I am spending a couple of days in London this week doing some research for my next talk about Russia which I will be making in the summer at UEA and again at Gainsborough’s House in October.
Walking through St Paul’s Churchyard this morning I was very surprised to be confronted by a couple of Harris Hawks. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me and so have had to ‘google’ for a picture of one of these beautiful birds.
The hawks, one older male and a young female, were on pigeon scaring duty. Apparently they really do act as a deterrent against what many Londoners regard as rats in the sky. Their handlers are anxious to prevent them from actually attacking the pigeons however. Apparently the contents of a London pigeon’s gut does a hawk no good at all, and innocent passers-by do not much appreciate the spectacle of a kill!
