Date: 1/30/26 3:40 am From: Rachel Lawson via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] falconry in "Hamnet" movie
In the UK, the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 protects all wild birds, their nests, and their eggs. Some birds, such as Barn Owls, have additional protections against disturbance. Some game birds and waterfowl can be hunted in shooting season in certain places, and falconry is permitted with a license.
Rachel Lawson
Arnside, UK
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From: Tweeters <tweeters-bounces...> on behalf of PENNY & DAVID KOYAMA via Tweeters <tweeters...>
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2026 7:30:44 PM
To: Gary Bletsch <garybletsch...>; Tweeters <tweeters...>
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] falconry in "Hamnet" movie
Gary and All,
I wonder if there is a similar law in the UK to ours in the US--the Migratory Bird Treaty Act prohibits the use of our native birds for commercial, non-educational use. E.G., although I enjoyed these birds in New Zealand (before we got Covid on the tour!) there is a current, and by now annoying, Progressive Insurance ad where a guy sitting on a bench eating lunch is swarmed by a flock of Silver Gulls, aka Red-billed Gulls. We have many gulls of our own, but the law prohibits their use. And who hasn't seen many unfamiliar raptors in movies? I noted the Harris' Hawk in Hamnet, and silently laughed thinking about the possibility of a protected species reversal from a British law.
Hello, Rachel Lawson! You're living in the UK now--do you know?
Penny Koyama , Bothell
01/25/2026 3:25 PM PST Gary Bletsch via Tweeters <tweeters...> wrote:
Dear Tweeters,
The movie Hamnet will presumably win some Oscars this March. I just sat through it. It wasn't bad, although I think I still prefer Shakespeare in Love.
That said, the beginning of the movie had me scratching my head. The leading lady, a falconer of sorts, was flying a Harris's Hawk. "Wait," I thought, " Harris's Hawk? I thought this was a movie about Shakespeare!"
I went home and checked. Sure enough, there weren't any Harris's Hawks being flown in Europe until well over two centuries after Shakespeare's death.
This movie was filmed in Britain. The woodland birds that I heard on the soundtrack sounded like British birds to me. That was a pleasant surprise, since most movies feature Red-tailed Hawks and California Quails vocalizing, no matter on what continent the plots transpires.
There were all sorts of other nice details in this film that the producers got right--even down to the prevalence of filthy fingernails!
There are lots of falconers in Britain. Certainly, the Harris's Hawk is one of the most popular choices for falconers there, but he production team could have found any number of birds that would have been available there in Shakespeare's time, so Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Common Buzzard, Eurasian Goshawk, Saker, Peregrine, Eurasian Kestrel, and so forth.
