quiller

an imprint of Quiller Publishing Ltd

Wykey House, Wykey, Shrewsbury SY4 1JA Tel: 01939 261616 Email: info@quillerbooks.com www.quillerpublishing.com

Falconry Basics Hardcover.indd 1

£20.00

Tony Hall

Recognition of falconry as an ‘intangible cultural heritage’ by UNESCO, implies that its skills are transmitted through generations, from master to apprentice. These skills should be valued and are in danger of being lost for all time if they are not nurtured. As well as needing help from practicing falconers, any aspiring falconer needs a sound grounding in basic knowledge and this is provided by Mike’s excellent text. I will be encouraging new falconers in my own country to obtain a copy in future.

Falconry Basics

Specifically written for falconry newcomers, Falconry Basics is the ultimate guide to this popular and exciting field sport.

Tony Hall

Falconry Basics An introduction to the care, maintenance and training of birds of prey

Revised and updated by Michael K Nicholls 23/05/2019 16:24

Falconry Basics An introduction to the care, maintenance and training of birds of prey

Tony Hall Revised and updated by Michael K Nicholls With additional material from Tom Dutton and Derek Hartshorne

Quiller

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Copyright Š 2003, 2019 Tony Hall First published in the UK in 2003

by Swan Hill Press, an imprint of Quiller Publishing Ltd This 2019 edition first published in the UK by Quiller, an imprint of Quiller Publishing Ltd, revised and updated

by Michael K Nicholls British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 84689 3025 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

Jacket photograph by Stephen Hunter of his bird Ozzy Jacket designed by Guy Callaby Printed in Czech Republic Whilst every effort has been made to obtain permission from copyright holders for all material used in this book, the publishers will be pleased to hear from anyone who has not been appropriately acknowledged, and to make the correction in future reprints.

Quiller An imprint of Quiller Publishing Ltd

Wykey House, Wykey, Shrewsbury SY4 1JA Tel: 01939 261616 Email: info@quillerbooks.com Website: www.quillerpublishing.com

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Contents

Preface vii Preface to the 2003 edition xiii A note on terminology xvii Introduction 1 PART 1

Getting started 1 2 3 4

7

Before you start 8 Falconry and the law 13 Hawks, hawking and falconry 27 First hawk 37

PART 2

Preparing for your first hawk

45

5 Hawk accommodation and furniture 46 6 Hawk furniture 58 7 Training equipment 80 8 Hawk food 92 9 Buying and handling a hawk 99 PART 3

Training and flying 10 11 12 13 14

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Weight and condition First steps Up to free flight Flying free Other considerations

117 118 129 138 150 158

PART 4

Hawking for quarry

167

15 16 17

18

168 177

Vital homework Entering and basic hunting Hawking companions: dogs and ferrets Notes on quarry

186 192

PART 5

Maintaining your hawk

207

19 Illness and injury 20 Beaks and talons 21 Feathers: moulting and repair

208 220 226

PART 6

Reference

235

A hawk’s anatomy IAF Guidelines for the General Welfare of Falconry Raptors A falconry glossary Checklist of equipment Further reading Useful contacts

236 239 246 252 255 258

Acknowledgements 262 About the authors 263 Index 264

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Preface How can I learn to be a falconer?

TONY HALL PUBLISHED THE FIRST EDITION OF FALCONRY BASICS IN 2003; his motive was simple: to help newcomers enter the sport of falconry. His credentials to do this were based on a lifetime of passion for birds of prey, and much of his adult life was spent developing and honing his knowledge and skills to become an experienced and competent falconer himself. But the world Tony knew when he kept his first tawny owl in the 1950s was a very different falconry world to the one he returned to later in life.

In the early days of the twentieth century, falconers who trained and hunted quarry with their hawks were very few and far between. There were others who kept and trained birds of prey but didn’t hunt with them, and they tended to be scorned by the elite. The British Falconers’ Club, the oldest falconry club in the UK, was difficult to join; applicants had to be interviewed or nominated by existing members and weren’t readily accepted. Crucially, it was very difficult to obtain suitable falconry birds. Native populations, especially of peregrine falcons, goshawks and sparrowhawks, had been virtually wiped out, first by direct persecution and then by the toxic effects of agricultural pesticides. Wild birds were already protected by law but this catastrophic decline made it almost impossible to obtain falconry birds from the wild in the UK. Some suitable hawks (and many unsuitable ones) could be imported from overseas, and for a while they formed the mainstay of UK falconry. But this trade in imported wild-caught birds was stopped in the UK and most of the rest of Europe by the introduction and implementation of the conservation and welfare law.

Although challenging for aspiring falconers, this was certainly a good thing for the birds of prey, whose welfare conditions in the countries where they were trapped, and during subsequent transport to the UK, were often appalling, resulting in high mortality.

The consequence of this environment was that it was very, very difficult to become a falconer. Those that did had to be persistent – obsessive almost. If you did manage to get that first falconry bird, you had to cherish it no matter what species

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v iii F a lconry B a s ics and really do your utmost to succeed. Veterinary care of birds of prey was in its infancy and there were undoubtedly accidents. The enthusiasts did their best, but such was the difficulty that many more dropped out.

A few established falconers would take on young apprentices, but as there were few of these mentors around, many beginners turned to books. There were a few classic texts around and for those who stuck at it, it was possible to do a relatively good job. Once an individual could turn out in the field with a hawk in good feather, fly it regularly and take quarry, he (and it was mainly he in those days) would be assimilated into the falconry community, and many of the surviving ‘old timers’ of today’s falconry took this journey.

The falconry environment of today is a very different one. Since the 1980s and 90s the domestic propagation (captive breeding) of raptors has reached massive proportions. This has partly been fuelled by enthusiastic falconers wanting to breed their own falconry birds, but the technology of breeding has been mainly developed by commercial breeders who have capitalised on the export market of falcons to the Middle East.

Suitable falconry birds are now easily available on the open market and anyone with a few hundred pounds in their pocket (prices are often lower than for a pedigree dog) can go out and buy one. Compared with other countries, especially the USA and many other European countries, there is no UK law regarding who can keep a bird of prey and how many they can have. No one is required by law to demonstrate they are competent to keep a bird they have or intend to buy. There are no compulsory falconry tests or examinations in the UK, as there are in many of the States in America and countries such as Germany and France, to ensure that falconers must have at least a basic level of training to prepare them to look after and hunt with the birds that they keep.

