Falconry Mews

The Mews

Now that having a hawk of my own was on the agenda I needed a to bring my new comrade home too. A Mews is the traditional name for the place where falcons are kept, especially when they are in moult and are then regrowing their feathers. That old greenhouse, right at the bottom of the garden, was going to have to go. Frankly it was no great loss. Although I put it together for my wife, from a kit, some twenty years ago, all I had done with it over the last decade or so was repairs after the winter's storms blew out yet another pane of glass. I have a nice man who looks after the garden for me and he inspected it, considered it, quoted me a price that included disposing of all the wreckage which worked for me. Suddenly it had vanished.

I admit I thought about it but I decided I wasn't going to try and build my own custom Mews or have one purpose built to my plans. I would simply get a commercially available unit and adjust it to my requirements. I looked at a lot of sheds that would have done the job with only minor modifications but finally settled on a purpose built mews from UK Aviaries because it provided the proper vertically bared window, which a hawk can see, and the air-lock style entrance chamber so that, if you are 'free-lofting', opening the door so you can go in or out does not immediately set the bird off for a little impromptu, pre-prandial excursion.

One of the important strategic decisions I made right at the start was that I needed electrical power in the Mews. I am going to have to have to live with this plan for many years remember and retrofitting that later would be a total pain. Not official wiring, of course, but what is just what is effectively an extension cable that plugs into a socket through an ECLB in the house. This means I can have sensible lights, a monitoring camera, charge the inevitable laptop (they do seem to follow me about) and possibly even move the small freezer that contains the hawk food down there one day. The gardener laid a cable into a trench along the wall for me so it is all nicely buried out of sight and I carefully bought the proper to do the job with so nobody is going to accidentally put a spade through it one day and test my earth-leakage trip.

The next problem was that, although removing the greenhouse had released a space to use, it was by no means yet a suitable site. Any 'shed' needs a proper base if it isn't going to wobble about and quickly rot out from the ground up. I looked for a suitable company to come and convert that area into a solid foundation and sort out the problems caused by some strange old concreate sections that are at a lower level than the rest of the garden.

I had Coastal Paving come and they look at it all and quoted me a specification that I felt was good and solid but that would require a lot of preparation work and materials. I decided to go with that and I'm rather pleased with the results. What I have had done is that the whole site was dug out and then back-filled with crushed concrete, then a layer of sand and then the paving bricks. All this laid down layer by layer under the attention of a power compactor. The result is hard, solid and should outlast me and then some so my aviary will not collapse about my ears. My armoured cable just runs underneath everything and then pops up into the 'office' end of the building, safe from harm and complications.

Incidentally our local council helpfully publish a set of documents on their web site explaining what does and does not involve planning consent. This meant I was able to plan this to be within the definition of a simple shed by quite a margin.

The other thing that having the paving done allowed me to do was to level the whole bottom end of the garden. It has been a pain for years as it sloped down into a damp patch that was somewhat lower than the back lane and hence flooded at every opportunity. This means I can now roll a barrow containing diving or gliding equipment down the garden and out of the back gate without facing the sudden six inch step up or having to put on my wellies and paddle through the mud, water or worse to get to the car and back.

The other thing that really needed doing was to replace the . It had got to be rather sad, sitting in its muddy puddle, but I had made it myself over thirty five years ago and it had done its time. I didn't build another, the new gate is by B&Q, the wood stain/preservative is Ronseal, the screws are 10mm stainless and the uprights are cut by Nigel's bandsaw to get a proper fit on the horribly uneven walls. I'm actually quite pleased with the results.

The Mews was the largest size that I could fit into the space available without taking out existing trees while still allowing for all round access to slap on a regular coat of rot-proof as required. It is a nominal 14 x 6ft (4.27 x 1.82m) divided inside into a 10 x 6ft (3.0 x 1.82m) bird room and a 4 x 6ft (1.22 x 1.82m) 'office'. Although I am only planning for one bird at the moment I have room to expand if circumstances change. I was rather happy to discover that having the mews erected for me when it was delivered could be included in the price even if I did need pay an additional mileage charge for being outside of their usual home turf. I felt this would simplify things a bit and watching them do it all convinced me that it had simplified things a lot.

