Summary of the meeting of the Hawk Board held at Kennington Road, London
Wednesday 14th October, 2009.
The meeting began at 12.30pm. Present were Terry Burden(TB), Jim Chick(JC), Terry Large(TL), Andrew Knowles-Brown(AKB), Pete Eldrett(PE), Derek Stotton(DS), Gary Gabriel(GG), Steve Halsall(SH), Bryan Morris(BM), Rena Trybocka(RT), Nick Fox(NF), Roy Lupton(RL), Paul Gray(PG) Nick Kester(NK), Graham Irving(GI), Doreen Page(DP), John Hounslow(JH) & Mike Clowes(MC).
Apologies were received from Miranda Stevenson, Dean White, Grant Dudley, Dale Johnson, Gary Biddiss, David Horobin and Mike Nichols.
As this was the first meeting of the new Board everyone around the table introduced themselves then MC asked for nominations for chairman. TL proposed JC and DS seconded it. There were no other nominations so JC was elected. AKB and NF were elected vice chairmen. Mike Nichols was retained as Education advisor, and Jemima Parry-Jones MBE as Animal Welfare advisor.
Matters arising: GI asked if a report had yet been issued about the Sparrowhawks in Scotland. AKB & NK replied nothing had been announced, but there was a problem with poor records that may undermine the translocation study.
Treasurers Rep: MC mentioned that he had not yet received the invoice for the tentage for the UK clubs at the Festival of Falconry. NF replied that the Festival may have accidentally paid the HB bill and he would look into it. First however we need to know exactly what the HB is paying for. MC replied that the HB had agreed to pay for the clubs’ tentage, nothing else.
Election: MC reported that the election had been a partial success as only half the clubs had supplied the details requested so that voting papers could be sent to their members. One or two had complained about the cut off dates but these were necessary so that CVs and voting papers could be printed and posted out. GI thought that the CVs should be allowed more than 100 words. JC replied that it had always been 100 words and it should be sufficient. In any case most people vote for you because they know you.
Animal Health: JH opened with the news that there was yet another delay in the Scottish Regulations for the registration of birds kept in captivity. However, once the Order has been laid it will take 21 days before they come into effect. AKB: It will be 26th October at the earliest before they lay the Order. (Postscript: This has now become law.)
JH continued: Fees and charges have now moved to AH who are conducting a full review. With a general election pending and outstanding work to be completed it is unlikely that there will be any change to the current fee structure until at least October 2010 but most likely, April 2011.
WLRS have incorporated a change to the classification of hybrids as suggested by the HB representative at the recent SUN meeting. This will allow any combination of the same species in 2 or more hybrids to count as 1 application.
COP 15 Proposals: EU and UK are currently unaware of any proposals that will affect the falconry world. The deadline for submission of proposals is today therefore it is extremely unlikely that any significant changes will be proposed affecting birds of prey.
DS brought up the subject of the taking of wild disabled birds and having to apply for a registration document. NK pointed out that if you looked at the Welsh Open Licence it says that rehabilitators must be RSPCA, RSPB or local government. After a brief discussion it was agreed to a suggestion by NK that a meeting be arranged between JH, 2 members of the HB and 2 from the NWCU to discuss wildlife crime and rehabilitation of raptors. It should also be open for a member of the Scottish and Welsh Offices to attend. AKB: It would be ideal if a code of practice could be worked out before the meeting.
Goshawk Breeders Association: MC read out an e-mail from Lee Featherstone in which he criticised the present system for registering chicks early enough so that they could be collected by new owners to be imprinted. He wished to set up a goshawk breeders association and finally suggested having goshawk breeders licensed and all breeding birds DNA tested, records to be kept by Animal Health.
JH replied by pointing out that the system for rings and paperwork had not changed since the system began. It would only take 12 days if he applied for the rings with a semi complete certificate. TB: He obviously thinks that you have to register the whole clutch and does not realise that you can register them one at a time. JH: You can pre-apply for semi-complete certificates in January. The pink form can be sent in when the buyer collects the bird; the only requirement is that the ring cannot come off. Moving on to the suggestion he made of forming a group, obviously he can do that any time he wishes.
Decision; JC will write to him outlining this discussion and JH will add a couple of paragraphs to the same letter.
