Your FREE Online Falconry Magazine

January 2014ISSUE 5PURSUIT

Sparrowhawk Special

A NEW Book on Eagle Falconry is now available

Where Eagles Hareby Th omas Carnihan

Signed copies available fromwww.whereeagleshare.com

£52.00 inc P&P

WelcomeTo PURSUIT Magazine, but with a NEW Look for 2014.

As we start another year, it is time to refl ect upon the season so far and what the remainder of the current season has in store for us.

Also, in this issue it is dedicated to a band of individuals, who go that little bit extra to produce arguably one of the fi nest falconry birds we in the UK are lucky to fl y - Th e Sparrowhawk.

Along with the news page, product reviews, artists pages, I hope you fi nd the latest issue of interest to you.

Please feel free in sharing this edition to your falconry friends throughout the world.

Later on this month, I will be heading to Dubai to experience falconry in the Gulf and I hope to report on my experiences in the coming months.

So until next month - Good Hawking!

Neil Davies, EditorPursuit Magazine is published by Neil Davies and promotes the practice of responsible Falconry & Hawking.

Please be aware all images and text is copyright © Neil Davies 2014 and the contributing writers, photographers and artists.

No part of this magazine can be used without the written approval of the Editor or its contributors.

To advertise, submit articles or photographes within Pursuit Falconry Magazine please email the Neil Davies , Editor: neil.a.davies@icloud.com

features4 News

6 Imprinting by Sean Marney

14 Photo of the Month

16 Th e Sparrowhawk in Art by David Rampling

22 Trapping Turkish Sparrowhawks Traditional falconry with wild trapped Sparrowhawks

29 Basic notes on imprinting a Sparrowhawk by Ben Crane

33 Must have Books Hawk for the Bush by Jack Mavrogato

35 Product Review DVD - Th e Secret Life of the Sparrowhawk

37 Braided Equipment by Zoe Jones

38 A Gallery of Hunting Spars

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In the News...

Th e Fazza Falconry Championship are currently underway with qualifi cations for the fi nals in January 2014. Spread over 20 days and held at Al Ruwyyah, Dubai. Falcons race over a 400 metre course and the fastest falcons covering this distance in less than 20 seconds.

Over 100 competitors from all over the Gulf have entered this year’s races.

Th e championships are organised by the Hamdan bin Mohammed Heritage Centre under tge patronage of H.H. Sheikh Bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai.

Fazza Falconry Championships

Falconer & Conservationist Dr. Nick Fox honoured in New Years Honours list

Congratulations to my old mentor Dr. Nick Fox on his award of an OBE.

Nick receives his honour for services to falconry and to the conservation of raptors.

A director of the International Wildlife Consultants (IWC) organisation sees

him support conservation, research and breeding of raptors throughout the world.

He is also founder of the Middle East Falcon Research group and the Northumberland Crow Falcons.

A passionate falconer and is Vice-Chair on th Hawk Board & British Falconers Club and is Chair of the Falconry Heritage Trust.

Also, an honorary member of the Raptor Association of New Zealand, the Welsh Hawking Club and the Irish Hawking Club.

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Sadly, I have to report that former IAF President Frank Bond, passed away on Christmas DayHe will be sadly missed by the world falconry community having dedicated his life to falconry and the conservation of raptors.

Frank Bond was one of four men who helped launch Th e Peregrine Fund in 1970 to help save the endangered raptor. Th e Peregrine falcon was on the verge of extinction at that time and with his help the Peregrine Fund today is one of the leading bodies in the protection of raptors respected throughout the world.

Th ough a trained lawyer, falconry was a deep routed passion of his. He once told a reporter “Being a falconer is so complex. It’s a lifelong commitment, something that’s constant and daily.”

Frank Bond became a falconer in his early 20s, while he was a student at Colorado College. He served as counsel for Th e Peregrine Fund and the North American Falconer’s Association. As president of the International Association of Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey, Bond is credited with convincing the United Nations to recognize falconry in 2010 as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

In a statement, the North American Falconers’ Association said it had lost not only a friend, ‘but a giant in the global falconry community. He was a supremely eff ective advocate for our sport in arenas as diverse as local city councils, state legislatures, the U.S. Federal government and international negotiations.’

As all falconers, we owe a debt to this man who passion we all share and many friends throughout the worlds have lost a dear friend and I as all readers of this magazine pass on our sincerest condolences go out to the Bond family at this time.