The Mews is, basically just a posh shed with a vertically barred window and a dividing wall making it into two rooms. The vertical bars are important for a hawk to see and avoid (hawks get killed flying into glass both in captivity and in the wild) and vertical bars are impossible to try to perch on. There is the slight snag that a hawk sized bar spacing does not deter all the local wildlife and many falconers have arrived at the mews bearing breakfast to discover a pile of feathers and a well fed hawk that has dined early on some fool sparrow, starling or such that didn't realise what was going on here. The windows at the office end are glazed so the scales and other tools get some protection although the valuables and the more specialised equipment lives in the workshop back at the house.

I was initially surprised that no window shutters or such were suggested but, apparently, if you are a hawk, you view being consistently out of the wind and rain as luxury living. I did wonder about adding a transparent but rain reducing pull down blind to the window to add some comfort for me but then it would be me that has to turn out in the rain to adjust it if the weather turns nasty so maybe not... or maybe I could automate it?

Cutting and measuring the Equestrian Matting

I had deliberately ordered the Mews as unlined, although both plastic and ply panelling options were offered, as I had some ideas I wanted to apply. Firstly I wanted the wiring to be under any internal cladding and I wanted to ensure that after my modifications there were no obvious places where water could collect and promote rot.

The bird side of an Avery is normally open to the ground beneath but as mine is standing on brick I tried to make maintenance simpler by flooring it with Equestrian Matting. That's the stuff you put in the stable to soften up the concreate floors for your pony. I hadn't quite realised what it was going to be like until it was delivered. The truck driver hauled one 50Kgm roll of interlocking 2cm thick rubber sheet up to my door and said "I've got two more like this to come." It was very heavy but I spent a happy afternoon trimming it to size and fitting it. Then I put a sheet of 'pond liner' over it to be something I could drag outside and hose off quickly when required. I panelled the inside walls with PVC Soffit cladding held on by stainless steel screws. Using the matching trim strips gives this a nice wipe down/hose clean finish. The whole ensemble is fully disinfectable if I have a problem.

I fitted 'office' end with a heavy duty 'kitchen worktop' counter in Beach at standing height and added a pair of cheap EBay 'bar stool' height chairs to match. The flooring is a piece of kitchen vinyl from the my local carpet store. I actually went in there looking for an off-cut but just buying 1.2 meters from the roll it was cheaper, padded and in my choice of colour. The walls of the office are not lined.

I hooked up the electrics with 'outdoor' grade (minimum ) parts and glands as it might be a bit exposed to the elements through the open window but I laid it out to be a pretty normal style with power available for tools and instruments over the countertop and with a double switch over the internal door to control the bird house and the office lights separately. I used two 20W led flood lamps in both and the light level is superb. Yes, me being me, I put in a CCTV so I can VPN into my hawk from anywhere in the world and see that she's getting on OK. Also the light over the door is hooked up to my WiFi home automation system. This, and the patio light at the other end, when both on together provide for good illumination of the walk to and from the house in the dark but they both need to be remotely controlled for this to work.

Finally the hawk oriented furnishings were added. I bought two ready made stainless steel perches with heavy feet so they don't need to be stuck into the ground to stay upright. This means I can have one in the bird house and another for my workshop back at the house that can also go out onto the patio/balcony if we are taking in some sun together. I also bought two large that sit within leash distance of the perch. Actually I think they were a bit over done and if I ever need another I'll just go up the Garden Centre first and look at planting trays. I use a pair of normal ceramic 'dog bowls' for any food that isn't a treat or a training reward.

So what else is there? Well not to much really as it might be exposed to petty theft. There is the journal that logs weight and food and the needed to track the weight of the bird carefully. Most of the day to day equipment lives in the that I bring the food down in. I do have a much larger toolbox for the 'going out in the car' days with radio and GPS trackers plus an endless collection of spares but this is just the day to day stuff.

So that's it. That was the transformation from being the sad and gloomy place at the bottom of the garden into a pretty reasonable home for a hawk and a convenient place to park . I probably could have been more economical and some details might have been better left until I had some more experience but I needed something that would be fully functional from day one. I haven't discovered any horrible blunders yet and having seen some mewses stood on what was once grass I quite like my flooring system although some people think it over complex. I have obtained a PVC sheet as a window cover that I may fit later for the winter if it becomes evident it would be an improvement. I have obtained some drop-lock style fastenings for this.

The final piece of building work was the . It would be nice to just leave the bird outside but I need a cat proof and fox proof enclosure. This came flat-packed like an Ikea kit from Box Clever. It went together quite easily, provided you remember it is 4 foot panels so you need plenty of space. It sits on the balcony outside my living room and has lockable doors and a hose down to clean finish.

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by Nigel Hewitt