WESTERN MORNING NEWS SATURDAY MARCH 19 2011 WESTCOUNTRY LIFE 3WMN-E01-S3

Majestic birds of prey can help to relieve stress

The outskirts of Plymouth may be afar throw from the origins of hawk-ing, reported to have existed in theearliest human civilisations as farback as 8000 BC in the Middle East,but enthusiasts and amateurs alikehave rejoiced that the ancient art offalconry has been re-introduced toDartmoor Zoological Park.

Once used to train birds of prey tochase and kill quarry for the falconerfor subsistence, it later developedinto a competitive sport among thenobility of Europe becoming a statussymbol favoured by some of theworld’s most powerful figures: HenryVIII, who had Royal Mews at CharingCross built to house his birds; andFrederick II, Emperor of Europe, whowas considered one of the greatestfalconers and who wrote one of thefirst books on the subject, De ArteVenandi cum Avibus, which is around600 pages long, and took over 30 yearsto complete.

In no other country did falconryreach the heights of popularity that itdid in England during the 1600s. Lawswere enacted in England to protectfalcons and regulate the sport andthere were rules introduced to re-strict what social caste could huntwith different kinds of falcons: a kingcould fly a gyrfalcon; a duke, a rockfalcon; an earl, a peregrine; ayeoman, a goshawk; and a servant, akestrel. People caught with birds ofprey outside their social standingcould be severely punished.

Falconry is still an expensive pas-time: purchasing a bird, the runningcosts of food and equipment, housing(mews), hoods and bells unique toeach individual bird. The training istime-consuming too, and all speciesrequire different techniques. Once abird is chosen it stills needs to un-dergo a “manning” process, wherethe handler gets it used to beingtouched, held, and fed on the glove.

Partly due to the expense andpartly to the easy accessibility offirearms at the beginning of the 18thcentury, falconry slowly faded intoobscurity until there was only ahandful left practising. But ownersPhil and Sharon Bindon of AncientArt Falconry have been doing it since2004 and can now be found at week-ends and holidays in the grounds ofDartmoor Zoo, giving practicaldemonstrations, experiences and en-counters.

Sharon said; “After a great deal ofresearch and an intensive falconrycourse we purchased our first bird ofprey, Storm, a female Harris hawk,for hawking and hunting alongsideour springer spaniel Sophie. Over theyears we have frequently hawked inScotland with Harris hawks and agolden eagle. Our passion quicklydeveloped and we were soon keen toshare it with others. Our collection of

birds of prey has grown and rangesfrom hawks and falcons to eagle andowls. We pride ourselves on having avariety of British species in the col-lection as two of our main aims areeducation and conservation.”

She added; “We often do talks inschools and have some fantastic owlsthat children find adorable. Dart-moor Zoo’s encounters area will alsogive visitors a chance to touch andunderstand the beauty of thesecreatures, hopefully taking awaysome knowledge of helping the barnowl in the future – or any other bird ofprey.”

Providing this understanding tothe public has been as rewarding tothe couple as keeping the birds them-selves, and for those who book in forthe longer “handler” days, the ex-perience can provide a sometimesmuch-needed break.

Ian Hick, health development of-ficer at Cornwall Council spent a daylearning to handle the birds.

“My initial thought was how a birdof prey with all its perceived powercan possibly reduce stress?” he said.

“ I found though, almost imme-diately, that it was precisely thispower combined with their captiv-

ating beauty, that was all-consumingand I gave not a single thought to anyof life’s other nonsense while I was intheir company.”

Sharon said: “Stress has become amajor factor in all our lives and we allneed to be able to relieve it in someway. In all the time we have beenrunning falconry experiences, wehave never had one person who hasflown the birds with us that has gonehome stressed; they instead describethe experience as calming, idyllic,relaxing and awe inspiring.”

Ian Hick agreed: “It was a greatexperience – stressed or not. From apersonal viewpoint, whether you area nature lover or a confirmed citydweller, I defy anyone not to havetheir soul touched by these wonderfulbirds of prey.”

Experiences at Dartmoor Zoolo-gical Park include half and full-daystraining, flying lessons, three-daycourses, a hawk walk across themoors and also Bailey the Barn Owlcan be booked to deliver the weddingring during your ceremony.

For more information call 01752 837645 or seewww.dartmoorzoo.org or contact Ancient Art of Falconryon 01579 340767 and at www.ancientartfalconry.co.uk

The ancient art of falconry, once used asa survival tool, is now regarded as atherapy to counterbalance the stressesof modern day. But what is it aboutthese small-brained birds that has sucha big effect? Bracken Vernon-Jelierwent to Dartmoor Zoological Park tofind out more

Birds of a feather from Ancient Art Falconry – TC, a Russian Steppe eagle, (above) and with Phil Bindon (below left); Phil with female barn owl Peppa (bottom left); Sharon Bindon withBramble, a Eurasian eagle owl she raised from a chick (bottom right) and Charli, an African Spotted Eagle Owl (below right)

Feature/falconry