Admittedly, some breeders interview prospective buyers and try to favour those with demonstrable skills, knowledge and facilities, but some species are bred in such large numbers that the breeders often have to sell the surplus to anyone who will buy them. These circumstances are more detrimental to the welfare of the birds than they are to the pocket or dignity of the would-be falconer. The Independent Bird Register, a voluntary lost and found service for keepers of birds of prey, reports an astonishing number of birds lost and not recovered by falconers in the UK. Such birds, if not trained to hunt and if lost by a beginner when flown free are, unless speedily recovered, almost certainly doomed to die of starvation if not by trauma or accident. It is therefore essential for the newcomer to gain as much guidance and training on their journey to become a proficient falconer, or even guidance in making the decision that, quite frankly, it’s not for them. Such help and guidance can

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come from a variety of sources and the newcomer is advised to explore several, as outlined below.

Books There are many falconry books in the English language and a list of useful texts appears in the reference section at the end of this book. In the days when other falconers were few and far between and the internet wasn’t even thought of, reading and following textbook advice was essential. Many of the good falconers of today came by this route. Falconry Basics is intended to join the ranks of these texts: to introduce the newcomer to the intricacies of falconry, and to become a reference text for the paraphernalia and methods used.

More importantly, books can help potential falconers to decide whether falconry is something they wish to pursue and indeed what kind of falconer they wish to be. This in itself is a major decision; there is no disgrace for those who decide that keeping a pair of owls in an aviary, or training a companion hawk to fly free and return will be more satisfying than becoming a falconer who wishes to hunt and take quarry with their hawk regularly during the four-month hawking season.

Other falconers In an ideal world, every newcomer to falconry would be apprenticed to an experienced falconer who would take responsibility for their young ward. In fact, in several countries it is a legal requirement, before permits are issued for a beginner to have their first hawk, that they demonstrate that a master falconer has agreed to supervise them. Because of the laissez faire nature of the keeping of birds of prey in UK, there is no such provision or requirement. Undoubtedly, though, being able to interact with another person is an excellent way of gaining first-hand training.

If someone is lucky enough to get to know a falconer who is willing to take them on, that is ideal. For those who aren’t so fortunate, either joining a falconry club or paying to go on a course are viable alternatives.

Falconry clubs Contact details for the four most established falconry clubs in the UK are given in the useful contacts section at the end of the book. The membership of such clubs

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focuses on those who hawk and take quarry with their birds and they organise field meetings where members gather and hunt together. All clubs welcome new members and some offer apprenticeship schemes, either formally or informally.

Newcomers without a first bird are still encouraged to join (as Associate or Junior members) and benefit from general advice and information gained from members, as well as attending field meetings.

Bird of prey centres and falconry schools The availability of aviary-bred birds coupled with the laxity of regulation regarding who can keep birds of prey, and how many, has seen an exponential rise in the number of bird of prey or falconry centres in the UK. It is not unusual for a large town or city to be within striking distance of several of these visitor attractions.

As well as a nice day out where the public can view a range of species and watch free-flying hawks and owls perform displays, such centres often offer a range of courses and ‘experiences’. The word ‘experience’ can include a range of options, from posing for photographs holding a hawk or owl to ‘hawk walks’ where freeflying hawks (Harris hawks are particularly popular) are trained to follow two or three members of the public and the handler as they take a walk through woodland.

Some experiences are enhanced when the participants are shown how to call one of the birds to the fist.

Many centres also offer one or more ‘experience days’, which are typically a very condensed review of falconry techniques and methods, culminating with flying an already-trained bird to the fist, or ‘hunting days’, where the participants accompany falconers into the field to witness the taking of wild quarry. Harris hawks hunting rabbits are typical for such experiences.

More ambitious for the would-be falconer is attending a week-long intensive course at a bird of prey centre, especially those who call themselves a falconry ‘school’ or ‘academy’. There are some excellent courses of this kind which are ideal for those who haven’t yet acquired a bird of their own. A five-day structured course can take the newcomer to the stage where they understand what is necessary to buy and handle a hawk, provide the bird and themselves with necessary equipment, and provide suitable accommodation. Some centres offer a follow-up service or advice for participants after they have acquired a first bird.

Good as many well-established centres are, it is wise to be very careful when signing up for a course. Some are of questionable quality. Be particularly wary of centres that advertise ‘have a go at falconry’ days and ‘falconry is for everyone’.

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These claims may attract fee-paying customers, but they don’t really promote the intricacies that are involved in being a falconer, or the dedication required.

It is therefore essential when choosing where to take a course to:

»» Read published reviews of a particular centre to see what others think.

Be wary though, a five-star rating with the comment ‘a lovely day out for the kids and the toilets were clean’ doesn’t say much about their ability to teach people to be falconers.

»» Ask what qualifications the staff have in animal and, particularly, bird of prey care and husbandry. Just saying they have been doing it for years doesn’t mean they are doing it well.

»» Ask what teaching or training qualifications the staff leading the falconry courses have. Merely being able to talk authoritatively doesn’t necessarily mean that much good teaching and subsequent learning is going on. Effective learning involves much more than being bombarded with facts, and good teachers and trainers are themselves trained to offer strategies to help people learn.

»» Ask whether the course follows a nationally recognised syllabus and standards. Increasingly, standards for animal care and welfare, and especially falconry, are being developed and implemented. Very recent legislation increasingly demands that staff working in bird of prey centres demonstrate their own competence and special standards, such as those offered by Raptor Awards and other awarding bodies, have been developed (see below). On a global scale, international standards for falconry are desirable; the International Association for Falconry (IAF) is currently exploring this.

Falconry standards and awards Some bird of prey centres and falconry clubs offer would-be falconers the opportunity to be assessed according to sets of nationally accepted falconry standards (see below). This leads to an award which, when achieved, demonstrates that the newcomer has the necessary skills, knowledge, understanding and other qualities to keep and train a bird of prey in a safe manner with due attention to its health and

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wellbeing. Such standards are inspired by UK animal welfare law and also research into the essential requirements for keeping any animal safe and in good health.

