I’m a fan of all of Ken Loach’s films, including the most recent I Daniel Craig. For me however, his best will always be Kes, the 1969 film based on the novel by Barry Hines. The book, A Kestrel for a Knave, is set in a small mining town.
Billy Casper, neglected by his mother and bullied by his older brother, has little prospect in life other than to work on the coal face. He discovers and trains a baby kestrel, and for a short time his life has value and meaning.
We met up with Glen Purves on Sunday afternoon, just off the willows at the bottom of Station Bank. I’d booked Heather in for a Hawk Walk. This lasts for about an hour. Glen runs North East Falconry and has over 11 years of experience in training and flying birds of prey. You can walk alone with the hawk, take an Introduction to Falconry course where you learn all aspects of owning a bird of prey, or if you’re feeling ambitious you can enroll for a Hunting Day using Hawks, Falcolns and Eagles to catch small prey. With Christmas coming up, why not take advantage of Glen’s half price offer which he is running until 20th December? A full one to one session lasting for an hour cost just £25, and you can also buy gift vouchers.
Glen brought with him the magnificent Hector who is a Harris Halk and about eight months old. I didn’t fly Hector myself, but it was such a great experience to watch him fly free in the woods, not usually following us but actually keeping one step ahead. He returned to Heather’s gloved hand for his food, swooping towards her at tremendous speed but always landing gently. For full details for what’s on offer click on the link above.
www.rytonian.com 