Gen. Licences & Scottish Consultation. AKB: The Scottish HB made a submission on the Wildlife & Habitat Bill which followed the Invasive Species Bill 2 years ago. Now the department has no intention of impinging on falconry and has mentioned falconry as being allowed under the Bill. We now have to wait for the Bill. NK: The English & Welsh appear to be waiting to see what the Scottish say. Non-indigenous species are covered by the fact that when released there is always the intention to get them back. This is a good defence. Birds now have transmitters, bells and sometimes nametags.
Open General Licences: NK sent around on e-mail a response from Natural England. At this point James Legge of the CA was asked in and NK asked him if we were happy with the NE response? James replied: “Yes, the only objection was concerning the Greater Black Backed Gull”. He commented on falconry that the Welsh are proposing to list falconry as a specific licence but some things are unclear, probably due to incompetence, not bad feeling.
HB Income: SH asked for suggestions from others. He stated that we were not exactly desperate for money but thought that another dinner/auction would go down well. The original idea of getting more falconers to join clubs was a problem. Maybe the HB should produce a glossy newsletter?
CFF update: TL thanked the Campaign for Falconry (CfF) team for all the time and effort they put in going around the country at fairs etc. There is a new club in Humberside who want to register with the HB. There are lots of shirts left from the Festival that need to be sold. The new display boards are excellent and draw plenty of people onto our stands. JC also thanked the CfF for all its efforts.
JC then introduced a letter from a farmer in Surrey asking about the possibility of the Festival being held on his land free of charge. The letter was discussed and JC will write to him saying that we see potential in it.
Club News:
PE: The Wessex and Hampshire are looking forward to the new season flying in the New Forest.
RL: The Eagle club is slowly growing and are looking forward to the new season.
BM: The BHA has moved to the south of Reading and the Hertfordshire region now has a new and better venue at a country pub. They have had a good turnout of potential new members.
PG: The Home Counties is slowly growing in membership over the last 2 years including young members.
GG: SERA are looking forward to the season. They are having a 3-day Christmas field meet and dinner. They had a talk in September from John Chitty.
SH: BFC. He read out a letter he had received from a member who had taken a Harris Hawk to the festival and it had broken its leg. Neil Forbes had treated it and the bill was exorbitant. She wanted the HB to pay the costs. JC will write to her explaining that it is not the responsibility of the HB.
The BFC now have a region in West Midlands, which consists of the old Shropshire Hawking Club. The club AGM is at Burton on Trent on 30-31st October. Nick Havemann-Mart is now the BFC IAF rep and will attend the HB meeting after each IAF meeting. The Lantra Award in the regions is going well. The Grey Partridge scheme is working very well and the BFC would like other clubs to join them. There is a DVD out to be passed around which makes the BFC pro-active in case the Grey Partridge need to be licensed.
GI: He has been talking to Scottish Natural Heritage who are having problems with Ravens, Buzzards and Sparrowhawks. He asked them if they had considered falconry as a non-lethal control. JC replied that it could cause problems by being seen as a back door method of obtaining birds from the wild. AKB agreed that wild take is controversial. If birds are taken on licence for one purpose and then used for falconry it would contravene the conditions of the licence.
DS: Cheshire Club is increasing its membership and have 18 field meets arranged already. He has warned them to be careful about paperwork offences.
AKB: The SHC is 20 years old this year. There are 5-6 meetings arranged before Christmas.
A.O.B.
NK: The COTES regulations are being reviewed and a pre-consultation working group are looking at civil sanctions for paperwork offences as opposed to a court case. This means no record. The police do not like it; the parallel in law is a parking fine which can restrict their criminal intelligence gathering.
NF had a UNESCO meeting in Abu Dhabi and a multi-national submission was made for 12 countries. UNESCO has accepted serial submissions, which makes it easier to follow through on a country-by-country basis. We now need to wait for a new government, next autumn, before putting in our submission.
A Festival is possible in Abu Dhabi in 2011 and 2013 in the UK.
The IAF are considering setting up offices in USA, Abu Dhabi and Europe. They need to be more co-ordinated across Europe and the HB needs to participate.
There are lots of issues pending in Wales and we need to think seriously about a Welsh HB.
MC: Has a meeting on Friday with the CLA who wish to revamp the display.
SH: What has happened to the £1,000,000 given to the Falconry Heritage Trust? NF replied that £800,000 was invested 2 months ago and £200,000 is still in the account.
GI: The meeting with Natural England re falconry licences, what happened? NK: We are waiting to see what Wales are doing. If we meet them we need to decide on an agenda of important points. I will see Clare Burgess in Wales first.
JC went back to the co-opted members and it was agreed to co-opt Jim Collins from SUN as the SUN rep.