The standards developed by Raptor Awards for newcomers considering keeping a bird of prey are nationally recognised, and organised under the following components:

Part 1: Keeping Birds of Prey •• •• •• •• ••

C1. Accommodation and equipment C2. Feeding and nutrition C3. Monitoring and maintaining health C4. Catching, restraining and moving birds of prey C5. Legislation (UK)

To achieve the Part 1 award, a candidate must demonstrate that they have the necessary knowledge, understanding and skills under modules C1–C5 to keep a bird of prey in suitable accommodation with correct feeding, health care and handling skills in accordance with current UK legislation.

Part 2: Training Birds of Prey

•• C6. Falconry furniture and equipment •• C7. Species characteristics and types •• C8. Initial training, manning and weight management

The Part 2 award builds on the foundations already demonstrated in Part 1 and shows that the candidate is able to choose an appropriate bird of prey species to suit their circumstances, equip it with suitable equipment and train it up to the point that it can be flown free for falconry.

Whatever route you take, becoming a falconer always requires careful thought and planning, and it’s best to be as well prepared as possible. The aim of Falconry Basics is to form a reference and instruction manual to help newcomers navigate the world of falconry and to prepare themselves for its challenges and rewards. I hope you enjoy it.

Michael K Nicholls, February 2019

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Preface to the 2003 edition

I ACQUIRED MY FIRST BIRD OF PREY IN 1958 WHEN I WAS FOURTEEN YEARS old. She was a young tawny owl, and I blundered across her at the foot of a tree.

She was only half-fledged, and had somehow tumbled out of her nest. Knowing no better, I picked her up and took her home.

After a bitter battle with my parents (who were fed up with me bringing wild animals into the house), I kept her in my bedroom and sustained her with rats, mice or voles which our two cats brought in. If supplies from this quarter failed, I went out and caught my own. If I failed too, I thieved scraps of meat from the larder. One way or another, I kept her alive until she was fully fledged. Then I took her out into a field bordering the woods where I’d found her, threw her up into the air, and let her fly. Released from my grasp, she glided gracefully into the woods and I saw her for the very last time.

I sincerely believed I’d saved her life. I know now that I probably condemned her to a slow death through starvation, and this probability has haunted me for many years. Although I didn’t know any better at the time, that doesn’t provide much comfort, and I doubt that I will ever really forgive myself.

At the foot of a tree she was vulnerable, but her parents were probably nearby and still actively feeding her. Exposed as she was, close cover was all around and she was perfectly capable of reaching it. Had she done so, it would have provided some protection from foxes and other predators (including me). Once fully fledged and able to fly, her parents were programmed to teach her how and what to hunt, and perhaps even assist in this process until she developed the skills and experience to do it alone. My intervention, however well-meaning, had deprived her of this vital life-saving education.

But, provoked by the sense of virtue this incident gave me and now completely hooked on birds of prey, I went on to interfere in more of their lives. I must admit, I was also inspired by a word I’d picked up from somewhere – falconry. Kestrels, sparrowhawks, and more tawny owls suffered my adolescent attentions. Some of these were also collected off the ground, but most were taken as fledglings from their nests. Whilst they were in my care, I can honestly say I never killed any of them – but that was simply down to the fact that I fed them as much as they wanted because I knew nothing about the first principal of falconry: weight control. Indeed,

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I knew nothing about falconry. I’d heard of it, but I knew no one who did it. One or two books had been published, but it was such a rare and specialised activity that even the best of libraries didn’t stock them as a matter of course. To obtain one you needed to know the author, book title, publisher and preferably the ISBN or similar reference. All of this was way beyond my nous, as well as my available travel and communication facilities. These birds and I had a bad start and, believe me, I grieved over every one of them. They all seized the first opportunity presented to them to claim their independence, and rightly so – even though I hadn’t given them the wherewithal to survive as wild predators.

After adolescence, I wasn’t able to maintain contact with birds of prey at any significant level for several years. The need to earn a living took me to the big city, and marriage, a family, and a large mortgage kept me there until I had the opportunity to take early retirement in my mid-forties. By then, the whole scene had changed dramatically – falconry centres were springing up all over the place; equipment-makers were selling their wares at country shows and by mail order; how-to-do-it books were becoming freely available; and many people were offering comprehensive training courses. Even dedicated clubs had proliferated, and were offering memberships to ‘supporters’ and ‘novices’ as well as practising falconers.

But the biggest change – and most significant for me and the sport – was that all native birds of prey had become protected by law and the vast majority of those used in falconry were bred in captivity.

Since I retired I’ve trained several birds of prey, all of which have flown free and hunted successfully. I’ve read every book on falconry I could find, and I’ve even been on courses. In a way, I was fortunate to have a twenty-five-year break from flying birds because, in effect, I became a committed ‘townie’ and saw things through a townie’s eyes. Using these eyes, I found most of the books I read unhelpful in many respects. Even those written for beginners assumed a certain level of knowledge – about the countryside; its still-abundant wildlife; and the meaning and significance of phrases like downwind, upwind, crosswind and quartering. More fundamentally, many appeared to take a basic knowledge of animal psychology and management for granted, and failed to explain the logistics of acquiring captive-bred birds, food, and other vital supplies.

One reason was that many of their authors had been born and brought up in the countryside and involved with training various kinds of hawk, as well as working dogs and ferrets, since they were small children. As such they were as remote from the problems facing townies like me as I was from a full appreciation of their knowledge and skill.

I wrote this book in an effort to bridge the gap between those people starting

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from a base of complete ignorance, and those who are already half way up the ladder because of their familiarity with the countryside and its various alternative hunting pursuits. I have assumed no relevant knowledge on your part. The book is designed to satisfy any curiosity you might have about falconry – what it is and what level of skill and commitment it requires – but its primary aim is to lead you from a state of ignorance to the point of catching quarry with a bird of prey you’ve trained yourself.

Many practising falconers might complain that I haven’t mentioned this or that; or discussed such-and-such new development; or I haven’t acknowledged that there are other ways of training a bird of prey. And they would be right. But there is no one on Earth who could write a book about all there is to know about falconry, and every publication is itself a compromise. It is immeasurably more difficult to decide what to leave out rather than what to include.

All I’ve attempted to do is to get to the heart of the matter and write only about those elements which proved fundamental to me. Once the basics have been learned, training, handling, hunting and hawk-management can all be tweaked to suit yourself – as long as you don’t lose sight of the fundamentals.

