"Be More Bird": A Hawk's Role in Post-Cancer Re-identification

During the initial Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, Candida Meyrick adopted an 11-week-old Harris Hawk fledgling, named Bird. This decision was influenced by her youngest son, George. Meyrick has since documented her experiences in a memoir titled "Be More Bird," stating that the hawk played a pivotal role in her personal re-identification following her recovery from breast cancer.

The Adoption of Bird

Candida Meyrick and her son George commenced training with a bird of prey at the Gleneagles Falconry Centre in early 2020. A few months later, Bird, the sole viable chick from her clutch, hatched and required a home. The hawk was adopted by Meyrick in 2020 and brought to her Bodorgan Hall estate on Anglesey.

Bird's Unique Identity and Abilities

Bird's formal name is Sophia Houdini White Wing.

• Sophia is derived from her mother's name.
• Houdini references the hawk's remarkable ability to untie knots and hide.
• White Wing denotes her breeding line, which is reportedly the last female of its kind in the UK.

Key characteristics of the hawk include:

• A wingspan of 1.5 meters (5 feet).
• Horizontal flight speeds capable of exceeding 35 mph (55 km/h).
• Eyesight estimated to be eight times superior to that of a human.

Training Regimen and Habitat

Upon Bird's arrival at the estate, the training process commenced with the assistance of falconer Richard Boyce. This included the "manning" process, which involved training the hawk to sit calmly on a glove.

Bird requires a minimum of two hours of flight daily for hunting, with an emphasis on skill development rather than solely on prey capture. Meyrick's Bodorgan Hall estate, featuring woodlands, fields, and sand dunes, provided suitable terrain for Bird's hunting activities.

Personal Reflections and Memoir: A Journey of Re-identification

Meyrick stated that she attributed her post-cancer recovery and personal re-identification to her daily routine of flying Bird. She described the act of flying a hawk as an affirmative engagement with life, contrasting it with a passive role she experienced during cancer treatment.

Meyrick also drew parallels between allowing her hawk to fly and return, and her relationship with her teenage children.

In 2020, five years after her cancer diagnosis and as her children matured, Meyrick documented her experiences with Bird in the memoir "Be More Bird." She described Bird as an ongoing, integral element of her health journey.

An incident occurred where Bird sustained a leg injury after an encounter with a stoat. Meyrick observed Bird instinctively seeking wild thyme and white willow. She interpreted this as the hawk's inherent understanding of medicinal plants, using them for antiseptic and pain relief.

Meyrick expressed a strong desire for her engagement with falconry to continue through future generations. Her initial interest in falconry was inspired by her son and further reignited by her father's bird studies, weaving a familial thread through her passion.