Neil Davies - Editor

A public memorial will be held in the spring for New Mexico native Frank M. Bond, an expert falconer, former state representative and longtime attorney who died of cancer on Christmas Day. He was 70.

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IMPRINTING

Imprint...there’s n

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ting...no right or wrong way

by Sean Marney - Austringer

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So in this short article I’m going to try give you a insight into my way of doing things. While reading this some of you may fi nd my methods a little unorthodox.

I’d like to think that my way is a bit more interesting to read as I feel it is certainly different from the more traditional ways.

I received my spar when she was a week old, prior to this I made sure I was well prepared and had an abundance of good quality food. At this age she was fed every two hours using tweezers by myself and many different people as possible.

The reasons, I liked to do this is so I wasn’t seen as the only provider of food, I feel this can help later with aggression issues.

At this age I start introducing the hood, constantly putting it on for a second at a time. A spar is never going to accept a hood like a falcon, but if your persistent, your spar will welcome it to a point that it is manageable without your hawk getting upset with you.

When she is old enough to feed herself there is a

constant supply of fresh food making sure she never gets hungry.

The food is changed by as many people as possible including myself, this is also placed on a falconry glove.

The theory is to associate food with the glove taking any aggression that could occur later in training solely on the glove.

Once she can stand she is taken on the glove by many hands, I wouldn’t trust anyone with my spar when feathers are well on their way down but at this age a spar will tolerate anyone and will not bate away.

This helps make her a much steadier hawk and more likely to accept strange faces.

When it comes to imprinting spars I wouldn’t say there is a right or wrong way as there are so many different methods at every stage of imprinting, but the method I have used with the two spars I have had isn’t what you would call by the book but has certainly worked for me.

Imprinting... ...there’s no right or wrong way

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Once, she is feeding herself with ease and getting more mobile she is now being fed whole birds, I also I fi t all equipment and now she is spending most of her time tethered on a bow perch. I like having my spars on a leash at a early age as I think it helps at a later stage keeping baiting down to a very minimum. I’m still hooding frequently as possible and introducing her to as many different scenarios that I’m most likely to come across in the fi eld. Most importantly is a good bond and understanding with your dog if you wish to have any success of hunting in a team.

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Once she is hard penned the weight reduction begins and training can start.

Both of my spars, I have imprinted this way and have both been identical in their stages of training, they were both very silent and very well mannered. I believe a key factor to this is that I have never started any training until every last feather is out of blood and until then she has not been feed on the fi st, because of this I would say my spars were more independent therefore training is a quicker process making it easier to fi nd the true hunting weight, were as a full on imprint that has started training at a lot earlier age will have a good skill of lying about its true hunting weight. This could cause tinkering around with her weight causing frustration and aggression issues, this is where I think a hood can be a useful piece of equipment as a spar can easily get wound up and the days hunting can be ruined before its even started.

The hood is a key part to my hawking as it helps me with my method of mounting a transmitter.

My preferred method is the neck mount but this would be very diffi cult and near impossible to use on a spar that is not trained to the hood as a small elastic band has to be placed over the spars head.

I have been using this technique for fi ve seasons with my current spar and can honestly say I have never had any problems and cannot think of any disadvantages.

In this article I have tried to cover as much as possible and I hope you have enjoy reading as much as I have writing.

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PHOTOOF THE MONTH

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FALCONRY IN ART

What Sparrowhawksmean to me....David Rampling - Wildlife Artist ~Falconer

It was always about Sparrowhawks for me. Reading about falconry in the school library as a boy birds like Peregrines and Goshawks were so exotic that they felt completely out of reach. But a Sparrowhawk was a possible dream, and they fi lled my adolescent thoughts.

My fi rst was a parent reared bird in the mid eighties. And I found keeping her tail in order was a serious challenge to someone as inexperienced as I was. But I learned a lot about imping, in a very short while. She racked up the kills, and would tackle almost anything. She taught me a great deal, and once conditioned,

I could largely forget about the scales and I managed to fl y her on appetite and routine in quite high condition. An impending move to Scotland at the time saw me hacking her back to the wild from my garden. I could not bring myself to sell her on.

I fl ew an imprint once I moved to the Island of Mull, just off Scotlands west coast. This treeless mountain environment and huge open space allowed me to hack the youngster from the farm.

