04 May 2016
by Gerry Warren
Shoppers in Canterbury city
centre were stunned to see a large bird of prey nonchalantly sunning itself
while perched on a restaurant sign this morning.
The large bird is thought to be a
Harris's hawk, but is also similar to a small golden eagle, except for its
white-tipped tail.
It was photographed by John
Hippisley, who runs city ghost tours, outside Pret a Manger in The Parade.
He said: "I was walking
through the city and saw people gathered round pointing up at something and
went over to investigate.
"It was certainly an
impressive looking bird and I noticed all the pigeons had cleared off pretty
sharpish.
"I noticed it has jesses
around its legs so was likely to be a falconer's bird and they sometimes fly
birds of prey if there is a pigeon problem.
"It just stayed their
sunning itself for about 30 minutes before flying off."
Spokesman Martyn Barr said:
"We started to use birds of prey to humanely tackle the pigeon problem
almost four years ago and contract Rentokil to do it.
The bird was spotted in the city
centre. Picture: John Hippisley.
"The hawk is flown from the
multi-storey car park where there is a particular issue with pigeons and their
mess.
"I understand the bird was
active today but has decided to go AWOL and the falconer is trying to get it
back."
The Harris's hawk is a native of
South America but many falconers fly them in the UK.
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