What does a falconer at the Hawk Conservancy do all day? A question often asked by our boss! Visitors to the park will of course see the falconers flying birds at the displays, but this only forms a small part of our daily duties. So the aim of this article is to give you a quick behind the scenes look at what we might get up to day to day.

Jane with Milky Eagle Owl chick Tolkein, aged 28 days, in the hospital - May 2005

Our day starts at 8:30am when we move the birds, out on public display, from their night quarters to their day quarters. This normally takes about 20 minutes, then its time to give the birds in aviaries their breakfast. All birds not being used in displays that day, get fed in the morning. The only exceptions are disabled birds that live in open top enclosures, and the oriental white-backed vultures which are fed during our vulture restaurant at 11:30. Each of the falconers has a section, which we are responsible for. When we feed the birds in the morning, we also check the health of the birds and the condition of the aviaries. As well as making sure that they are secure, you are also looking for any jobs that might need doing later. For example water bowls that need cleaning, grass that needed to be mowed, or perches that need to be scrubbed. It has to be said that our birds are very poor housekeepers! The morning round takes us to 10am, when we stop for a coffee break.

The park opens to the public at 10:30am and the rest of our day may be spent in several ways. We take it in turns to host activity days, where small groups of the public pay to spend a day getting close to some of our birds of prey. We will normally do one of these a week each and when it is our turn we will spend the day with the group, teaching them about the birds they get close to and giving them an insight into how the trust is run. These days are good fun for us, as well as the guests, and we have all met some wonderful people over the years.

We do three flying displays a day and food and birds have to be prepared for these. Again we take it in turns to get ready for the displays and when it is our turn we will start doing this at 10:30am. Normally the person ‘getting ready’ will also do the vulture restaurant, where we feed the vultures and give a talk about them to the public. This talk may also be given by one of our regular band of volunteers, without whom the park would be difficult to run. If we are not involved on an activity day or ‘getting ready’, we will spend the morning on our section, carrying out some of the jobs that were noticed in the morning. Often we will be helped by some of the volunteers, many of who give up their free time every week to help out. At 12am we might be needed to help at the first display, if not we will continue to work on our section until lunchtime at 1pm.

Our falconers have to be gardeners too... Jane trying her hand at a bit of topiary in one of the aviaries

After lunch is our 2pm Valley of the Eagles display, where we fly large groups of birds together. This takes a lot of man power to run. As well as the people out the front flying the birds, there are also people running around behind the scenes, letting birds out and getting them back in again. This takes organising, so it’s all hands to the decks for 45 minutes. After the display finishes, there are tractor and trailer rides, Harris Hawks to fly for the public and the 3:30 display to get ready. These tasks are shared out amongst us and we all take it in turns to do them. At weekends and during school holidays we also have birthday parties and again we take it in turns to organise the birthday events. This takes us to the final display of the day, after which we might have a ferret race. The last organised event of the day is the Heron and raptor feed, where we put food out for the local wild birds of prey and give a talk about the birds. This is usually the responsibility of the person who got ready for the displays in the morning. The last duties of the day are to check your section again and feed any open-topped enclosures in your area. These are fed at the end of the day after all the flying displays are finished, to prevent any of the flying birds dropping in for an early lunch.

That is the general plan for our days during our open season, but depending on the time of year, we can be involved in other duties, corporate events, talking to school groups, helping to rear young birds or helping to train the future stars of the displays. We also do Owls by Torchlight evening events, which we do in turns. In short no two days are alike and there’s never a dull moment. One of the reasons I love my job.

During our closed season the flying team are turned out into aviaries to rest and replace their flight feathers. A few of the new birds may be kept out to train but there is very little flying done during the first part of the winter. Whilst we are closed to the public we get a chance to make changes to the park that it would not be safe or practical to do when we are open. This may involve demolishing an old aviary or building a new one, refurbishing existing aviaries and general giving the park a make over. This is really satisfying and it gives you a real lift when our regular members notice all the changes once we open to the public again.

So there you have it, a quick guide to what we get up to. I’ve been involved with the trust for nearly 12 years now and I still enjoy the feeling of never knowing exactly what you will be doing when you get to work in the morning.