The pet I’ll never forget: Bird the hawk – the predator who once hugged me for 20 minutes | Life and style

My children brought hawks into my life. My youngest son, especially, became fascinated by birds of prey at the age of six, drawing beautiful pictures and reciting endless facts to bird owners at various country shows.

Eventually I decided, why not? We live in the countryside, after all, on Anglesey (Ynys Môn). So, during Covid, Bird, the Harris’s hawk, came into our lives. We got her from a breeder after she hatched. It was perfect timing: I was home-schooling my three kids, and at 2pm every day, rain or shine, with a brilliant local falconer, we would set out on to the headland to watch her fly. It was beautiful to see. For years, my youngest never missed a day, no matter how cold.

Bird’s full name is Sophia Houdini White Wing. My children wanted to name her after her mum, Sophie. White Wing relates to the bloodline she descends from and Houdini is because of her brilliant skill as a shapeshifter. She can imitate the branch tip of a tree or stand bolt upright in line with a trunk, leaving you unable to spot her as she hides from predators or prey. This is impressive considering she has a 1.5 metre wingspan.

She lives in a mews with an outdoor area near our house and can fly at speeds in excess of 35mph. A Harris’s sight is said to be eight times greater than a human’s as she scours the terrain below for prey. But her personality is far more than her intelligence as a raptor. She has a great sense of humour and is very judgy about my footwear – literally turning her back if I’m not wearing the right boots for going out.

Recently, approaching the moult (a period over the summer in which birds no longer fly in the wild as they shed their old feathers), thinking how much I was going to miss flying her, she suddenly got her right wing and slipped it around me, holding it there for about 20 minutes as we walked home – like an actual hug. I don’t want to humanise a wild predator but the moments of connection are incredible.

Ten years ago, I had breast cancer and it was a big wake-up call. I vowed to stop making excuses, to do the things that bring me joy. In your short life, you’ve got to make the most of it, write the things you need to write, paint the things you need to paint, and say yes to a Harris’s hawk.