East Sussex Falconry

27/10/2025

Great to see the the castle back in its full glory after having all the scaffolding removed!

26/09/2025

As summer draws to a close and we replace warm sunny days with wet and very much windy days! We still try to get the team out as much as possible when the weather allows.

This was Cedar last week on a slightly drizzly and windy day. No guests on experiences, just some one on one time enjoying the grounds at Herstmonceux Castle.

21/09/2025

Neo the Lanner falcon ready for another day of experiences on this glorious September day!!

15/09/2025

Pip the Asian Brown Wood Owl 🦉

Pip is now around 15-16 months. Apart from a few baby feathers on top of her head that should hopefully drop out either by the end of this summer or the start of next summer, she is all grown up.

She definitely had a few “teenage tantrums” this summer! At one point she decided she no longer wanted to fly too anyone other then me 🤦🏼‍♂️, but luckily after a little bit of time she got back into experiences and is now doing better then ever!!

13/09/2025

It’s tricky trying to choose a favourite bird/birds to fly, but the kites are always up there and never fail to disappoint!!

08/09/2025

Bramble our superstar long eared owl enjoying some late summer sun

25/08/2025

Last week my partner Rebecca brought home a poor Tawny Owl who was handed in to the vets where she works, after being struck by a lorry.

Now we didn’t have much hope for this poor little guy, as he was incredibly poorly when we 1st got him and we were expecting him to pass in the night. Now by some miracle he made it through the night. He didn’t break any bones and other than a few broken feathers, and what I could only imagine one hell of a headache! After a few days of feeding up and rest, we made sure he was ok to fly before letting him go on the estate with a belly full of food.

Although he wasn’t found locally to the estate, he is not a young bird, so knows how to hunt and fend for himself. Because of this, we were happy to release him on the estate where he won’t have any trouble finding food and establishing himself.

It has been a very hard summer for owls. This is due to the very dry weather creating poor habitat conditions for prey species like mice and voles.

They need long grass and healthy cover to breed and feed in, however in prolonged periods of dry weather their food and habitat dry up and die off.

This means owls have to go further a field looking for food, which is what we think happened to this one.

Hopefully he has a long healthy life on the estate! 🦉

21/08/2025

It is not just our captive birds you get to see on experiences with us at Herstmonceux Castle Estate. You can see loads of wild Raptors from Buzzards, red kites, kestrels, sparrow hawks, hobby and Peregrines.

In this video you can see a young pair of peregrines looking to establish a nest on the Isaac newton tower on the estate. They unfortunately were driven off by the local crows and jackdaws who also nest in the area, but always great to be able to get so close and see these natural behaviours.

Volume on to hear their chatter

21/08/2025

19/08/2025

Yesterday we hosted our first bird of prey photography workshop. These photography sessions are designed for both complete newbies and experienced photographers.

The aim of these experiences is to not only give people the opportunity to capture amazing shots, but to also allow people to learn how birds fly and behave, hopefully using the skills they pick up in the workshop and transfering them to “real world” photography.

All our photography sessions have a professional photographer helping guide attendees both in capturing shots and camera setup. I believe nearly all attendees from yesterday’s group started using “auto set ups” on their equipment, and by the end of the session had switched to “manual set ups”.

If you are interested in attending a photography workshop please get in contact for more information.

18/08/2025

17/08/2025

The Nictitating membrane 👁️

Birds of prey use this third eye lid to both keep their eyes moist and to protect the eye when flying, or when fighting with prey.

We see the membrane on many species such as birds, reptiles, amphibians and some mammals such as cats and seals.

In humans we call it the plica semilunaris, which is located in the corner of our eyes.

In the photo below you can see cedar using his nictitating membrane to protect his eye while eating his quail wing.