Lorant de Bastyai

Lorant de Bastyai was a well-known falconer.

He was born to a rich family in southern Hungary in 1910. Her was introduced to falconry while at school.

He studied agriculture in Hungary and Denmark.

He was conscripted into the army and served in Russia in WWII. He did not take well to army life, but got in a little falconry with falcons.

He became Curator of Birds at Budapest Zoo. There he met George Lelovich, and Lorant taught falconry to George and the two became friends.

When WWII ended, he persuaded the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to start a birds of prey center, which he became manager of.

He persuaded the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture to use hawks instead of shooting to stop heron attacks on freshwater fish farms and bird attacks on vineyards.

After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 he fled from Hungary in 1957 carryng a family art painting and a trained golden eagle: he sold the painting to pay immediate living expenses.

Sir Peter Scott gave him a job at the Wildlife Trust at Slimbridge.

In Caerleon in South Wales in 1962 about 20 people including him formed the [http://www.thewelshhawkingclub.com/ Welsh Hawking Club] . He did much work for it down the years. He wrote several books.

In Newport in 1963 he married Nancy.

For two years he was curator at Colwyn Bay Zoo, where he flew eagles.

About 1990 after the fall of Communism he was the guest of honor at a meeting of falconers in Budapest. In his last years his walking became bad.

He died in 1993, leaving a widow (Nancy).

References

*Issue #26 of "Austringer" (periodical of the [http://www.thewelshhawkingclub.com/ Welsh Hawking Club] )