People

Hannaaman Movlamov

Falconry Festival | Englefield Estate | July 11 and 12

Primary school children from West Berkshire gasped at the sight of a Golden Eagle in a Mongolian Yurt, were glued to a falcon flying display, enjoyed taking part in a Japanese tea ceremony and visited a Bedouin camp.

They made the trip to the Falconry Festival at the Englefield Estate on July 10, as part of an Education Day which preceded the Festival on the weekend of July 11 and 12.

The Festival is hosted by the Hawk Board, the umbrella body for UK falconers, and supported by the Emirates Falconry Club.

Children try out falconry activities

Over 50 falconry nations will be represented at this year's festival. Men, women, children, hawks, falcons, eagles, horses, camels and dogs from all over the world will be coming, each bringing a little piece of their homeland with them, to join together in celebration of our global heritage of falconry.

Director of the festival, Dr Nick Fox, said the festival was a great opportunity for the schoolchildren visiting to experience other cultures.

He said: "For many of the children attending who have not grown up around pets or animals, this will be a wonderful opportunity for them to see, in action, the sort of relationships that man can have with birds and animals. They will also meet raptor conservationists who will explain about our responsibilities as humans to respect our environment."

Falconers from around the world

The children at the educational day met international delegates, who will be attending the main festival, in their national camps. They visited the British camp, the Mongolian Steppe, the Abu Dhabi Bedouins as well as meeting some medieval Austrians and the Japanese and Chinese falconers.

But the star of the show at the Englefield Estate was craggy falconer, Hannaaman Movlamov. A falconry superstar, Movlamov has travelled 10,000km to Turkmenistan across deserts and mountains to reach Theale.

Movlamov has flown saker falcons in his native country all his life, and runs falconry courses for people of all ages at his desert camp in Turkmenistan.