However, in addition to these technical issues, I have a deeper reason for writing a book of this kind. When I was a city-dweller, occasionally going back to the countryside was, for me, a therapeutic experience. It blew away the pressures of urban life – however temporarily – and provided a basis for relaxation and reflection.

Resting on a rock on top of a hill, taking in the whole vista on a clear sunny day, did wonders for my blood pressure. And if I happened to see a deer or a fox crossing a field unaware of my presence, or even a humble rabbit scooting into cover at my approach, I treated them as a bonus.

After retirement, walking through the countryside with a working dog, whose nose was bred and trained to recognise different animal scents, was an immeasurably more enhanced experience. I began to realise how much I had previously missed, and how alive the countryside actually is. It shifted me from a two-dimensional world into a three-dimensional one.

Flying my first properly trained hawk, however, took me even further. Quite apart from her use of air, wind and thermals to transport her from place to place (a 3D picture worth viewing in its own right), she saw its wildlife with eyes several times better than my own, and she reacted to it as if her ultimate survival depended on her performance. Through her, I became a part of the landscape – an active participant in its ever-lasting drama. I shared her successes; I shared her failures; and I shared her learning.

In short, the experience put me back in touch with nature – my own, as well as

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the complex checks and balances that control wildlife and eventually determine its future. Such contact makes any working partnership with a hawk totally unique.

Nothing in our modern world can replicate the experience, neither computergenerated ‘virtual reality’, nor the latest technological advances in film presentation.

The writing of this book was, therefore, motivated also by a strong desire to share this discovery, and to make the same quality of life accessible to people as deprived as I used to be.

Tony Hall

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A note on terminology The meaning of falconry IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, AND UP UNTIL THE 1980S, THERE WAS NO QUESTION as to the meaning of the word ‘falconry’: the taking of wild quarry in their natural habitat using trained hawks. However, with the increasing availability of domestically propagated birds of prey, the word today has acquired rather a different meaning.

Research has shown that, in the public view, falconry is anything to do with training birds of prey, including owls, particularly for public flying displays at country fairs, taking birds of prey into schools as props for talks on natural history, and even the use of barn owls to deliver wedding rings to couples standing at a church altar.

Similarly, in this public view, a falconer is anyone who trains or displays birds of prey for whatever purpose, including those who display birds of prey to publicise wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centres or just to return to their fist for their own pleasure.

These are the circumstances in which the public at large encounter trained birds of prey; those who witness true falconry, the hunting sport, are a minority.

For the purposes of this book, it makes little difference to Falconry Basics, which describes the training, husbandry and welfare of birds of prey. Although much emphasis in this book is on falconry as a hunting sport, the basic techniques are virtually identical for all end points. Despite this more liberal approach and modern view, Falconry Basics still adheres to one traditional view: that falconry deals only with the training of diurnal birds of prey (hawks, falcons and buzzards); owls remain outside its remit.

Falconers and falconry birds Throughout the book, the term ‘hawk’ is used for all falconry birds. This usage complies with falconry tradition, but not with dictionary-making, which restricts the word to a group of birds known as ‘accipiters’ (such as sparrowhawks and goshawks). Similarly, the term ‘falconry’ means the training and flying of all kinds of birds of prey, not just falcons such as the peregrine.

In the sport’s very long history many names have been used to distinguish one kind of falconer from another. Examples include austringer for a person who trained

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xviii F a lconry B a s ics and flew goshawks; sparviter for one who flew sparrowhawks; and falconer for one who specialised in flying falcons (meaning the female peregrine). These days, even falconers don’t often use such distinctions during their falconry life, partly because no one outside the sport would have the faintest idea what an austringer or a sparviter was and wouldn’t be enlightened by consulting any standard dictionary.

Another long-standing protocol is that all falconry birds – whatever their sex – are referred to as ‘she’ or ‘her’ when speaking in general terms. Female hawks are usually larger and more powerful than males. Centuries ago this probably made them more desirable, and therefore more prominent, although falconers learned long ago that males and females are just different, and each sex has its own special attributes. But the protocol is well established, and is respected in this book.

The word ‘he’ to describe a falconer or his dog should be taken as meaning all falconers and dogs, whether male or female, and is used to avoid confusion when ‘she’ is the hawk.

Scientific terminology has also been used, where appropriate, throughout this book.

The naming of falconry birds Traditionally, when it was legal to take birds from the wild, it was recognised that the age at which a hawk was taken made a great deal of difference in how it was managed and trained. An adult bird was known as a haggard and generally avoided as being too set in its wild ways. Passage hawks, birds born that year, and so called because they are on passage, their first dispersal from the nest, were traditionally very desirable as falconry birds as, being independent, they must be successful, experienced hunters, but not too old and set in their ways to be difficult to train.

Perhaps the easiest hawks to obtain were nestlings, or eyasses, taken from the nest they were born in and just before they fledged. These would be reared to fledging in a large building, such as a barn, and then taken for training at fledging age when their feathers are fully grown. Although eyasses are relatively tame and to some extent their training is more straightforward, they don’t, of course, have the free flying and hunting experience of the passage hawk. The age at which eyasses were taken was critical; if taken too young – the ‘downy’ stage – and when some hand rearing was necessary then they would almost certainly imprint on their human foster parent.

Badly imprinted hawks – known as mal imprints – retain juvenile behaviours in relation to humans and can display challenging and sometimes dangerous behaviours. Taken at the traditional age from the nest, eyasses can however be placed in an outdoor

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artificial nest, discreetly fed by the falconer and then trapped up after fledging and when the young bird has had one or even two weeks’ experience in free flight. Such a method is called ‘hacking’ and results in a ‘hacked eyass’. This youngster doesn’t have the hunting experience of a passage hawk but at least has some proficiency in flight in varied weather conditions.

Somewhere in age between eyasses and passage hawks were branchers: young hawks not quite ready to fly but well-feathered. The name brancher refers to the behaviour of leaving the actual nest by this stage, but not yet fully ‘branching out’, and still being fed by its parents.

In the UK, and many other countries, neither eyasses nor passage hawks can be taken from the wild and instead must be specially bred in aviaries. The traditional terminology still has some currency, though, as will be explained later. In law (see Chapter 2), birds of prey are neither poultry nor pets and are therefore regarded as ‘wild birds’, even though they may have been bred in aviaries for many generations.

