About Breck Falconry

'As the ox her bow, sir, the horse his curb and the falcon her bells,

So man hath his desires;'

As You like it, W.Shakespeare

(breck: orig.Gaelic, breac = speckled / speck)

Colin Breck Boardman BA PGCE is a qualified teacher, artist and poet who set up Breck Falconry in 2009 after eight years of practising falconry independently in the Sussex countryside. He took up falconry after reading the books of Phillip Glasier (Falconry & Hawking, As the Falcon Her Bells, A Hawk in the Hand) and studied falconry at The National Bird of Prey Centre in 2002, under the guidance of Phillip Glasier's daughter, Jemima Parry Jones MBE.

After attaining his first bird, Bosworth, a male Redtailed Hawk, he spent many years learning his craft from experience and practises his sport with the best of traditional and modern methods.

In 2009 he formed Breck Falconry with the idea of sharing his enthusiasm of raptors with the public, and bought Basil, a Peregrine Falcon, and two Harris' Hawks, Beaumont and Bomber. He trains all the birds himself and works to get the birds to express their natural instincts, styles of flight and individual character.

In 2011 he rescued a female Kestrel, which had been lost and was sitting calmly in a local garden. After many months searching for her keeper and with the agreement of the IBR, he decided to look after her, and Bramble is now a valuable member of the Breck Falconry Flying Team.

Breck Falconry usually flies three to four birds on demonstrations and is possibly looking to expand to a maximum of eight birds, to allow for moulting restrictions. However we believe in maintaining the best care, condition and quality afforded to a small team.

Colin Breck is currently writing his first book, 'The Falconry Allegory' on the semiotic use of falconry in literature, and continues to develop his anthology of falconry related poems, 'Falcon Songs'.

Having studied Fine Art at university, and specialising in painting and drawing from life, his falconry inspired oil paintings can also be viewed on site.