Where Gleneagles dare

Marcin Miller explores his new love of birds

Inspired by Elizabeth's Walton fascinating article in Issue 1 of Scotland Magazine, I had the good fortune to try my hand at falconry recently. Where better to attempt this than at the British School of Falconry, based at Gleneagles? The school keeps 22 birds: mostly Harris hawks, some peregrine falcons and an eagle. The hawks are beautiful creatures: they look you in the eye with a nobility that is beyond compare and, although they don't enjoy having their feathers stroked, they will tolerate it. These birds are remarkable hunting machines. Energy will not be expended unnecessarily. It is only necessary if the birds are hungry. Thus, the factor that influences whether a bird will fly on any given day is its weight. A male Harris hawk weighs around a pound and a half. If he is over his optimum weight by a quarter of an ounce, the chances are the school won't fly him. Put simply, if he isn't hungry he won't perform. Birds of prey are so high on the evolutionary ladder that , in order to reduce weight and thus improve flying performance, their bones are hollow: were you to remove the bones from a Harris hawk and place them in one pile, then remove the feathers and place them in another pile the pile of feathers would be heavier than the pile of bones. They are truly amazing creatures.

Of course, if you don't want to fly the hawks at Gleneagles you can always learn how to fish or shoot at the schools run by Sir Jackie Stewart. Failing that, why not go horse-riding or take the ...

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• By : Marcin Miller
• In : Editor's View
• Issue : 2
• Page : 3
• Words : 602