Taking flight with falcons

AROUND 80 members of Ashbourne U3A attended the March monthly meeting on the afternoon of Friday, March 4, at the Ashbourne Elim church, where they heard an interesting and unusual talk by Katherine Darlington on the subject of “Falconry.”

Ms Darlington defined Falconry as the art of training and deploying birds of prey for hunting and recreational purposes.

Apparently Falconry originated several thousand years ago, probably in either Mongolia or Iran. It is now most commonly practised in the Middle East.

Throughout its history it has been practised by two distinct social groups, the ruling elite on the one hand, for recreation and as a matter of displaying status, and on the other hand by the poor and hungry in order to feed themselves.

There are three broad groups of birds of prey, she informed us. The first includes eagles, hawks and buzzards, the second includes the various species of falcon and the third covers owls.

Katherine was accompanied throughout her presentation by her own Harris hawk, “Hoss” a rescue bird.

Katherine described vividly how a peregrine falcon could reach speeds of 200mph in a dive, or “stoop” and showed various photographs of other birds of prey also.

She displayed the essential accoutrements of a falconer, including gauntlets, a hood, anklets and a swivel.

Katherine interestingly pointed out the significant influence that Falconry has exerted on the English language, giving rise to expressions such as “gorge”, “under your thumb”, “fed up”, “haggard” and “hood-winked”.

The audience were clearly captivated by what Ms Darlington had to say, and by Hoss, and there were quite a number of questions at the end.

The next monthly meeting will be at the same time and place, on Friday, April 1, and will be on the subject of the Manchester Ship Canal.