Lloyd Buck: Our life with birds

Well this is a first for me. The guys from Autumnwatch asked if I would be interested in writing a piece for the website about my life with birds... so here goes.

During the past year many of you may have seen me appear on Unsprung with some of the birds that my wife Rose and I look after. But what you might not realise is that our birds are in a number of film and television productions.

I say 'look after' intead of 'own' because our view is that you never own any bird. In fact it's the opposite way round. You are there for them. So they own you and if you take that point of view you should always develop a good bond and trust level with any bird as it shows respect for them as individuals. We have whooper swans, falcons, owls, starlings, a raven, a crow, pigeons, eagles and a goshawk, so they certainly keep us busy!

Over the years, you might have seen spectacular natural history film sequences of various birds in flight, including epic journeys of migration, the wild footage being interspersed seamlessly with close-ups from within the migrating flock. This is what we specialise in.

By building a very close bond with our birds we are able to train them to fly alongside us and the cameraman. Some of our birds are happy to carry tiny mini-cams that give the viewer that unique in-flight feel. This allows film-makers to make the story much more dynamic for the viewer, making you feel like you are wing tip to wing tip inside the migrating flock rather than a dot in the distance.

Capturing these close-up images not only allows us to explore the internal flock dynamics, it also gives us a bird's-eye view of the migration landscape.

To achieve this level of training with any bird takes many hours of time and dedication. Bird characters are as diverse as human and you must learn what they like and don’t like. Take our seven starlings, for example. Arnie is cheeky and very bold whilst his brother Spadge is much more reserved and quiet. But it's only by spending time in their company that you're able to learn this.

My wife Rose with Arnie, Johanna, the baby tawny owl, and Brann, the baby raven

Our birds are our business and our income but they are not just a way of making money. To us it’s a way of life. They're part of our family. The rewards are great. The feeling you get when you're with our female golden eagle, Tilly, in the Scottish Highlands is incredible.

I've watched her soar effortlessly on the wind before disappearing over the mountain tops for an hour or so then reappear on the horizon looking for me. The feeling I get when she stoops in from a thousand feet, flaring finally to land is something I cannot describe in words. I know - that at some point - she made the decision to come back. She has chosen to stay with us.

Me with Tilly in the mountains of Glenvagh national park in Ireland

Nearly all our family of birds were bred in captivity, the only exceptions being Simba, the carrion crow, who was a rescue bird and too tame to be re-released; and the starlings.

As everyone is always so enchanted by them, I see the birds as ambassadors for their wild counterparts. Most people cannot believe just how clever and beautiful they are. I never realised that so many people have a rather poor view of starlings, and we have already managed to change many people's view towards them.

They love classical music. In the evenings at home when they are in the lounge with us they love it if I play Schubert or Beethoven on the piano to them. And at the right time of year they all sing along!

I never stop learning either. On Monday while out flying Tilly, a wild flock of starlings (which easily contained a couple of thousand individuals) came and started feeding very close by. When Tilly took off to follow us she flew right by them. I expected them to fly up in alarm, as they would do in response to most raptors, but they took absolutely no notice of her.

I think this shows just how clever they are. They knew that a golden eagle is far too big and slow to be any danger to them. We sat and watched them feeding, with the birds at the back of the flock moving to the front, creating a wave of starlings, constantly advancing across the land. Amazing!

On the same evening at dusk, as we were cleaning out the starling aviary, a few goldfinches and tiny firecrests flew in to roost in a hazel tree right by us. They were only about 12 feet up and after flitting from branch to branch having a last feed for the day, they settled on the bare branches. You would never know they were there, perfectly camouflaged. It was one of those magical moments, when you get a close wild bird encounter. It can't be recreated in any other way... it is just brilliant.

Well, I hope I have given you a small insight into our life with birds. Bye for now.

Do you have a question for Lloyd about his work? Ever wondered whether birds sleep? Post your comments and questions below. Lloyd will be a guest on the last Unsprung of the series at 8.30pm, 25 November on BBC Two.