Flying the falcons

Ros Ereira, cameo producer
'Falconry seemed like a good choice of cameo for this site when we realised that Henry VIII would have hunted with his falcons every day while staying here. Then, when we found a portrait of the Duke of Bedford as a boy at the house, holding his hobby (small falcon), it seemed perfect. The Raphael Falconry was an obvious choice for me, as I had seen their historical falconry displays many times at English Heritage sites and knew them to be very knowledgeable about the history of the sport.

'I never thought we would be able to teach someone falconry in just two days, but the Raphaels seemed confident that it was worth a try, and they were right! The combination of Carenza's determination and Emma's expertise meant that Carenza was able to fly the birds amazingly well by the end of the two days.

'It was a real pleasure for us to have the birds on site, and over at the cameo, we got a constant stream of visitors from the incident room, geophysics and anyone else who could find an excuse to wander over and have a look at what was going on!'

Emma Raphael, Raphael Falconry
'It is not often that we recreate period falconry at a site with a proven history of falconry activity, but Chenies Manor was one such rare gem. A chance finding of a 16th-century family portrait depicting the 4th Earl of Bedford holding a falcon on his fist was a glimpse into the privileged life of the Russell family. With rich hunting grounds surrounding the manor there is every chance that Chenies was a residence frequented during royal progresses, when hunting was a particular attraction.

'Our task was to train Carenza to fly a falcon to demonstrate the skill demanded by this regal sport. Normally taking months or years, we had just two days! Carenza first had to learn some basic handling and safety skills, followed by more advanced hooding and knot tying. After experiencing a hawk flying to the glove, she was shown her final challenge with a spectacular flight by two falcons.

'Carenza spent much time perfecting her lure swinging, so once confident, we finally released a falcon from Tony's cadge (the wooden frame used for carrying falcons – from which we get the saying to 'cadge a lift'). With help to start, Carenza stunned everyone by performing several passes without prompt and a fantastic throw up to bring the falcon home!'

Raphael Falconry
www.raphaelfalconry.fsnet.co.uk

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