My Kingdom For A Hawk

Ed Cook relishes the time he has with birds of prey in the form of a Harris hawk and female red-tail, which are a most useful ally in his quest to quell the rabbit population

- Ed Cook

Autumn means that my summer fencing projects have slowed up and the fields have been cut. It also means I can now start to ferret the long list of farms that I am contracted to clear rabbits on.

It’s the time of year to get the hawks out of the aviary after their summer molt and start the manning (handling) and training process again. This is a task I look forward to immensely, especially that first rabbit of the season with the hawks.

I am lucky to be able to use birds of prey as part of my work. They play an important role both during the day ferreting and at night on the lamp. I have flown birds of prey for about 20 years and it has been a learning curve.

The hawks