Such birds are not ‘domesticated’ in the strict sense of the word; they have not been artificially propagated resulting in genetic change from their wild ancestors. Modern falconry birds are sometimes referred to as ‘captive bred’, given that their original ancestors must have been taken into captivity. The word ‘captive’ is an emotive one and conjures images of a wild bird incarcerated against its will. This book therefore regards the term ‘captive’ inappropriate in this sense.

Such specially propagated birds are therefore referred to here as aviary-bred in an attempt to bridge the status between wild and domesticated. They can also usefully be called ‘domestic’ hawks (which is different from ‘domesticated’), in the same way as a vacuum cleaner or washing machine is regarded as a domestic (i.e. of the home) appliance.

Aviary-bred eyasses may be hacked, as described above, which potentially gives some advantage of experience in flight. However, because few places in the UK are safe and free from motor vehicles, domestic predators such as cats and dogs and other hazards, hacking is not usually recommended, certainly not for a beginner: it is likely to result in a lost or dead eyass.

Thus, the modern UK falconer has available domestic, specially propagated hawks bred in an aviary. They may be taken up either at a very young age, which would probably result in an imprint; at a stage where they are virtually ready to leave the

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nest, the age of a traditionally taken eyass; or slightly later, when they are scrambling around the natal aviary and the equivalent of a brancher. Even if a hawk is left in the aviary for many weeks and has learnt to fly, because it never has the opportunity to hunt it can never be regarded as the equivalent of a passage hawk.

Falconry glossary You will find a glossary of words and phrases commonly used in falconry in the reference section at the end of the book. Terms defined in the glossary are highlighted in bold in the text on first use.

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Introduction The nature of falconry ONE OF THE BENEFITS OF FALCONRY’S LONG EVOLUTION IS THAT IT HAS acquired a versatility probably unmatched by any other sport. It is possible to fly one kind of hawk or another anywhere there is suitable wildlife, which excludes very few places on Earth. Falconers everywhere have developed ways of dealing with differences in climate, habitats and potential quarry, and they have established the training techniques and hawks most fitting for those conditions. Although, in many countries, including the UK, it is illegal to take indigenous raptors from the wild, the great range of species produced means there are available hawks suitable for all sorts of local terrains and personal circumstances.

However, while these hawks may be specially bred, there are some important and fundamental differences between falconry birds and other captive birds. For example: 1. Falconry birds fly free 2. They are trained to return to their handler and for those trained for hunting 3. They catch wild quarry, mostly for the benefit of their falconer.

Achieving free flight with a hawk, and getting her to return to you, requires a thorough understanding of falconry techniques. Switching her on to hunting, training her to do it where, when and in the way you want her to, persuading her to relinquish her catch then carry on hunting without loss of motivation, and maintaining discipline throughout, are all additional skills even more difficult to acquire.

Some falconers limit hawks to flying free and catching a piece of artificial prey called a lure (see Chapter 7). Others flying hawks in public demonstrations may deliberately encourage them not to hunt so that they can exert more control over their hawks within a tight time frame and minimise any risk of upsetting their audience.

Others feel strongly that hunting wild quarry is of primary importance to falconry, the reason that birds of prey were trained in the first place, and the only activity which enables captive hawks to realise their full potential. As with working dogs, it gives them a purpose in life and, through that, a high quality of life.

Whatever your purpose in acquiring and training a bird of prey, training any bird

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to use its inherited expertise for the benefit of a falconer is an art that requires many different kinds and levels of skill, as well as a great deal of specialised knowledge.

The art will come into play when the falconer puts this all together. Where to fly, when to fly, what to fly, if and when to flush game, which way to flush it: the falconer has to make all of these choices and more to be successful.

Even a top-notch falconer flying a peregrine could not claim that he teaches his game hawks to catch a partridge or a grouse, for in this respect he cannot teach them anything. If they achieve it at all, it is through their physical condition, natural aptitudes and instincts. Of course, he has a direct influence over their condition, but his training of them will be limited to maintaining discipline in the field and persuading them to gain height for their characteristic hunting style, the stoop.

Other than that, all he can do is present them with hunting opportunities by finding and flushing game in their vicinity. What happens next is up to each individual hawk, and the falconer merely assumes the role of spectator.

The nature of falconry birds Although many birds of prey available for falconry are domestically propagated, hawks are not yet domesticated in the strict sense, and they cannot be treated like pets. They are essentially (and in the eyes of the law) still wild birds and, in general, display the lack of trust and fear of human beings common to all wild animals. Unlike cats and dogs, they will never give you loyalty or affection, and you can’t alleviate their wildness just through kindness or sympathy. They can’t be cuddled, stroked, played with or taken to bed like a cat or a dog.

Not only are hawks undomesticated, they are, apart from rare exceptions such as the Harris hawk (see Chapter 3), not naturally social animals. Except when they are breeding, the vast majority live their lives alone. They appear to have no social conscience, morals or codes of behaviour even towards their own kind. Any hawk straying into another’s territory might find herself aggressively repulsed rather than welcomed, and this aggression could result in the death of either of them. All hawks take their independence very seriously because it is ultimately the means of their own survival.

As a result, training and handling a hawk is very different from training and handling a dog. Dogs are pack animals. It is easy to encourage in them a social conscience (however primitive) because, like their wolf ancestors and all wild dogs, they naturally define their lives in accordance with group discipline. In other words, you can give them a set of rules with which they must comply. You can reward

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them for doing the right thing, and you can punish them for breaking a rule they have already learned. But you can never punish a hawk because she doesn’t bond with you in any social way. She will only consider doing what you are asking her to do if, first and foremost, she’s learned to trust you. Even then she will only do it if she wants to, and because she’s gained the confidence to do it, and because she’s learned how to do it. If you attempt to punish her, you will destroy whatever trust you might already have earned. Her training will cease abruptly, and she will seize the first opportunity to desert.

Training itself is achieved by carefully regulating the hawk’s food intake to keep her weight at an optimum level (see Chapter 10). This level, which falconers call flying weight, is the point at which she gives you her best response. Below this weight, the hawk may lack the energy to fly well; above it, she may well just fly away.

Lessons proceed by rewarding her with small pieces of food when she responds in a satisfactory way until she has used up all her rations; these, in turn, are calculated to keep her weight stable, or to reduce or increase it by measured amounts.

