Club member for? Five Years

Years in falconry? Three Years

Birds kept? Barn Owl, White Faced Scops Owl and I share a Harris Hawk with my husband Steve.  I am getting my own Harris Hawk this year

Dogs used? English Springer Spaniel

Ferrets, love them or hate them? Love Them

Other field sports involved in? Clay Pigeon Shooting

Vehicle used for falconry? Share Steve’s Mitsubishi L200

Favourite bird? Barn Owl and Harris Hawk

Favourite game to eat? Venison

Profession. Proposals Co-Ordinator

The weather has not been kind with the snow which was on the ground for ages. However I have had some good days out.

I had a day’s hunting on the Kent marshes hunting rabbits, this was a big meet which had about eighteen falconers flying Harris Hawks and Goshawks on rabbit. The two groups had a bag of 34 rabbits.

I have had several bags of 10 and 6 rabbits even though they have been in short supply this season. Mxymotosis seems to be rife this winter!

From what I have been told of members birds, Paul Gray’s Redtail has entered and is catching rabbits regularly, Steve Wises male Harris has been performing well. John Lucas’s female Harris has been catching quite a few pheasants. Stuart and Kelly’s new Redtail’s are entered and taken pheasant and rabbit. Steve Forrest’s female Harris has been flying very well and taken three rabbits twice in the times I have been out with him.

Even Ryan has managed to catch the odd rabbit although on one occasion I bolted a rabbit for him and although it nearly ran into his leg he failed to see it. Sorry Ryan I had to tell everyone about that!!  Another amusing occasion occurred when a rabbit bolted from a warren and bolted up a bank with Paul Gray’s Redtail in hot pursuit, for it to run straight into the mouth of my dog. All caught on video much to Paul’s disgust lol.

Club Website

The address for the club website is www.homecountieshawkingclub.co.uk.

We would welcome some articles to put on the site from members, so if you feel that you have something worth while to write about please do so and email any articles to Stuart or Kelly at the site or hand to a committee member.

February 15^th, March 15^th, April 19^th, May17th, June 21st, July19th, August 16^th, September 20^th, October18th, November 15^th, December 20^th.  Easy way to remember is, it is the Third Tuesday of every month.

Many thanks.

Present were Paul Gray and his two sons Tim and Chris and myself.  We started by hunting some pheasants but had no success. We then moved into a wood and started ferreting. There was still snow on the ground and it was bitterly cold.

The rabbits on this day were not playing ball and we ended up digging out five with the ferrets.  We did manage to bolt some and my Harris caught two, Chris’s Redtail caught one and my pointer caught two! The total bag was ten rabbits and although there were quite a few rabbits there, there were also many dead ones which had died of myxy.

Attending were Chris Gray, Ryan and myself.  The weather was very warm on this day.

The first place we went to which normally holds a lot of rabbits had been ferreted by a local ferreter about a week prior to our visit. A fact we were unaware of until we arrived.

It still produced rabbits though with my male Harris proving that he has balls of steel by hitting rabbits any where he could and hanging on for grim death.

We ended with a total bag of four rabbits, one to my male, two to my female and one rabbit to Ryan’s female Harris.

As the picture shows, it was an eventful day starting with Paul’s son Chris driving his Discovery into the back of mine! Luckily for me, mine was unscathed, although Tim and I are feeling a little stiff in the neck Paul lol. However no one was hurt and we did manage to continue to the hunting ground and hawk for the rest of the day.

We had some good flights and Paul, Chris and I all caught. The ferret also managed to catch one as well and this resulted in more digging out.

I think this season I have dug more times than any previous years.

Paul also had a spectacular long flight with his Redtail going through a fence and still continuing after the rabbit. This was caught on video and we hope to be able to show this at the next club meeting.