A Shropshire falconer is hoping to break new ground in the training of falcons with the launch of a book which draws on his own long experience with birds of prey.

“A lot of the books available at the moment are very traditional. I have tended to experiment,” said Pete Smith, who does falconry as a hobby.

With his book, Y2K Falconry, he is aiming to bring things up to date and showcase his own modern ideas and approach to training to like-minded falconers who enjoy pushing the boundaries of tradition.

The Y2K in the book title reflects this, representing the year 2000 and looking to the future. He says he has a fascination with birds of prey.

“They’re very regal and there’s something aloof about them. They are not an animal you can dominate. If your management is poor the bird can fly away.”

Like many others, his first introduction to falconry was largely through the 1969 film Kes, which tells the story of a working class boy whose life is transformed when he brings up and trains a kestrel.

“It’s something I got into as a child, probably with some influence from Kes. As I got older I lost interest and came back later on, when I was 26. I’m 44 now. It was in 1990 that I had my first bird, a redtail hawk. They are bred in captivity in England but ar e an American species,” said Pete.

They are, he says, a common beginner’s bird: “You want something that’s laid back and placid in comparison with other raptors.”

Being a quite large bird, it also gave more room for error by its inexperienced owner in the food-motivated training.

“The reason a bird of prey comes back to you is because it’s on a diet. It gets a reward of food,” said Pete.

“With a small bird like a sparrowhawk, if you were a beginner and weren’t very careful with your weight control you could have the bird being very low in weight.”

Born in Wellington, he lives now in Wrockwardine Wood and works as an improvements engineer at Epson in Telford. His wife Sam is supportive of his hobby, but does not take an active part in it. Currently he only has one bird.

“Over the years I have probably had 11 or 12, of which I have lost a couple. I don’t think having multiple birds is a good idea. It’s difficult to give them the same amount of attention.

“The bird I have now is a small male peregrine falcon. I don’t normally name them. It’s not like a dog.”

For training he normally uses farmland around Wellington. I have friends around Bishop’s Castle and take them around there as well.”

With his accumulated experience, Pete often found people turning to him for advice and tips. He has also written articles for falconry journals and magazines.

“I have had people over the last few years ask why I didn’t write a book.”

So he has, to share his knowledge, experiences, and ideas with others.

“A lot of the information I have carried around in my head. I kept detailed notes about the different birds I have flown and how I trained them, and what worked and what did not.”

His book covers experimentation with both falcons and short winged hawks. Subjects discussed range from imprinting and raptor conditioning to kite training and successful hunting strategies.

It examines what can go wrong, provides solutions to problems, and features contributions and interviews with both British and international specialists.

A final section aims to raise the profile of some of the leading British falconers. Whereas some successful American falconers are well known in the UK falconry community, most of the British falconry “stars” are virtually unknown on the international scene.