It is this regime of reward linked with weight control which motivates a hawk firstly to become amenable to training, then to act in accordance with it. The difficulty is that you can’t reward her until she’s actually done the right thing, which means that, to some extent at least, she’s in control. It is by no means unusual for a hawk to educate her falconer to meet her requirements rather than to comply with his.

However, if training goes to plan, she will eventually become habitually responsive, at least in the essential things such as returning to you.

Once she is flying free, and especially if she has been trained to hunt quarry, control problems really begin. Confidence in her own ability will increase dramatically, and you will then have to find ways of convincing her that she is better off staying with you rather than going her own way. Usually this means flushing game regularly enough for her to regard you as a valued working partner. If you fail consistently, she will most likely find it herself and view you as an unnecessary encumbrance. That will encourage her to claim her independence permanently.

Whatever relationship you succeed in forging with your hawk will, inevitably, be extremely tenuous and can never be regarded as permanent. Her obedience might last only as long as a day’s food ration and could easily end with the last piece of food she takes from your hand. The next she might find for herself. By acquiring any kind of hawk, you are taking responsibility for a raw piece of nature designed for hunting and freedom in the wind, certainly not life in a cage. You must be prepared to accept that you might one day lose her, and that sound training and good falconry practice are only designed to minimise this risk.

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The nature of the sport For many practitioners, falconry has ethereal, almost poetic, qualities. It provides real contact with nature; with the wind; with the ways of wild animals and their wild habitats; with the raw beauty and power of birds of prey in flight; with the privilege of watching them do what they do naturally; with being accepted as an ally in their endeavours; and with the mutual respect that such a partnership can generate.

If you ask a passionate falconer what enjoyment he gets from the sport, he will probably tell you that it has something to do with watching a bird of prey that he has nurtured and trained behave as if she were in partnership with the falconer. If you ask him to elaborate, he might add that what’s important is the quality of her flights: the extent to which she shows determination, commitment, courage, skill and style in flying or chasing her quarry. Press him even further, and he might tell you that what really matters is the whole experience, which means not just being in a natural environment on any particular day, but also – with and through his hawk – being an active part of it.

This is the point at which you will tap into his real passion and his addiction. Every outing with a trained and experienced hawk has the potential to put her handler through the whole gamut of emotions from despair to ecstasy, and play havoc with his adrenaline levels. As an activity, it is not only physically and emotionally demanding, but also intellectually challenging. For some, it is even spiritually fulfilling.

The sport also has an important historical perspective. Recorded falconry extends back at least four thousand years. At that time, it was already a well-established activity with a cultural as well as a practical dimension. Since then, falconers have learned to solve the problems of training, controlling and maintaining free-flying hawks in a different way, but the activity itself is essentially the same. In this respect it provides links, emotional, spiritual and empirical, with our remote ancestors.

Through these links, it has the potential to put any modern human being back in touch with their natural roots. In fact, developing an understanding of wild animals, their habitat requirements and their behaviour is essential for success.

The vast majority of falconers are committed conservationists, and it is easy to see why. The destruction of any piece of woodland, moorland, open waste or set-aside land, hedgerow, meadow, marshland, pond, pasture or other natural environment is a threat to their activity because it destroys not only the habitats needed to fly hawks but also the wildlife depending on them.

Yet the sport itself has little or no impact on wildlife populations. No falconer would be foolish enough to suggest that he could eradicate, for example, a plague

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of rabbits on a farmer’s land in exchange for permission to fly his bird there. One bird of prey, wild or otherwise, simply isn’t capable of making that kind of impact.

No shooting man would come back from a day with nothing in the bag and declare it a success. Yet falconers regularly do this because they celebrate both the hawk flying well and the quarry escaping. Of course, they would like results for them and the hawk, but it is not central to the sport. It is one without greed; indeed, greed is damaging for the hawk and the sport as a whole.

People have been practising falconry since the beginning of recorded time and across almost every continent. It is one of very few activities which can claim to be part of humankind’s general cultural inheritance, just like working a dog or riding a horse. In 2016 UNESCO added falconry (the hunting sport) to the list of ‘intangible cultural heritage of mankind’, a fitting accolade for an ancient activity which still captivates falconers today.

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PART 1 Getting started

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1 Before you start

ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE, FALCONRY DEMANDS A SERIOUS COMMITMENT. Falconry birds generally live a long time: fifteen to twenty years if they are well managed and given appropriate medical treatment when needed. Even if you only own a single hawk, your responsibility for her general wellbeing and quality of life is a long-term one. Consequently, you must have a degree of passion for birds of prey before you consider taking up the sport. It is not an activity suitable for people who just want to dabble to see how they get on. Don’t be fooled if you visit a bird of prey centre open to the public which, in order to sell its courses and ‘have a go’ days, boasts ‘falconry is for everyone’. To become a genuine falconer requires time, commitment and passion: it isn’t for everyone.

To find out whether falconry is for you, you will need satisfactory answers to the following questions:

Do I wish to use the hawk for hawking, the taking of wild game?

This may sound a spurious question, but many falconers, in the broad sense of the word, do not wish to hawk (hunt) quarry. Rather, they are content to train and build a rapport with a hawk up to and including flying it free. In this way they can share some of the spectacle of watching what is effectively a wild creature doing what it has evolved to do. Others may wish to train a hawk for some professional use such as public demonstration and display at country fairs and specialist bird of prey centres, or for pest control where the hawk is used to scare away nuisance bird species. This book aims to cater for all these groups, although the emphasis will remain on recreational falconers who wish to enjoy hawking and attendant taking of wild quarry as a traditional field sport.

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Will my work and social life allow me to spend enough time with my hawk on a daily basis?

Although you might have your hawk trained and flying free by the late summer, the flying season extends through autumn and winter. Throughout this period, she will need time and attention every day during daylight hours. In addition, her quarters, food and equipment have to be organised and maintained properly. Many people find this difficult to achieve because there are too few hours of daylight in their free time. Friends and other members of the family may be prepared to help with peripheral chores when you’re not available, but will they maintain their willingness over the next ten or even twenty years?

Can I arrange for the bird to be looked after properly when I’m away on business or on holiday?

