Becoming a falconer is an unusual career step but one Anita Ebdon has no regrets taking.

She runs Hampshire Hawk Walks in Four Marks, where she offers walks with birds of prey in private woodland, along with interactive falconry talks and visits with her birds.

She is bringing some of her birds to Farnham Maltings for a talk next Tuesday, March 10.

Anita, who grew up in Farnham, was a self-employed gardener, a profession she enjoyed but which was lonely.

She said: “I told my husband that I wanted a dog to take to work with me and have some company but he didn’t really want a dog. Then he bought me a ‘hawk experience’ and I completely fell in love with a Harris's hawk called Peewee.

“Later I met a man who had a Harris's hawk and he described the bird as ‘a dog with wings’ and encouraged me to get one.”

Anita was tempted but unsure and then her husband was diagnosed with leukaemia, spending more than a year in hospital.

She said: “It was an awful time and afterwards we looked at each other and said ‘we should do what we want to do’. In 2017 I bought Neo, my first hawk.”

One hawk is never enough. A year later Anita acquired another called London, and in 2019 launched Hampshire Hawk Walks. She now has eleven birds– seven Harris’s hawks, two barn owls, a buzzard and a kestrel.

“I get up in the morning with a smile and can’t wait to go to work,” said Anita about her life-changing move.

“It has given me a contentment that I never had before. Being in nature, outdoors and with animals is truly good for our physical and mental health.”

For more details about the tours and forthcoming talk visit https://www.hampshirehawkwalks.co.uk/