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[Music]
Although it may look like Roy has opened a
pet pampering parlour, this is all part of
being a dedicated eagle falconer. Just as
their diet and weight needs constant monitoring
so do all the other important bits – you
wouldn't take a racing car out without warming
the tyres or an aeroplane up without checking
flaps and ailerons, would you, Ginger? Likewise,
you don't take a golden eagle out after hares
without dry feathers. But this comes with
a serious health warning: Teflon coated stuff
kills birds, be it a parrot or a peregrine.
If your bird inhales the heated gas then that
can kill them. A lot of the parrot forums
talk about it as well with people cooking
in their houses with Teflon pans. And again
the fumes from those can kill the birds, so
if you are using something like that then
obviously be incredibly careful and make sure
it hasn't got a PTFE or Teflon coating on
it.
From fluffing feathers to the beak bar for
a bit of a trim.
In the wild they would be eating a lot more
hard bone material than we currently feed
them when we are flying them. So they are
constantly wearing their beak down. So they
also do what we call feeking where they rub
their beak on rocks and that trims them as
well. When we are flying them a lot of the
time they are eating reasonably soft food
so the beak can become overgrown quite quickly.
There is no discomfort. It is just like trimming
your nails.
Who's a pretty boy then.
Lincolnshire is well known for its hares and
Roy and his friends have been coming to this
part of the England for years. There's a promise
of some serious action today and with four
male goldies and one female, our chances are
good.
A female golden eagle, a male golden eagle.
So you can see the female is comparatively
larger. And that is pretty much all the way
through with most birds of prey that the females
are normally about a third larger. They are
much more capable of taking fox and on the
continent they obviously fly a lot of roe
deer as well with them.
The guys line up. Roy choreographs the beating
line. It's going to be hard going today with
the heavy Lincolnshire soil, but there are
definitely hares to be had here.
Gary has the first flight. It's brown hares
one, eagles nil.
Luckily it went down hill so he got a bit
of steam up and took it. Sat on it bold up
and as it started to run it popped up out
of his feet and ran off. Which is hunting
unfortunately.
The next drive flushes more hares. Unfortunately,
Mark's youngster doesn't have the juice to
keep chasing this high speed quarry.
It was a shame about Mark's young eagle there.
It was too much for it with the wind he has
got. The wind has picked up a little bit and
expecting it to fly into that sort of heavy
wind it just took the speed out of it and
the eagle knew that he didn't quite have the
power to catch up with the hare.
The guys walk field after field. The hares
at this time of year are properly match fit
so are really testing the birds.
The most exciting flights of the day are in
the afternoon. Roy spots a hare in its seat.
Let's watch that again in slow motion.
Roy's male eagle, Baby, chases down the hare
which at the last moment turns to face his
pursuer – Incredibly the hare judges to
the nano second when Baby is going to commit.
He spins up into the air away from those razor
sharp talons and makes his escape.
When you see the hares doing manoeuvres like
that you really do have to question whether
that is an inherent behaviour that they know,
how to avoid an air borne predator or if they
have run the gauntlet and avoided buzzards
when they were a lot younger being predated
upon as leverets. Which ever way round they
really, really do demand a lot of respect
as a quarry.
Next up for a decent flight is Gary's bird.
The fur flies, but again the hare slips through
his talons.
There are more close calls and all the birds
get some hunting. It's really exciting stuff,
but the hares have won today, and Roy finds
it tough to admit defeat.
No, no ... don't ... great misses ... right
hang on ... oh you don't know how much this
hurts me ...
All in all we had a superb day. Some brilliant
sport. Some very, very close calls. How the
birds didn't keep hold of some of those hares
I don't know. I think somebody must have come
out last night and smothered them in grease
because they were definitely slipping out
of the bird's feet on this occasion. So we
shall have to try harder next time.
With hunting there's always tomorrow and,
after a misty start, the Lincolnshire countryside
clears. Finally, the eagles find their targets.
Baby shows us how it's done.
We spotted another hare in a seat and walked
it up and that one ran perfectly though it
ran down the field and gave him a little bit
of an advantage and he made short work of
that and cut into it. So again when you see
an experienced eagle fly they will go at it.
Cut round to the side and then come back into
it. So it just puts the hare off.
On this second flight the experience of a
bird with seven seasons under its wings is
clear. Instead of crashing into the hedge
after the hare, Baby bides his time, waiting
for the hare to appear the other side. His
patience pays off with a majestic 400 yard
flight.
He has got it yeah!!!
Eagle falconers are a dedicated bunch, putting
in hours of work and preparation for a flight
that could last just a few seconds. It's a
drug – and Roy can't give it up.
You find the best flights when it is a 50,
50 chance whether the quarry escapes or whether
the bird does well and I think that is what
drives us and what keeps us going. Just wanting
to be part of the hunt, wanting to see it
and having nature in its rawest form played
out in front of you.
And Nature has given both the predator and
prey the best tools for the job.
[Music]