Cheshire Partridge Hawking Syndicate ………...by Mike Coupe

It was 1989 when Terry Large approached me to see if I would like to join a partridge hawking syndicate at Stapelford, Cheshire. This was Harry Robinson's hawking ground at Geoff Bebbington's farm which was to become the base for our activities. There are very few wild partridges in Cheshire, so it was decided that we would release native greys to supplement the wild population and provide some sport for our falcons. Harry set about the task of constructing a deluxe release pen, with bolt together sections and a nylon net roof. The pen was sited on a hill overlooking the flat flood plain of the river Gowy and Terry went to collect 60 ex-layer grey partridges.
The first season saw us catch very few partridges; I was flying a lanneret which was too small to catch a robust partridge, Malcolm Kerry and Mike West had young tiercels and Harry was flying Mrs. Bond, ring no.007, who was used to waiting on over his springer spaniel for moorhens and ducks.
Everything was due to change in the subsequent season Harry's falcon tragically died in the breeding aviary just as his new English pointer Mrs. Moneypenny was starting to take over from the spaniel. I started to train a new tiercel bred by Martin Hargreaves and the following season Malcolm also trained a Hargreaves tiercel. Harry concentrated on training his old tiercel and Mike West's tiercel continued to improve. We now had a much more impressive line-up with four tiercel peregrines and an English pointer, and we began to improve our flying skills and success rate with partridge being taken on a regular basis.
Flying released partridges in enclosed country is rather different from flying wild birds in large open fields where traditionally game hawking has taken place. The wild stock often "spook" at the slightest noise, whereas released birds tend to make for the nearest hedge and then often run like mad. Harry is in charge of game keeping and release; the partridges are kept in the pen for about a month before being gradually released in small numbers, always leaving call birds in the pen to attract the other back home. Food and water is provided for the released birds in thick cover close to the pen.
Our normal plan of action is for the first person flying to run in towards the pen to flush any partridges away and then the following flights are from points generally in hedges. There are

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endless discussions among game hawkers as to how high a falcon needs to be to take a partridge in enclosed country. In my experience a high pitch is essential, a falcon descends very fast indeed in a vertical stoop and can strike a partridge before it reaches cover. If the falcon only waits on at a low pitch, the partridge is very reluctant to fly at all and a rat hunt ensues, which does nothing for falcons, falconers or the standard of our sport. Far better to see a falcon at a high pitch stoop and not kill than one to kill from a low pitch and rat hunt. When flying partridges, especially in our sort of terrain, it is most important to flush the quarry exactly at the right moment. To locate quarry in cover a pointer is essential and all our hawks respond well to Harry's dog. Bird, man and dog work as a team, and although the pointer is keen to see the outcome of a flush, she will not go near a falcon on the kill. We have generally found it best to start flying the falcon at least a field distance away from the point to allow the bird time to gain sufficient height. Then flush the partridge away from the hedge, when the falcon is facing the point, and directly overhead and "bingo" you are in for a superb stoop and hopefully a partridge in the bag. There is always a lot of discussion as to how high a falcon "waits on" and this is very difficult to judge and we are all prone to exaggeration. However, I think a height of 300-400 feet is ideal; this doesn't sound that high but when you think that Blackpool Tower is only 518 feet it puts things into perspective. Of course we have had plenty of failures. Birds raking off at pigeons, rooks and crows. Falcons attacked by wild peregrines and disturbed by helicopters on army manoeuvres. However success breeds success and our sport has improved over the seasons. We are all keen to take a partridge but as Harry reminds us, that is just the "icing on the cake", the quality of the flight is the most important aspect of our sport.

PS: Whilst partridge hawking in December my tiercel "Tao" stooped a mallard duck from a pitch of about 400 ft. The stoop was vertical and he bound to the duck which struggled free and was grabbed in the air again and taken. The duck weighed 21b 1l ozs and the tiercel was flying at 1lb 5..5ozs

Probably first published 1995