BACK in the day – and when I say day I mean around the 16th century – there was a simpler time. A time when instead of going to Sainsbury’s and buying a meal for two deal, you took your falcon and hunted for your tea.
Okay, preparing a rabbit caught by a peregrine falcon might be a more difficult and messy option when compared with sticking a pizza in the oven and preparing a small salad. And if the falcon caught nothing you might go hungry.
But it was a simpler time none the less. And probably an awful lot of fun.
A ‘Falconry Experience Day’ at Mid Wales Falconry was a fascinating insight into that life.
We started with a different type of bird – albeit just as stunning – owls. Weighing them, a crucial part of a falconer’s job as I was to discover. Just two days without the bird feeding properly and it can prove fatal.
So we were faced with a somewhat bizarre guessing game. Guess the weight of the owl. And we were all miles off.
Back outside we donned falconer’s gloves and got set. Now at this point I must add this day is probably not for the squeamish. Falconer Paul Melton handed us dead chicks. Well the bird’s got to eat something...
And suddenly you’re outside with a great grey owl swooping towards your outstretched arm. At first you can’t help but flinch. It’s a big bird sat still. In flight it’s enormous, and it’s heading right for you – sensing breakfast.
You can’t help but be awestruck by their gracefulness, and had the day stopped there, it would still have been great.
But pretty soon we were packed into a LandRover and driven high above Castle Caereinion. And there we released the peregrine.
The bird is called Spitfire, and it wasn’t long until we’d found out exactly why.
We drove lower down the hill and Paul summoned the falcon. Nothing. He continued calling the bird. ‘
Don’t move’ he’d advised us. Suddenly it came, blink and you’d miss it. An incredible sight as Spitfire shot past, probably travelling at around 100mph.
And like a fighter jet in a dogfight it circled and came back, just as quick.
One of the great things about the Mid Wales Falconry experience was just how much contact you get with the birds. You’re not there to observe – under Paul’s expert guidance you are the falconer for the day.
You carry them out from their roosts, you get to fly them. You almost get the feeling he’s only there in case something goes wrong and a bird does a runner.
After lunch we took out one of the smallest birds of prey around – the merlin.
Now Lady – called that because in the oldendays she would have been the bird of a Lady – was a beautiful bird.
You couldn’t help but fall in love with her. But you also couldn’t help thinking the ladies of the medieval courts must have sometimes gone hungry.
One of the great things about the day was how much you learned.
A Kestrel for a Knave is a famous saying – but every bird had their place in the days when rank mattered.
A sparrowhawk for a priest.... priests must have loved tucking into small garden birds. An emperor for an eagle, a peregrine for a prince, a saker for a knight, and a goshawk for a yeoman. I’d have been a yeoman – at least I would have eaten a good supper...
And Paul’s knowledge of the history of falconry is as good as his knowledge of the noble art.
We soon learnt the reason a lady carries a bouquet into church for her wedding and then hands it over dates back to the days of a merlin for a lady, when she would have handed over her merlin to her lady-in-waiting.
But once lady was ‘fed-up’ – you see I even learnt the correct terms, fed-up being a falconry term for a bird that’s not interested anymore because it has eaten enough – we set out for some real countryside sport.
Hunting, whether you like it or not, is as old as the hills. Once you hunted to survive.
Mid Wales Falconry is located on a huge hill farm near Castle Caereinion, so there is ample space for a bit of sport.
We set off with two harris hawks – Merlin and Saffron – and a springer spaniel, and I have to confess I was a little sceptical. Was the hunt for show, and we wouldn’t catch anything? How wrong could I be?
Within minutes the dog emerged from the undergrowth with a pheasant. This was life-or-death hunting as it would have been done in the middle ages, and the animals and hawks on show were pretty damn good at it.
Okay, in an hour and a half that was all they caught. But that, if your dinner table depended on it, was a good strike rate.
And it was impressive to watch the interplay between the birds and dog as they hunted their quarry.
Again a word of warning. Paul warned us before we set off ‘you might see an animal killed’, and some people might not be happy watching a falconer break a pheasant’s neck before stuffing it in his backpack.
But for a falconer, that’s his job – and if you go out for a day with a falconer it’s just par for the course.
*Mid Wales Falconry offers a variety of experiences, including the falconry experience as full or half days, hawk walks, owls by twilight and photography workshops. For more information, visit www.midwalesfalconry.co.uk or call 01938 850265.