„The Falconers Nest” is an association accumulating falconers from whole Poland and existing within the structures of Polish Hunters Association. Official headquarters is located in Warsaw together with Polish Hunters Association HQ which deals with financial side of the Club. However the main meeting place is localized in PHA Research Farm in Czempin where all the meetings and new member courses are held every year. “The Falconers Nest” has their own regulations, authorities and executives. The Board is elected for a five year period. Each member of the Club has a unique membership card, access to a newsletter and can be awarded with a set of distinctions. The main purpose of the Club is to promote falconry (understood as a way of hunting) and Birds of Prey conservation. Only members of Polish Hunting Associations can become a casual member of The Falconers Nest providing that they will pass an exam being a final stage of a pre-membership course.
Currently The Falconers Nest has ca. 150 members from all over the country – these are people who have different jobs, education and social status but they all have the same passion for falconry. Thus The Falconers Nest is the biggest falconry organization in Poland such a small number of members makes the falconers in most cases hunt by themselves or in a small regional groups. All members usually meet twice in large numbers during the year: spring assembly and autumn field meeting. During the spring assembly all the legal aspects are discussed and also the goals for the upcoming season are agreed. In the autumn the field meet takes usually 4-5 days and gather up to 120 falconers from Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Lithuania and other countries. Apart from the hunting during the field meeting there is also an occasion to buy accessories, exchange opinions, see new falconry movies and experience the Holy Saint Hubert mess.
Some of the club members have their own breeding pairs of different species of birds (mainly goshawks, sakers, lanners and peregrines), some of them run a birds of prey rehabilitation centers, and some of them use the birds for pest control on plantations and airfields and run falconry displays.
Polish Falconers also significantly helped to restore wild population of peregrine falcon in our country – thanks to their efforts over 400 young birds were released to the wild.
The Falconers Nest is a member of International Association for Falconry since few years.
