Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 1 on 5/3/2002.

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Birds of a feather

Elizabeth Walton experiences the soaring highs and swooping lows of the most noble of highland sports - grouse hawking. Pictures by Glyn Satterley

The grouse is king of the game birds, and for Highland guns it is the most demanding quarry. Yet how much more sporting and dramatic it is to match the quarry with another bird – a peregrine falcon. When a peregrine folds her graceful wings and plummets down from the sky to take her quarry, it is perhaps the fastest spontaneous action nature can produce.

Grouse hawking is top-of-the-range falconry. Only the most experienced falconers and the best hawks are equal to its challenges. It is a rare and wonderful sight, and if my luck is in, I am about to witness a thrilling contest of breathtaking speed and agility. The hooded peregrine on falconer Ted Robert’s gloved fist is about to do battle. Despite a name that belies her ferocious instinct, Hattie is a fifth-season hawk bred in the peregrine purple. She draws a low, admiring whistle from her handler, comfortable with the stark realities of the animal world. “My God, she
can go …” he says quietly. “She’s taken off this season. She can kill ‘em stone dead in the air.”

Hobbit, his indefatigable pointer, is quartering the heather. Warm August sun gleams silver on the hill lochs lying below us. The sky is enormous and in the distance, the Moray Firth is towing the North Sea inland towards Inverness. The scene has remained virtually unchanged since the time of Scotland’s hero-king, Robert the Bruce. The ancient art of falconry, flying a trained hawk to take wild quarry, was introduced to the British Isles by the returning crusad.....

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By Elizabeth Walton

Section : Outdoor Scotland

Page number : 12