CAUTION My other passion, Falconry

What does one do with 3 kestrel chicks whilst there box is being cleaned out,...................................................................................put them in the colander of course,
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Sean d said:
This little fella came to me as a wild rehab job, my god we had some fun, he is a male sparrowhawk, known in the game as a musket, we call them pocket rockets, he was a downy when he came as he had been stolen from a nest, so I had to rear him without imprinting him on humans, good job I'm also a taxidermist as this ability came in very handy for the job, once he was trained to hunt he was set free at wild hack and stayed in contact with me for over six months,
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A wonderful photo
 
Falconry has bought me some wonderful memories, none more so then this one,
I got a call from a farmer stating that they where harvesting a crop and they had come across 3 baby Eagles, I knew instantly that they would be Marsh Harrier chicks, at the time I was out with my dog, about a 3 mile walk from my house, I raced back jumped in my car and soon covered the 20 or so miles to the area where the Harriers where, I noticed both adults circling the area, spoke to the farmer and he pointed me in the general direction, upon arrival I found the nest with only one chick and was pleased to see that it was close to fledging, however the entire area around the nest had been stripped offering little cover and protection from predation, generally when crop is taken down everything moves in for easy picking including foxes, I had no choice but to find the other 2 and move the nest to the edge of the field as there was some good cover, this would mean that I was breaking the law and could have got in a lot of trouble.
I rounded them up and moved the whole lot, by this time there was no sign of the parents and the light was dying, I sat in the car and waited until dark and the parents didn't show up, at this point I seriously considered taking the chicks to safety but had to remain pragmatic, I went home feeling dreadful and returned the next day, my heart sank when I reached the nest and it was empty, I hung around for an hour and saw no signs of the Harriers so headed home,
The next day we went out as a family for a walk and decided that we would drive to a location near the harriers and make a small detour to the nest site, I wasn't really expecting anything but took my binos, we pulled up and waited for about 15 mins with no sign and was about to drive away when my wife pipes up with, oh look a buzzard, as soon as I see it I knew that it was an adult Harrier and with that two juveniles got up from cover and started circling and calling for food, I had the most amazing feeling and was literally jumping up and down with joy, these where the first Harriers that I had ever seen in the wild.
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And what a shame that would be. I love watching birds of prey in the air at the roadside
 
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We use these little critters quite a lot but they can cause us some grief when they kill under ground, we have to dig as we don't go home without one of the team, we fit locaters on them just in case
 
I made an eel trap from Jack's instructions and it worked!

Tony.
 
Great old vid, had to laugh when the old boy said that the French were a bunch of peasants, would not get away with that now on TV.
 
Fantastic thread - Great to know that proper country ways haven't died out and are still used.
We had a working farm within school - it was some of the best lessons ever working there.
Love the pictures. Would love the chance to do some photo's myself if the opportunity allows.
 
Near where I used to live, when I was a kid, there were a few private stretches of river where people used to pay a lot of money to go Trout fishing. We used to sit up in the trees with a bit of line wound round a stick, never went home with an empty bag....:)
 
Thanks @Sean d for this thread! It's always good to learn something interesting that another member has done as a hobby different from the Zeds. I live in an area with a lot of bald eagles, hawks, owls, etc and it's fascinating watching them hunt in the field out back of my house. JIM
 
oldcarman said:
Thanks @Sean d for this thread! It's always good to learn something interesting that another member has done as a hobby different from the Zeds. I live in an area with a lot of bald eagles, hawks, owls, etc and it's fascinating watching them hunt in the field out back of my house. JIM
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Your a lucky man to have a plethora of wild life an wilderness to explore, I could only dream of seeing some of the animals and birds that are on your doorstep.
 
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