I fl ew her ‘following on’, in the style of a Harris. And this allowed an incredible fi tness to develop. Kills were varied, initially small birds fl ushed from the heather, and then migrant Blackbirds and Thrushes, some taken from the soar, which was a sight to see.. In this landscape my Spar was obedient and very ariel. Cover was sparce, just rare stands of bracken and dry stone walls. And if a Blacky or a Thrush was fl ushed close, it was invariably taken. Flights could be long or short, and were always exciting, but we caught so many I became convinced these birds were easy to take when the Spar was so fi t. In her third season she had a collision with a stock fence, and it ended her life prematurely.

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I moved to Scotlands east coast and fl ew another. A little cracker, and in my short dinner break, aided by a couple of beaters from the Centre next to my farm, she would generally get a kill or two. Heavier cover soon taught me that Blackbirds are MUCH tougher to put in the bag, than they had been on Mull. The right landscape made all the difference.

I have fl own several since. They seem to dance with death every day, when fl own properly. Keeping them alive is easy when they are stuck in a pen, but in the hunting fi eld even the most vigilant of falconers keeps them alive as much by luck, as by judgement. Stock fencing is something I have come to loath. I love the hacking process, and I tend to use following on, mixed with fl ights from the fi st for my Spars. I have found they adapt readily to this, and I have had no loss of control because of it, ever. I have managed to freeloft my last few Spars for most of their lives. Though the enclosure takes some thinking about to avoid problems. I do tend to tether for an hour or two

before hunting, to avoid damage when the spar is bouncy. I always try to enter my young Spars by my birthday, August 7th.

I have not fl own a Spar for several years. But I love them still. Work commitments mean I am no longer able to devote the required time they need in August and September, those all important months in the development of a good, well rounded Sparrowhawk.

I paint them often. They inspire me. Breast patterns are tricky to paint, but I generally get there in the end.

When out walking these days, if I see a Blackbird bolt from an isolated bit of cover, my minds eye sees a Spar in hot pursuit. Anyone who has fl own a Spar hard will know exactly what I mean.

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TURKISH FALCONRY

Trapping Sparrowhawksin Turkey....by Ben CranePhotographs courtesy of Dogan Smith , Turkey IAF Representative

These falconers of Turkey trap and train a Shrike and use it to attract migrating Sparrowhawks in the Bosphorous region of Turkey.

These images and full details of this ancient practice are to be featured in Ben Crane’s new book ‘Sparrowhawks: A guide for falconers’ published by The Crowood Press this Summer.

Left: Red-backed Shirke decoy bird and hawk

Main picture : A freshly trapped hawk

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Main picture : Red-backed Shrike decoy bird

below: Decoy bird being hand fed

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Top left: Trapper with decoy bird on pole

Top right: Trapper climbing into hide

Middle:Freshly trapped hawks

Below left: Trained hawked being held in tradional manner

below right: Trained hawk

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Some basic notes on

imprinting a Sparrowhawk

by Ben Crane

Over the years the process of imprinting

sparrowhawks (or accipiters in general)

has become almost an exacting science.

I remember contemplating imprinting

my fi rst sparrowhawk, read on or two

books became overly confused and

purchased a crËche reared spar instead

Looking back this was a mistake (not the

hawk as she was great fun) as it is oft en the

case that words in print can, and do make

the falconer feel out of depth, when in fact

they are perfectly capable of turning out

a decent imprint just by following a few

basic steps. Th is is not to say the process

is easy, far from it, the sparviter will need

to be exacting in approach and consistent

in routine from the moment the chick

arrives in the house right up until she is

put away for the molt at the end of the

season.

Before imprinting my fi rst spar I had

many and varied conversations with the

falconers Nigel King and Den Lucey.

Both of these falconers helped demystify

the process, but more importantly they

allowed me to develop my own style

without the necessity or constantly

referring back to the sacred texts and

complex recipes advocated by many.

Th e truth about imprinting

is that is fairly simple,

incredibly logical and

great fun. Imprinting

unlocks aspects of

the sparrowhawks

‘character’ that

would otherwise be

concealed by fear

and allows a bond

which is indelibly

strong.

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Mere Down FalconryB I R D S O F P R E Y F LY I N G D I S P L AY T E A M

Telephone: 01747 824 913 Mobile: 07742 998 571

www.meredownfalconry.co.uk

‘Mere’ in action

One point that must be rememberedis that every sparrowhawk will be diff erent and that any prescriptive approach to raising and owning will oft en be contradicted by the sparrowhawks own specifi c behaviour as it grows and develops.Th ere is no one defi nitive approach and the secret joy of imprinting is that both the spar and the sparviter are locked together on a joint learning curve teasing out the best in both parties.

