Preface

I am writing the closing parts of this book in

Uganda, where Margaret and I have been teaching.

I look out on Lake Victoria, that immense stretch

of water that is bordered by the three East African

countries that have been so much part of our lives.

Black kites soar overhead, an African goshawk darts

through the trees and fish eagles call from the

water’s edge. These sights and sounds are salutary

reminders of the beauty and splendour of birds of

prey and of the intricate webs of life that comprise

biodiversity.



This book has had a long and rather unusual

metamorphosis.



Since childhood I have had a fascination with

natural history and wildlife. Birds of prey had always

excited me but it was not until 1959, when (as a

schoolboy aged 15) I found an injured kestrel in

Devon, England and took it home for nursing and

eventual release, that I first came into close contact

with a live raptor. I was introduced by my mentor,

the naturalist and broadcaster, Maxwell Knight, to

Paul Jacklin who was a practising falconer. Paul

taught me how to handle a hawk and subsequently

trained me in falconry techniques. As a

young veterinary student and Associate of the British

Falconers’ Club in the early 1960s, I found myself

in demand to examine members’ birds that had died

and to give first aid treatment to hawks that were

unwell. There were then very few veterinary surgeons

with an interest in the subject – and, sad to

relate, even fewer with any special knowledge of

birds of prey.







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