Classical Falconry

Classical Falconry Covers the modern forms of the high flights of classical falconry, the most technically challenging branch of hawking, and it's based on the author's personal experiences with Northumberland Crow Falcons over the past dozen years. Classical Falconry is the first book dedicated solely to flights out of the hood. Based on his experiences managing the Northumberland Crow Falcons, Nick Fox has pulled together the theory and practice of classical falconry in modern times. For the large falcons in the West, crow and rook hawking are the main quarry available for the Height Flight, in which both falcon and prey climb high into the sky in aerial pursuit. The book describes the type of ground needed for classical flights, the potential quarry species, the falcons and horses and their management. It covers the human element of the equation, the Members and Falconers, and the tactics used according to landscape and weather conditions to achieve the best flights. Contributions from authors in other countries highlight the differences of approach needed to cope with conditions found in other parts of the world. Far from being a dry technical manual, this book is spiced with a wealth of personal anecdotes and excerpts from hawking diaries. The illustrations and photographs combine to provide a glimpse of the falcons and people as they undertake this most difficult branch of the falconer's art.
About the Author: Nick Fox was born and raised a country boy. A raptor Biologist by profession, he is Director of Falcon Management and Research for the Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency in Abu Dhabi8. This include managing research teams in Central Asia and running the breeding facility in the UK. He founded the Middle East Falcon Research Group in 1994 to pull together veterinarians and biologists working on falconry issues in the Middle East. Hi is also Scientific Advisor to the All Party Parliamentary Middle Way Group on hunting and specialist on the UK Hawk Board. A Falconer all his life, he has run the Northumberland Crow Falcons since 1991. This was until recently, the only mounted falconry group in the UK. He is an Honorary Member of the Welsh Hawking Club, the Irish Hawking Club, the Dartmoor Falcons and Vice-President of the British Falconers' Club. Author of the best selling Understanding the Bird of Prey, he also produces films on falconry, including the Bird of Prey Management series, currently in eight modules. At home he runs a 280 acre mixed farm in Wales and is Chairman of the Carmarthenshire Foxhounds.