The art of Falconry

Falconry is an ancient and noble art and one that has survived right
up to the present day. While many of us might imagine its exponents
as hunters the reality is that falconry is now employed in a far more
practical way – keeping nuisance birds such as pigeons and gulls
from fouling property, causing disasters at airports or just generally
getting in the way during sporting events. The great thing about using
a falcon or a hawk to scare problem birds, rather than the occasional
loud bang, is that the target species can never allow themselves to
ignore the threat. If they do they could easily end up as lunch.

Wayne Davis of Avian Control Systems is one such modern day
falconer. His love of falconry began as a child and has grown to
become a thriving business. Now, along with giving numerous
falconry demonstrations he spends much of his time in London,
especially in Canary Wharfe where he and his falcons and hawks help
keep the pigeon and gull population at bay.

In his day to day work Wayne uses a number of species from
Finnegan the gyr/saker falcon, Calisto the female peregrine falcon to
Rufus the harris hawk.

You may well have seen Rufus on one of his many TV spots
especially during the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in the UK,
where his job is to stop any local pigeon from disrupting play. Rufus
is a fabulous looking bird and a real celebrity, though I think Wayne
might sometimes get just a little jealous of all the attention he attracts.

I have always been in awe or these magnificent creatures so it was
a real thrill for me to spend a few hours with Wayne photographing
some of his birds including Rufus, plus a Bengal eagle owl called Bobo
and a young barn owl who goes by the name of Floccus.