Saudi Arabia is mad about falcon racing – so much so they’ve built a huge stadium to host it in the middle of the desert. We join a GB falcon racing team as they put on an exhibition event showing off a new style of simulated hunt racing, developed in the UK by Dr. Nick Fox OBE. Using a drone in the shape of a prey bird the falcons climb up to 120 metres then stoop and dive to try and catch the drone as the pilot tries to keep it just out of reach of the talons. Their agility and speed is unmatched in the animal kingdom. Watch them strike out thanks to a camera attached to the drone. Plus get a better understanding of how passionate the Saudi falconers are about their birds and their sport. There’s big money prizes and a huge closing ceremony hosted by HRH Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif Alsaud.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCqL_-PhJek Roy Lupton is producing some of the finest racing machines known to man. His falcon breeding programme is for the Middle Eastern falcon racing
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf0TiK2QBjM As Scotland bans eagles from catching hares, is there hope for the ancient sport of falconry? Eagle falconer Roy Lupton says he hopes so.
Falconers are not impressed. Joshua Hammer wrote The Falcon Thief about Jeffrey Lendrum, who smuggled falcon eggs to middle-eastern clients. Lendrum was jailed in