Lanner Falcon
Falco biarmicus Temminck, 1825
Photo © By Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE - Lanner Falcon (Falco biarmicus) female, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40778472
STATUS
Eurasia and Africa. Polytypic.
OVERVIEW
Species not admitted nationally (BOU 1971).
NOT PROVEN
0). Pre 1850 Bedfordshire Hawnes, near Bedford, shot, undated.
(C. Hervey Smith, Zoologist 1851: 3028-29).
[Not in BOU, 1971].
History C. Harvey Smith of near Woburn (1851) in The Zoologist, 1st series, Vol. IX. pp. 3028-29, dated 4th December, 1851, says: 'I have lately procured the bird mentioned in the notice (which I enclose) extracted from the Bedford Times. I perceive that Mr. Yarrell considers the specimen hitherto procured and called Lanner, to be young female peregrine. With regard to the bird here mentioned, Mr. Mantel, bird-preserver, Bedford, informs me it exactly answers Bewick's description of the Lanner, with the exception of the mark over the eye to the back of the head being of a kind of sandy instead of white colour. He does not consider the specimen a young bird. "Shot, near Bedford, in the neighbourhood of Hawnes, a fine specimen of that rare and, valuable bird, the Lanner (Falco lunarius). It weighed two pounds and a quarter; near four feet in the stretch of the wings, and twenty inches length of the body. This highly-prized bird is a native of the south of Europe, and is said by Montagu to fly at the rate of one hundred and fifty miles an hour. Colonel Thornton, an expert falconer estimates the flight of this bird in pursuit of a snipe to have been nine miles in eleven minutes, without including the frequent turnings.
Anderson, in his Birds of America, states that he has seen the falcon come at the report of a gun, and carry off Teal not thirty yards distant from the sportsman who killed it, with a daring assurance as surprising as unexpected. The above specimen is preserved by Mr. Mantel, of Bedford, and is in the collection of Mr. Hervey Smith, Aspley House".'
[I have no idea that any distinct species of falcon answering to the name and description of the Lanner occurs in this Country - E. Newman.]
0). 1902 Lancashire & North Merseyside Carnforth, female, picked up dead, 26th April.
(H. W. Robinson, Field 30th Jan., 1904: 189; H. W. Robinson, Zoologist 1904: 75; H. W. Robinson, Ibis 1917: 462).
[BOU, 1915; Witherby et al., 1938-52].
History H. W. Robinson of Lansdowne House, Lancaster (1904) in The Field of 30th Jan., Vol. CIII. p. 189, says: 'A female Lanner Falcon, after being several times shot at, was picked up dead on the seashore near Carnforth, Lancashire, on April 26, 1902. The wing measurement is 14.5 in., that of the male would be 13.2 in. The bird was seen in the district for some weeks, during which time several men tried to shoot it, and eventually it was picked up dead by the present owner, and almost warm, having a recent shot wound beneath the wing. During its residence on the marsh, it appeared to live chiefly upon small waders. I do not know whether this bird is used in falconry or no, but if any gentleman lost a Lanner Falcon in February or March, 1902, I shall be glad if he will mention the fact, that the bird may not be regarded as a wild and rare visitor to England.'
[It is a very great pity to have shot the bird, which might easily have been secured had notice been given of its whereabouts, and would have been highly valued by some of our English falconers. - Ed.]
H. W. Robinson (1904) in The Zoologist, 4th series, Vol. VIII. p. 75, says: 'A specimen of the Lanner Falcon (Falco feldeggi) was picked up dead on the seashore near Carnforth, Lancashire, on April 26th, 1902. This bird, which is found in the countries bordering the Mediterranean, has never occurred in Great Britain before. The specimen is a female, not quite adult, but almost so. The wing measurement is 14.5 in., that of the male being 13.2 in. It was seen in the district for some weeks, during which time several men tried to shoot it, and eventually it was picked up dead by the owner, and almost warm, having a recent shot-wound beneath the wing. During its residence on the marsh it appeared to live upon small waders. I do not know whether this bird is used in falconry or no, but if any gentleman lost a Lanner Falcon in February or March, 1902, I shall be glad if he will mention the circumstance, so that the bird may not be classed as a truly British occurrence.'
H. W. Robinson of Patchetts, Caton (1917) in The Ibis, Vol. LIX. p. 462, dated 7th May 1917, says: 'I can find no record in any modern work of the Lanner Falcon (Falco feldeggi) which I recorded in The Field of January 30, 1904, as having been picked up dead on Carnforth Marsh, north Lancashire, on April 26th, 1902. I think it worthy of mention at least in the appendix of the last published B.O.U. List. There was no doubt about the identification, for I showed it to Dr. W. Eagle Clarke, who pronounced it to be a Lanner. The bird, a female, was seen in the district for some weeks, during which time several men tried to shoot it, and eventually it was picked up dead by the present owner, and almost warm, having a recent shot-wound beneath the wing. During its residence on the marsh, it appeared to live chiefly on small waders. I advertised the find pretty freely among Falconers, but did not receive a single reply that one was missing. It is the only record for the British Isles, and I venture to think as worthy of publication in the appendix of the last B.O.U. list as many of those mentioned there, if not more so than some of them.'
Not admitted nationally in their second List of British Birds (BOU 1915).