I have imprinted and fl own both spars and muskets and in many respects they are fairly similar. I have picked up the sparrowhawk chick anywhere between 5 days and 21 days and of course right

up until hard penning with the créche reared spar. As long as the chick has been conditioned to human presence and has been fed or is feeding for itself I have not noticed any major diff erence in behaviour despite such a wide range of ages.

Th e fi rst and most important rule is to completely eradicate any food connection between yourself and the sparrowhawk, otherwise there will be a lot of negative behaviour diffi cult to prevent when the hawk is older. Food must be in the presence of the chick 24 hours a day and with close observation you will be able to time when the hawk feeds and how much.

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Hand feeding or interference while

feeding must be absolutely avoided

until the hawk is hard penned and

training has begun. Th is is easily

achieved by feeding from a bowl

or my preferred method from the

glove and lure in the nest or out

in the fi eld. Lure feeding can be

carried out during the later stages

of training, but it is just as easy to

begin as soon as possible. Th is also

allows the young mobile chick to

begin ‘hunting’ its own food in the

fi eld or other locations away from the

home. Th is process is also advocated

by IAF representative Viktor Segrt

and has led to him fl ying many a

nicely developed, mentally stable

sparrowhawks.

I have learnt over the years that 24

hour intense stimulation as the chick

grows is not necessary. As long as

they are comfortable, safe and have

food, they can be left for relatively

long periods. Th ere is absolutely no

reason to take the chick everywhere

with you, as even if you do as soon

as the hawk is ready for hunting it

will still have to be made or manned

to various situations. Imprinting

eradicates a large percentage of fear,

but the sparrowhawk is by nature is

a highly strung creature. It requires

a complete understanding and pre-

emptive forethought throughout the

whole of its life. No matter how much

contact you have with the chick

during the imprinting stage, it will

readily forget this stimulation and go

berserk at a wide variety of objects

and situations in the fi rst season.

I generally carry the chick about

with me into fi elds, near cows, farm

machinery and interact with it

positively without food throughout

the day, but I am also happy to leave

it for extended periods right up until

it is hard penned.

Once the chick begins to fl ap about

and is fairly mobile soft training

jesses can be attached and the chick

secured to the nest and still remain

in the house with the falconer until

completely ready to be removed to

the mews. Various training perches

can be used throughout this period

and care must be taken with soft

bones and badly fi tted equipment.

Once ready for training this can be

carried out much as one would do

with a parent reared hawk.

As previously stated this approach

has worked for me a numerous

occasions, however you may have

a very diff erent spar or musket and

so you must tailor your processes to

your hawk and your own particular

circumstance.

Ben Crane’s forthcoming book

covering the European tradition

of trapping, training, imprinting,

behaviours and hawking with

sparrowhawks will be available

from Crowood Press in 2014.

Featuring contributions from the UK,

Ireland, Croatia and Turkey this is

a no nonsense book aimed at those

wishing to fl y a sparrowhawk for the

very fi rst time.

Th e unique wildlife designs of

CHASTANGVERRIERchastangvdesigns@gmail.com

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Hooded TalonsQuality handcrafted hoods & falconry furniture

Tel: +(44) 7723 442669 Email:kevin@hoodedtalons.co.uk Website: www.hoodedtalons.co.uk

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MUST HAVE BOOKS

A Classic book for the Sparrowhawker....

I appreciate this fi rst edition will be out of reach of the average falconer but if you have the opportunity to purchasing this classic it will be an investment for the future.

A HAWK FOR THE BUSH: A Treatise on the training of the sparrowhawk and other short-winged hawks

Author: Jack Mavrogordato

ISBN: No ISBN

Available from: www.anglebooks.com

Price: £500.00

Published by: H.F. & G. Witherby. London.

1960 1st edition. 4to. Ppxvi,144. Colour & b/w plates, illustrations by G.E. Lodge. Front end-paper corner torn off . Good-plus in used dust-wrapper.

Notes:“Th e author’s advice is based on more than 30 years’ personal experience, embracing not only sparrow-hawks and other short-wings, but practically every falcon or hawk used in falconry, from gyr-falcon and saker to merlin and shikra.”

These images and full details of this ancient practice are to be

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Hawking Books by Martin HollinsheadSigned copies direct from the author

HC. 240 pages. £25.00

Second Edition. If you missed it first time around, here’s another chance toimmerse yourself in this massively detailed best-selling training and huntingmanual. New layout including action shots by US photographer Natasha Leong.

