THE Cotswold Falconry Centre in Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire, was the vision of one man, Geoff Dalton, who started keeping a few birds in his garden, then expanded so that other people could see his collection.
“It started as a hobby and got out of hand!” he says. “When I was a young man, I was trying to breed birds of prey in my garden, with the idea that I’d release them into the wild.
“But I soon learned that release often isn’t practical because people are destroying habitats and ecosystems, and the wild populations are in decline. It’s certainly possible to reintroduce captive-bred birds into the wild when the environment is suitable, though.
“As falconers, we teach birds to hunt using a lure, and if you make it harder and harder for the bird to capture the lure, the bird with get stronger and stronger, until eventually they’ll think it’s easier to catch a pigeon, so they won’t bother chasing the lure.
“When I started out as a falconer, I went
