We take 8 birds to every show and, whilst the mix may change depending on availability and conditions, we aim to have at least one type of bird with us.All of our birds are captive bred and are registered with DEFRA. Each one recieves the best possible food, accommodation and veterinary care.Their training and management includes an element of weight control (each bird has an ideal "flying" weight).This is NOT starvation.The birds have to be well nourished, well muscled, fit and healthy to be able to fly well - you can't achieve this by starvation.We aim to turn our birds out as atheletes - fit, healthy and ready for anything!

One thing that seems to come as a surprise to our visitors is the difference in personality of each bird.As falconers, we always have to cater for the varying needs of different types of bird - an owl's needs are different to a falcon's - but we must also take into account the different preferences of the birds as individuals.They've all got their likes and dislikes, own personalities - even within the same species.God help us if we get it wrong

A couple of quick notes about the species factfile

The weights shown in the birds Factfile are the weights of normal, healthy, wild birds which tend to carry a much higher percentage of fat than trained captive birds - they will always be higher than our birds' flying weight.The distribution maps may relate to the entire species and don't necessary indicate the range of the particular races.