GLOWING REVIEWS‘Deserves an A-plus. A first-rate, top-flight falconry book’American Falconry

‘Should be compulsory reading for anyone flying or contemplatingflying a Harris’ hawk’ International Falconer

‘Probably one of the most descriptive accounts of ferreting tohawks ever written’ Hawk Chalk

‘A compelling and enduringly fascinating read. This book lives up to its boastful title’ Independent Bird Register

‘A must for all rabbit and hare hawking enthusiasts’ Scottish Hawking Club

TWO TITLES FOR THE EAGLE ENTHUSIAST

German Eagle. HC. Limited to 400 signed copies. £30.00Join Fritz Loges as he hacks, trains and then flies his eagles tofox in wartime Germany. ‘Recommended for anyone drawn by the allure offlying eagles’ Matthew Mullenix

Hunting Eagle. HC. Limited to 500 signed copies. £35.00Forests and fields are hunted – islands too – as rabbit, hare,fox and deer are pursued as eagle falconry’s best knownnames deliver today’s devastating bird. ‘A book that should grace the shelves of all who areinterested in this wonderful raptor’ Alan Gates

ALSO …

Memoirs of a Hunter. HC £25.00By Friedrich Remmler Edited by M Hollinshead Illustrations by V Gorbatov

‘The squeak of footsteps in newly fallen snow, the lugubrious silence ofa forest shrouded in white and the startling cry of the tundra wolf; allare part of the astonishing memoirs of Friedrich Remmler…Whetherdriving wolves to waiting borzois in pre-revolutionary Russia orhunting them with golden eagles on the Kirghiz steppe, Remmler’sboyish excitement entrances…A mesmerizing book’ The Field

‘Fascinating...riveting...unique...mesmerizing’ Sports Afield

‘You won’t find a more exciting hunting book this year’ Gray’s Sporting Journal

‘Opens up an entire lost world’ Stephen Bodio

To order signed copies email: martin.hollinshead@btinternet.comTelephone 01384 878 573

Available in the US and Canada through Mike’s Falconry and Western Sporting

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PRODUCT REVIEW

DVD - Th e Secret Life of the Sparrowhawk.

A fi lm 10 years in the Making. Filmed, directed and produced by Dave Culley.

Th e fi lm covers the lives of sparrowhawks throughout the year from November to August when all adult and juvenile sparrowhawks disperse and covers why up to 19 species of songbird choose to nest right next to it.

Th e closer the songbirds nest to the sparrowhawk the more successful they are in rearing there broods keeping the balance of nature just right.

Running Time approximately 58 minutes

Only £15.00 (inclusive P+P)

About Sparrowhawk IslandSparrowhawk Island is a web site dedicated to capturing live footage of many species of british birds, but mainly the sparrowhawk as it lives in the wild.

Our live streaming web cams are permanently fi xed in our wood in Cheshire, England and capture much of the goings on in a sparrowhawks typical daily routine.

Take a look at some of our FREE Sparrowhawk footage and video clips at our website:

www.sparrowhawk-island.co.uk.

“Th is is a world fi rst and all of my footage is of wild birds and animals nothing faked by

using pet birds or animals”

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Memoirs of an Artist Naturalist

by George Edward LodgePrinted by Th e George Edward Lodge Trust

www.georgeedwardlodgetrust.co.uk

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EQUIPMENT

Braided Equipment....by Zoe Jones, Britthawk Braided Falconry Equipment

Th e trailblazing advances in modern falconry are oft en brought about by both the macro and micro of our sport. Husbandry, in mews management, behavioural understanding and psychology, conditioning, health care and nutrition all have practitioners of the extremes of falconry to thank for their rapid and welcomed development across the board.

One of the fi rst challenges we face when caring for the smallest of our hawks is quite literally making them comfortable. You get a hell of a lot of bang for your buck with these birds and it’s oft en easy to forget just how tiny they are in the face of such drive and tenacity.

Fitting furniture to something that weighs less than half that of a tin of baked beans takes a little fore thought. It’s absolutely essential to have exactly the same level of performance, durability and practicality as something you’d fi t to a two pound falcon but simply scaling down isn’t always going to get you what you want or the hawk needs.

Th e use of modern material has very much expanded our range of choice. A full furniture set, including the swivel, that will perform for the benefi t of both hawk and man and weighs less than ten grams is nothing to be sneezed at. Long may the improvement and positive development of our sport continue.

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