Borough Farm Sheepdog and falconry display

The Borough Farm sheepdog and Falconry displays will be starting on June 15th 2011, once again the sheepdog display will be  with myself, David Kennard accompanied as ever by Mist, star of Channel Five’s ‘Sheepdog Tales’. Jonathan Marshall will be returning once again with his array of Hawks and Falcons. Our displays will take place every Wednesday evenings at 6pm, starting on the 15th June and running through the summer until September 7th. We hope you’ll be able to join us for an evening of amazing sheepdogs and breath-taking falconry.

Adults £5 Children £2,50 under 5’s free                           Well behaved dogs are welcome

We now have under cover seating available at the farm, for those occasional damp evenings

We hope the full team of Borough Farm sheepdogs will be out again for the sheepdog displays in 2011, with Fly set to take on the major part of the displays for the first time.

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Jake’s talents aren’t limited to sheep, he also loves to work the Borough Farm ducks.  The ducks are a big hit with the children and with a series of obstacles to negotiate they provide Jake with a different sort of a challenge.

The Borough Farm display couldn’t be complete without the  star of the show Mist, and it’s Mist who rounds off the sheepdog display by showing us just what being a working sheepdog is all about. With a hundred or more sheep to round up in a distant field, Mist really encapsulates all the skill speed and stamina that is required of a working sheepdog.

Jonathan Marshall,  falconry

With his array of Peregrine and Lanner falcons, Harris Hawks and Kestrels Jonathan’s falconry displays are simply amazing. Just  as with David’s sheepdogs each of Jonathan’s birds is very individual and excel at different parts of the display.

Harris hawks are unlike other birds of prey in that they naturally live in small groups. They are at ease with human company which means that they are happy to fly to the hand of members of the audience

Pingu the Kestrel has a charm all of his own. He’s a tiny bird weighing only a few ounces but delights audiences with the ability to hover a few feet over head. Kestrels are a common site as they hunt along the grass roadside verges, but to see such a bird flying at such close quarters is just wonderful.

But the highlight of any of Jonathans displays is undoubtedly Nobel, his prize Gyr falcon. Quite apart from being stunningly beautiful, he’s breathtakingly fast, swooping low into the display ring at speeds of up to 100 mph. And with that speed comes an unerring precision in flight. In the wild Nobel would use the cover of scrub and rocks to catch his prey, in his display work he swoops in through the narrowest gaps in the audience to attack the luer that Jonathan swings for him.

In the amazing picture below another of Jonathan’s falcons, Erin is flying between children, while trying to catch the luer. If you look carefully you can see his leg fully extended while flying full speed

These are a few of the highlights of the Borough Farm sheepdog and Falconry displays, David and Jonathan look forward to seeing you at one of the displays this summer

WEDNESDAY EVENINGS 6pm, JUNE 13th to SEPT 5th