Fledgling Days

Falconry has been historically the sport of royalty and traditionally a pursuit of men. Emma Ford is neither royal nor a man, yet she is one of the most acclaimed falconers in the world today. Fledgling Days, her powerful memoir of life in the Kent countryside, where she learned from girlhood the art of falconry, is both a tale of personal discovery and a heart-warming and funny account of a country childhood. Ford's was in many ways an idyllic childhood, living in the enclosed world of the Chilham Castle estate. When, at age eight, Emma encounters her first falcon, she is mesmerized. Soon she is given Wally, a Wahlburgs Eagle almost half her size, to train, and her fascination for birds of prey turns into a lifetime's passion. She learns the ancient skills of falconry and begins to make her own collection of hawks. Her reputation as a young falconer eventually spreads to the film community and as far as Sheik Zaid of Abu Dabi, one of the world's greatest falconers, who invites Emma to his country to share her techniques with him.