This is a problem we all have to face at one time or another. There are few or no commercial facilities for looking after falconry birds that are equivalent to kennels or pet boarding – perhaps only one or two in the whole of Britain. All hawks need a minimum amount of experience in handling just to feed and maintain them. It is neither feasible nor advisable to expect a next-door neighbour to do it on the spur of the moment while you spend a fortnight in Malaga. The best answer is another local falconer, if you can find one. But he will, understandably, expect you to return the favour, which means you will both have to co-ordinate your away-days well in advance. Joining a local or national falconry club, such as the British Falconers’ Club (see page 259), will help you to establish contacts and make like-minded friends.

Can I provide suitable housing for the bird?

Hawk accommodations are large and relatively expensive to build. You can’t easily buy a ready-made product like a rabbit hutch or a chicken coop. Neither can you keep a bird of prey in an attic, a spare bedroom, the lounge, or anywhere else in the house on a long-term basis.

Hawks need outside quarters built specifically to meet their requirements, and sited where they can get the benefit of fresh air while being provided shelter from hot sun, wind, rain and frost. They also need protection from other animals such as foxes, cats, dogs, mink and other birds of prey, and from thieves. You may also need to take into account any local planning regulations in force, and also the likely reaction of your neighbours.

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Do I have a ready supply of suitable food?

All birds of prey eat other animals. They can’t survive on artificial diets like cat food, dog food, table scraps, bird food or any other kind of prepared food. They thrive only on whole, raw (uncooked) animals: flesh, bones, fur or feathers and internal organs. In the wild, when they catch prey, they eat all of it, including seemingly unpalatable items like teeth and claws.

Although there are people who market such foods, they usually sell it frozen in bulk. You might have to travel many miles to collect a consignment, and you will, therefore, need a reliable means of transport as well as separate freezer capacity for at least several weeks’ supply. For health reasons a dedicated hawk food freezer, separate from the family’s food, is recommended. Most suppliers offer delivery to your door, but the transport can cost more than the food you are buying. This is another case for liaison with other local falconers so that food can be bought in bulk and delivery costs shared. Again, joining a local or national falconry club will help you make contacts with other falconers in your region.

Do I have access to a vet prepared to treat my bird if she falls ill or suffers injury?

Where birds of prey are concerned, illness often causes death. Hawks differ in their constitutions, but all are vulnerable to infection and physical trauma, for example when they are flying into thorny cover such as gorse or bramble, or through barbed wire fences. They can also catch diseases from other birds.

Very few vets have any experience with hawks and, for this reason, most are reluctant to treat them except in a dire emergency. An avian specialist, or at least a vet who has considerable experience in treating birds, must therefore be found before you acquire a hawk. You can also expect that their surgery will be many miles away. In addition, their charges will reflect the fact that they are a specialist.

Some falconry clubs hold bird of prey first aid courses run by guest specialist vets.

The emphasis on these courses is keeping an injured or sick bird of prey comfortable and alive until they get to a veterinary surgery. They are not a substitute for seeking veterinary expertise for treatment, but they are another good reason for joining a falconry club.

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Do I have somewhere suitable to fly my hawk?

For any falconer, this is the most important question. Different species of hawk require different types of terrain over which they can be successfully flown. Many falcons need large areas of open space such as moorland, pasture or arable land where cross-country access is unrestricted. True hawks and buzzards can be flown over more enclosed land, or even in woodland.

Whichever kind of hawk you decide to get, permission must be sought from the landowner before you fly her, and, if your intention is to hawk wild quarry, you will need to establish that there is enough suitable game there to keep her occupied and interested.

Will I be able to fly her frequently enough?

Falconry birds are not designed to be kept in aviaries for long periods. Once trained and if in the habit of hunting, they benefit from being flown every day (weather permitting) in their hunting season. Even more important than the experience this gives them, it develops fitness and stamina, both of which are essential for a good flight at worthwhile quarry. To be at the top of her game, a hawk needs to be flown at least four or five times per week, whether the hawk is hunting quarry or being kept purely for flying display and demonstration.

Falcons need less flying time per outing than hawks and buzzards but they are also the least suitable birds for beginners to train (see Chapter 4). Most hawks and buzzards need a lot longer to exercise daily: two to three hours each session. There are one or two species, such as the Harris hawk, which can be taken out just at weekends if you are willing and able to take special measures to maintain fitness on non-flying days, but this situation is far from ideal on a long-term basis. In real terms there is no such thing as a ‘weekend hawk’.

Can I afford it?

The vast majority of falconry birds flown in the UK are specifically bred in aviaries, and most are expensive. Prices vary from a few hundred to a few thousand pounds depending on which type of hawk you want to buy. Also, there are substantial costs involved in housing and equipping any kind of hawk (and yourself) properly, not to mention food, veterinary care and insurance.

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Some of these costs can be spread over a period, for example the acquisition of equipment and building suitable housing, but once you’ve acquired your first bird, you will find yourself locked into spending money on a regular basis.

Falconry changes people’s lives. Before you take it on, it’s wise to make sure you understand and can handle the consequences.

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2 Falconry and the law Derek Hartshorne

Note: web addresses for the organisations mentioned in this chapter are given in the useful contacts list.

FALCONRY IS A HIGHLY REGULATED SPORT, BUT THE LAWS WHICH APPLY TO it are indirect. There is no specific law of falconry. Instead, the keeping of birds of prey, in general, and the flying of birds of prey for falconry purposes are regulated by a number of laws relating to the keeping of all animals, the treatment of wild animals in the UK and the international trade in all animals, including raptors, which are considered to be endangered, and thus protected, in the wild. In addition, if you plan to hunt with your bird of prey, or to fly or display it in a commercial context, then further regulations apply. Those raptor breeders who sell their young raptors also have addition responsibilities under UK and international law.

Following the devolution of certain legal powers to the home nations of the UK, there can be minor differences in the regulations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland from those which apply in England. The relevant sections of the Department for Environment, Fisheries and Rural Affairs (Defra) website indicate where such differences occur and the relevant national authority with responsibility in this area.

This chapter outlines the main legislation that applies to the general falconer.

However, it is always your own responsibility to maintain your knowledge of the law as it applies to you. Ignorance of the law is no defence, and the way in which legislation applies to you may change. You must keep yourself fully informed and up to date, and the best way to do this is to take a properly recognised training course and to join a reputable club such as the British Falconers’ Club. Do not rely on hearsay, gossip or social media for your information because these sources are often

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unreliable. If in doubt about any aspect of the law you should refer to the relevant section of the Defra website, or contact them directly.

