Flying imprint sparrowhawks is often unfairly portrayed as being overly complex and highly technical. Sparrowhawks - A Falconer's Guide aims to paint a far more informed picture, and to perhaps dispel some of the myths. Written with the beginner in mind, it is based on considerable first-hand experience of the author and a number of other respected falconers from the United Kingdom, Croatia, Ireland and Turkey who have specialized in flying sparrowhawks. By drawing comparisons with some of the most ancient trapping and training techniques of the East, and by making a connection with modern Western falconry practices, this remarkable book encapsulates the timeless beauty and joy of sparrowhawking, which crosses all cultures. Topics covered include: equipment, preparing to receive your sparrowhawk chick and imprinting; training, behaviour, quarry, entering, field craft and hawking in many different types of terrain; methodologies of captive breeding in the West; problems associated with the rehabilitation and release of wild sparrowhawks in the United Kingdom and finally, the vitally important subject of sparrowhawk health and welfare. Superbly illustrated with over 200 colour photographs.
Raised in rural England before the rise of the internet, Ben Crane grew up in the company of wild things, with hawks and other birds of prey alive in his mind—and woods and fields—as symbols of a kind of self-possessed, solitary power. He spent time with them, knew them, and loved them. But as Crane grew into adulthood, situations that may seem to many of us natural, or even comforting, were challenging: he found it difficult to be around other people and to read social cues, sometimes retreating in fear or lashing out in misunderstanding. Eventually, he was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. When Crane became a father, these challenges became unbearable, and he fled to isolation. Hawks brought him back. In this artful and moving memoir, we follow Crane on his remarkable journey of flight and return. Traveling from the United Kingdom to Pakistan, we learn first about the history and practice of falconry, a beautiful and brutal partnership between humans and birds that has persisted for thousands of years. And as Crane’s personal story unfolds, we come to understand how he found solace and insight through his relationships with these animals. “I saw that my feelings toward nature, and birds of prey in particular, ran in parallel with my feelings for my son,” Crane writes. “I worked out that they were, in fact, two sides of the same coin—the deep love of one could, with gentle observation, inform and unlock the deep love for the other. . . . Perhaps this then is the central theme of my story.” Many of us rely upon animal companions to provide a sense of joy, compassion, and empathy. But as Blood Ties teaches us, our relationships with the creatures among us can also transform us, illuminating what it means both to be human and to be part of the greater wild—what it means to be alive.
When his lover is killed by their mob boss, a hardened criminal insider decides to pursue one last elaborate heist in an effort to rid himself of his underground lifestyle for good. Barrett Rye has always been told he can be only one thing in life: an enforcer. He's a seven-foot wall of muscle and the most effective collector in the largest criminal enterprise in the Midwest. After he realizes he wants more out of life than hurting people, he and his mob accountant boyfriend, Mickey, decide to steal enough money from their boss to disappear and start over. But they get caught, Mickey is killed, and Barrett is given one chance to pay back his debts. His plan is simple. He knows that Henry Holzmann, a small-time mafioso in Omaha, has a lead on the score of a lifetime. Barrett can't get the prize himself, but he's not trying to. He just needs a piece of it. He is going to cause so much chaos—and throw Holzmann's life into such disarray—that the man will pay him anything to make it stop. But nothing ever stays simple, and Barrett has always been too clever for his own good. As the mayhem he has seeded spirals out of control, it will take all his prodigious strength and wit to stay alive, and he'll have to decide: Does he want to win, or does he want to be the better man that he has always wanted to be?
An uncannily brilliant evocation of the falconer's art and a moving story of a man's discovery of how to be a father. 'I was moved to tears by Ben Crane's beautiful memoir, Blood Ties. Diagnosed with Asperger syndrome in his 40s, he recounts his struggles to reconnect with the son he thought he had lost' Good Housekeeping. 'A powerful story [...] of the ties that bind us, both to nature and our own families' TLS. This is a book about a man's relationship with hawks, and his self-education as a falconer, and about his discovery that despite his Asperger's Syndrome, which hampers his normal social interactions, he can forge a loving bond with the young son he thought he had lost. He rediscovers his full humanity through his commitment to the training of falcons and his love of the natural world. Ben Crane writes with uncanny accuracy and lyrical precision about the intricacies of birds' behaviour and their instincts. He has a ruthless eye for the minute details of natural processes – of plumage, the patterns of flight, of killing, death and decay. He's as clear-eyed about himself and his detachment from ordinary human society as he is about the flight of peregrines and goshawks. Here is nature writing at its very best, interwoven with an affecting human story and an account of how a man mastered the ancient craft of falconry.
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