- Be More Bird by Candida Meyrick (William Collins £16.99, 198pp) is available now from the Mail Bookshop
There are some rural traditions best buried in the past. Bear baiting, feudalism and perhaps, one day if we are very lucky, Morris dancing.
However, if any past traditions are to be revived, then let it be falconry.
That is the feeling one is left with after reading Candida Meyrick’s part memoir, part beginner’s guide, part self-help, but wholly wonderful book.
Candida with Bird, her Harris hawk
Be More Bird follows her journey from buying a Harris hawk in 2020 to developing an unlikely bond with this extraordinary animal. A few years before getting the hawk, Candida was diagnosed with cancer.
While wading through the horrifying limbo of treatment, she found a new vision of life. Simple pleasures such as lying in a hammock or simply looking at her children became rapturous moments of feeling totally at one with the world around her. Living in the moment became her saving grace and she emerged a changed person.
She needed a companion to share her new outlook, and what better than a hawk. To be a falconer is not to be in charge of another creature, rather to foster a partnership with a totally free and wild animal and get a glimpse of the world through their eyes. Each chapter starts with a summary of a lesson one can learn from the hawk, from how to be a better mother to coping with mortality.
For example, watching her hawk, called Bird, soar out of sight – and having to trust that she will return – helped Candida cope with her anxiety over her daughter’s first solo transatlantic flight.
Hawks are independent creatures of boundless power and grace, so it’s hardly any wonder that they were the chosen companion for kings and queens throughout the ages.
They weigh little more than a bag of sugar but are such expert hunters they’ve been known to take down roe deer.
Some instances of Bird’s independence are truly astonishing.
Soon after Bird came to live with the Meyricks, she flew at full speed (33mph) into a tree and damaged her talons. They became infected and Candida was terrified Bird wouldn’t survive.
However, when Candida next took the poorly bird out, it flew straight to a white willow tree and started scraping her beak and taking bites of the bark.
Later, the otherwise completely carnivorous bird started picking and eating at some wild thyme. Rather amazingly, white willow is the active ingredient in aspirin, and thyme is a powerful antiseptic.
Thanks to Bird’s own medical ingenuity, she was soon back to normal. Of the life lessons from the hawk, this may be the most practical should you ever get into a scrape near a white willow tree.
Be More Bird by Candida Meyrick is available now from the Mail Bookshop
The world Candida inhabits isn’t just unusual because she shares it with a hawk. My suspicions were raised as before Bird arrived she already had an aviary. Also, there are peacocks roaming her ‘grounds’, and there’s the occasional reference to her husband’s ‘700-year history’.
Using my positively Sherlockian detective skills I typed ‘Lady Candida Meyrick’ into Google and an image of Candida with Bird popped up, standing in front of an absolutely enormous stately home.
In spite of her being an aristocrat, the life lessons Candida draws from Bird are universally applicable, and it’s a real treat to read these nuggets of winged wisdom.