It is not necessary to become a legal expert, but you must have a good general knowledge about how the law applies in these areas: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Buying and selling birds of prey Care and housing Medical treatment What, where and when you can hunt Using birds of prey commercially.

Buying or otherwise obtaining birds of prey In the UK, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (WCA 1981) gives protection to all wild birds. This protection covers all birds of prey, including owls. Unless you have been granted a special licence, you may not catch them, trap them, poison them, shoot them or destroy them in any other way. You may not disturb them whilst they are breeding; you may not take their eggs or disturb or destroy their nests. You may not take young birds from nests. Even injured wild raptors that may come into your possession are fully protected by law, and what happens to them once found is covered by the WCA 1981. Defra is the government department with responsibility for administering the WCA 1981, although some functions are delegated to other bodies such as Natural England and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).

The effect of this legislation is simple: you may not take a bird of prey from the wild, or be in possession of an illegally taken wild bird of prey.

Free-flying birds of prey sometimes get lost and can be at liberty for extended periods. If you lose your bird of prey and it cannot be recovered or recalled using normal methods such as a swing lure, you may use other methods such as trapping which are normally illegal in the UK. However, you must be in possession of a special licence issued by Natural England before using an otherwise banned method of capture. Such licences are easily obtainable by contacting Natural England direct. There may be a small fee.

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The penalties for people found guilty of offences under the WCA 1981 can be severe, including:

•• •• •• ••

Fines and the costs of prosecution Imprisonment Confiscation of any birds held illegally A ban on owning or keeping any bird for up to five years.

In addition, your reputation as a falconer or breeder will be damaged, and no falconry club or other organisation will accept you for membership. You may also be monitored by your local Wildlife Crime Officer or by other organisations (such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, RSPB) with an interest in the welfare of wild birds. There is a plentiful supply of legally bred birds of prey in the UK available TIP at very reasonable cost. A local falconry club would be a good place to start your search There are also many for your first bird of prey, and will recommend ‘hobby’ breeders around, known breeders with good reputations (see who are usually very also Chapter 9). A competent and respectable particular about the people breeder will want to know in advance that you to whom their young have the knowledge, understanding and skills birds are sold. Such smallto handle a bird of prey safely and to keep it in scale breeders are often good quality accommodation with a correct members of a falconry diet and proper hygiene. You should be wary club and many will happily of anyone willing to sell you a bird of prey who provide longer-term help does not make enquiries as to your ability. and advice to the novice Certain UK native species of birds of prey keeper. require registration. In addition, all species listed under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) require certification if they are to be bought, sold or used for any commercial gain. Being in possession of an incorrectly registered or certificated bird of prey is a serious offence. It is your personal responsibility to ensure that you have the correct documents where necessary. If you obtain a bird from a private keeper, do not rely on them to have the correct registration certificate. You must have sufficient knowledge to be aware of what is required before you buy. The list of native birds requiring registration is reviewed from time to time, with some species being removed from the need for registration, while others may be added.

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Information on all aspects of registration is easily available from the Defra website and you should check the legal position from time to time.

Registration of UK native species Some birds of prey require registration with the appropriate government department under UK domestic law. These are usually known as Schedule 4 birds because these species are listed in Schedule 4 of the WCA 1981. The current list of species requiring registration is:

•• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• ••

Honey buzzard White-tailed eagle Golden eagle Goshawk Marsh harrier Montagu’s harrier Osprey Peregrine falcon* Merlin*

If you are the keeper of any bird from this list you must register it even if you are not the legal owner.

To register a bird of prey, it must be ringed with a closed (i.e. sealed) ring, which is put on a bird’s leg at a very young age by the breeder so that it cannot be removed, or microchip it, and return the registration form to the Centre for International Trade in Bristol. Visit the Defra website to ensure you get the correct application form. You don’t have to register hybrids of Schedule 4 birds, and you don’t have to register sick or injured wild birds that you are looking after, as long as they are released within 15 days. If sick or injured wild birds need a longer period of treatment then you are advised to pass them on to a suitable wildlife rescue centre, who will be able to provide a good level of care as well as taking care of the legal requirements for registration where appropriate. If you decide to keep them for a longer period than 15 days, you must register them. *

If you are in possession of a peregrine falcon or a merlin and you hold a CITES A10 (see next page) certificate for it, then you do not need to register them separately under Schedule 4. However, if you have a peregrine or merlin but an A10 is not held (for example, if you have bred the bird yourself and intend to keep it for your own non-commercial use) then it must still be registered. In such cases you are advised to contact Defra or APHA for confirmation in writing.

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Once your registration form is processed you will receive a blue registration document which shows the name of the keeper and the address at which the bird is kept. The keeper may or may not be the legal owner. There is a tear-off strip at the bottom of the new form which enables you to send off details of a new owner/keeper if the bird is sold or transferred to another person. It is important to understand that the registration of Schedule 4 birds is a UK domestic requirement and does not satisfy the additional requirements of the international trade in endangered species.

The purpose of registration is to show where the bird is kept and who its keeper is. If the bird moves to other premises, or is being cared for by another person, the registration should be changed to reflect this. This is not necessary for very short periods such as annual holidays, but would apply to longer periods. If you plan to move the bird to another address, or leave it in someone else’s care for 6 weeks or more, you should notify APHA in advance, and obtain an updated registration document.

CITES (A10) certification The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) regulates the import, export, sale and movement of endangered wild animals and plants. The species that are covered by CITES are listed in the various annexes of European Union (EU) Regulation 750/20013, and links to these lists of species can be found on the Defra and CITES websites (see the Reference section at the end of the book). The lists are reviewed periodically and new species may be added to the list, or species may be removed from the list. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have the correct documents for any birds in your possession, whether you are the legal owner or not. A certificate is required for the commercial use of any living or dead plant or animal (or any part of it) that is listed in the regulations.

As the commercial use includes ‘offering for sale’ and the actual purchase or sale of a specimen these certificates, called A10 certificates, are sometimes referred to as ‘sale certificates’.

Birds of prey listed in one of the annexes should not be advertised for sale, sold or purchased unless an A10 certificate is in place. If you purchase a bird of prey, it is your responsibility to check the details recorded on the A10 certificate to ensure that the details are correct. Even minor discrepancies such as ring numbers incorrectly

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