Scottish SPCA

Falcon finds help far from home

The Scottish SPCA has reunited an exhausted baby falcon with her owner after she flew from Lancaster to Edinburgh and landed next to one of our ambulance drivers.

Lucy, a fifteen week old female Lanner falcon, was being exercised by her owner, Barry Haughton, near his home in Cockerham, Lancashire, last Wednesday (17 August) when she was attacked by crows.

The terrified bird fled the area and continued north until she landed 170 miles away in Edinburgh's Holyrood Park on Monday (22 August), exhausted and hungry.

Luckily, Ambulance Driver Mairi Stewart was in the area releasing another bird when she spotted Lucy.

Mairi said, "I was amazed to see this beautiful bird of prey just sitting on the grass close by me. She was clearly very hungry by the way she was feeding on a pigeon she'd just caught and I could see she was quite young.

"As I approached I noticed she was wearing jesses so I knew she belonged to someone. I caught her without too much trouble and found her owner's contact details on her jess.

"He didn't believe me when I explained I was in Edinburgh holding his bird!"

Mairi took Lucy to nearby Dalhousie Castle Falconry, Bonnyrigg, where she was cared for by handlers until Mr Haughton was able to come and collect her.

Barry, 70, said, "I was resigned to the fact that I'd never see Lucy again when out of the blue I got the call from the officer.

"When she said she was in Edinburgh I thought it must be a mistake there's no way she could have flown that far but sure enough it's my bird.

"I'm so glad she was found when she was. Any later and her blood sugar would have got so low that she wouldn't be able to fly and could have died.

"This was only the eleventh time she'd flown free when out of nowhere a crow appeared and spooked her.

"She veered off and the crow gave chase, quickly followed by a mob of around five crows all dive bombing her.

"She must have been terrified and I was very upset. I have her fitted with a tracker so I followed her in the car for an hour and a half right to the sea estuary of the River Lune and that's where the trail went cold so I knew she must have flown over the water."

Barry, who has been enjoying falconry for twenty years, hopes to continue training Lucy for display flying, although he's worried her long-distance adventure might make this rather difficult.

He said, "Lucy's now experienced hunting for herself but if I keep her at the right weight and interested in the lure she'll associate me with food and hopefully she'll keep coming back."

Image courtsey of Deadline Press and Picture Agency.

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