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RAF Lakenheath have an usual way of keeping birds away from their jets. Not content with using just conventional methods like loud klaxons, they've decided on a much more clever idea using birds of prey.

"We have a team of 10 hawks normally, they each have their own job, they're part of a bird control program, the most important part really, they hold all the other things together," says Keith Mutton at RAF Lakenheath. "We use conventional methods, things that go bang, tapes, sirens those types of things but birds can tend to get accustomed to those. We fly falcons before the jets take off, when they're flying and when they land. It's the one method of bird control that the other birds cannot get used to."

Long eared owl

The dangers of birds

"The worst time to take a strike is in land or take off," says Keith. "It's most dangerous when the aircraft is really low to the ground.Μύ The forces involved would case even a large bird, like a seagull to get sucked into the engine. It can cause part of the fan to break and go through the engine and shut it down. But of course, much more damage can be caused," he says.

The training process

It's not long after birth that the falcons are put to work with the newest bird expected to fly in approximately two months time. According to Keith, the birds really take to the work. "They definitely enjoy it, we just let them fly for fun every so often. We do demos for the schools aswell."

Keith has worked at the RAF base for over 30 years, but the job of hand-rearing the baby falcons goes to his assistant, Alec Dunn. "It's great to get involved with the birds," he says. "It's not like a job really, every day is a good day and you get to see the different stages of progression. They all have their own different jobs, some do more demo work, we do quite a lot of displays all over really.