Come Fly With Me

However, for Simon the weather can often wreak havoc with this means of income: “If it’s absolutely throwing it down then the birds end up like sponges. They soak up all the water and then they can’t fly. Last summer for example was a complete wash out, so the weather affects it quite a lot.”
Luckily these methods of income are not the only feathers in his cap, and in fact Simon has branched into some rather surprising avenues. One of these is photography, where Simon works with a local photographer to capture images of the birds in as wild a state as possible – an income that proved very valuable during last year’s miserable summer.

One of his more regular lines of work is pest control, largely scaring away pigeons, or “feral rats with wings” as Simon refers to them.

In certain areas where you don’t want pigeons hanging around I go and fly a Harris Hawk. It’s an environmentally friendly way of doing a job using the natural predator system to remove pests. Obviously the pigeons won’t want to roost or make nests if there’s going to be a hawk flying around on a regular basis. I do it every week at the Mars sites in Melton and Leicester City Football Club. I used to do the Peterborough Mars factory as well

Perhaps the most unexpected sphere of Simon’s work is the occasional foray into the world of celebrity. In the past, for example, one of Simon’s owls appeared in the hit children’s show Rosie and Jim. But the most famous member of the flock currently is Lucky the Barn Owl who stars in a series of children’s books (such as Lucky’s Big Adventure, illustrated with photographs of the owl himself, plus cameo appearances from the other birds), which Simon has actually self-published. With his beautiful white plumage and heart shaped face, Lucky looks far more like a cuddly toy than a predator and is
a constant hit with children when he appears at schools. “I just thought children absolutely love the birds and I thought it would be good way that they can take something home to remember them by. And obviously it’s another source of money!”

Simon runs his business from home in Greetham. His back garden resembles something of a menagerie, with a number of birds screeching from their perches including Bob, a handsome Eagle Owl, Edwina a 17-year-old Harris Hawk and Guinness the Goshawk (so called because he looked like a pint of the Irish ale before his first moult). He now runs the business alone since his daughter has recently flown the nest for a job, rather fittingly, with Ryan Air. In the past, Simon ran a falconry centre near Hinckley, in Leicester, but found it was near impossible to find the right staff as falconry is such a time-demanding job. “It’s not something everybody can do,” explains Simon.

In fact, technically, anybody can become a falconer. In a country that is often criticised for over-legislation, it’s surprising to learn that the UK has very few legal restrictions on owning a bird of prey. Although each of the birds themselves is individually registered and licensed (to prevent the capture of wild birds) there is no mandatory training or licenses required to become a handler, and no legal checks to ensure the birds will receive the proper attention and training they need.

“If you had £5,000, you could buy an eagle tomorrow,” Simon remarks with barely concealed disgust. “It’s wrong! An eagle could kill someone’s dog and all because you don’t know what you’re doing. I have heard some horror stories such as a barn owl having the jesses (small leather straps which allow handlers to tie a bird to its perch) actually super-glued onto its leg!”

Simon strongly feels there should be more regulation in the falconry industry, and has worked with the British Falconers Club to develop LANTRA assessments for people new to the craft. Simon was actually one of the first assessors for the  Beginning Falconry Award and is actively involved with helping to train inexperienced handlers.

“It’s mainly about the welfare of the birds, that’s why we do it. But it’s also to help people learn about falconry. There was nothing like this when I first started, I had to learn it all from library books. And actually I started with completely the wrong bird (which, like the film that inspired him, was a Kestrel). Because it’s so small there’s such a tiny margin of error. It’s a very difficult bird to start with!”

Being able to make a living from your hobby is a luxury few are able to indulge in, but Simon is one of the lucky ones. As well as it being his profession, falconry is truly his passion. He may not have had a day off in over 20 years but as Confucius wisely claimed: ‘If you enjoy what you do, you will never work another day in your life’

Simon Tebbutt Falconry
The Old Ale House
Little Lane
Greetham,
Oakham,
Rutland
LE15 7NQ

01572 811177

https://www.falconryservices.com