Dennis Blacktop

[Kentish Falconry]

It is with great sadness that I have to inform youn that Dennis died from Lukemia on the 20th October and the funeral was held on the 27th Oct.
Dennis was one of the pioneers of Falcon breeding in the UK with friends and contacts all over the world, over the last 10 years or so Dennis has gone through some rough times, he was Raided by the RSPB and Police and although totally cleared of the charges was never the same man again, he suffered a nevous breakdown and this was followed by a break down in his marrage that most of the people who knew him and Pauline could not work out as Dennis was her life.
He had moved from Wings Falconry in Hertfordshire to build a new Breeding facility in Wales where he was not accepted by the locals only to loose everything and end up in rented accomodation in Norfolk. He then went on to breed Mice for a living and set up a breeding station there. I offered to give Dennis a couple of breeding pairs of Falcons 2 years ago in an attempt to get him breeding Falcons again but he would have none of it.
I will miss Dennis and I am sure that when the news gets out many other falconers/Breeders will feel the same.
God Bless him and may he rest in peace
Terry

[Salty]

It is with great sadness that I have to inform youn that Dennis died from Lukemia on the 20th October and the funeral was held on the 27th Oct.
Dennis was one of the pioneers of Falcon breeding in the UK with friends and contacts all over the world, over the last 10 years or so Dennis has gone through some rough times, he was Raided by the RSPB and Police and although totally cleared of the charges was never the same man again, he suffered a nevous breakdown and this was followed by a break down in his marrage that most of the people who knew him and Pauline could not work out as Dennis was her life.
He had moved from Wings Falconry in Hertfordshire to build a new Breeding facility in Wales where he was not accepted by the locals only to loose everything and end up in rented accomodation in Norfolk. He then went on to breed Mice for a living and set up a breeding station there. I offered to give Dennis a couple of breeding pairs of Falcons 2 years ago in an attempt to get him breeding Falcons again but he would have none of it.
I will miss Dennis and I am sure that when the news gets out many other falconers/Breeders will feel the same.
God Bless him and may he rest in peace
Terrylike i said in a earlier thread i bought a fem red off him years ago,i never met him but we talked a lot on the phone,and his patter was class.sorry to hear this.salty

[Turumti]

Im really sorry to hear about this. One by one we are losing the greats of our times. It hasn't been a particularly good day today for our family either. A couple of hours back I got word that an uncle of mine (my father's cousin) died while waiting for a train on the platform at Battersea Tube Station in London, while in the UK on a work related trip. Apparently he had a massive heart attack and died on the spot. His wife and kids are in a state of shock, and naturally so, because the man was in apparently good health and had no history of heart trouble.

[GaryPCO]

It is with great sadness that I have to inform youn that Dennis died from Lukemia on the 20th October and the funeral was held on the 27th Oct.
Dennis was one of the pioneers of Falcon breeding in the UK with friends and contacts all over the world, over the last 10 years or so Dennis has gone through some rough times, he was Raided by the RSPB and Police and although totally cleared of the charges was never the same man again, he suffered a nevous breakdown and this was followed by a break down in his marrage that most of the people who knew him and Pauline could not work out as Dennis was her life.
He had moved from Wings Falconry in Hertfordshire to build a new Breeding facility in Wales where he was not accepted by the locals only to loose everything and end up in rented accomodation in Norfolk. He then went on to breed Mice for a living and set up a breeding station there. I offered to give Dennis a couple of breeding pairs of Falcons 2 years ago in an attempt to get him breeding Falcons again but he would have none of it.
I will miss Dennis and I am sure that when the news gets out many other falconers/Breeders will feel the same.
God Bless him and may he rest in peace
Terry

Sorry to hear this terry tho i didnt know him,it sounds like he had a place in your heart m8,gutted for you!!!:(

[GyrXPeales]

So sorry to hear of your loss Terry, there have been a lot of the great ones leaving us this year, but it's even harder when it's your friend. God be with his family, and with you too Terry!
Warmest Regards,
Jeff

[Misty]

It is with great sadness that I have to inform youn that Dennis died from Lukemia on the 20th October and the funeral was held on the 27th Oct.
Dennis was one of the pioneers of Falcon breeding in the UK with friends and contacts all over the world, over the last 10 years or so Dennis has gone through some rough times, he was Raided by the RSPB and Police and although totally cleared of the charges was never the same man again, he suffered a nevous breakdown and this was followed by a break down in his marrage that most of the people who knew him and Pauline could not work out as Dennis was her life.
He had moved from Wings Falconry in Hertfordshire to build a new Breeding facility in Wales where he was not accepted by the locals only to loose everything and end up in rented accomodation in Norfolk. He then went on to breed Mice for a living and set up a breeding station there. I offered to give Dennis a couple of breeding pairs of Falcons 2 years ago in an attempt to get him breeding Falcons again but he would have none of it.
I will miss Dennis and I am sure that when the news gets out many other falconers/Breeders will feel the same.
God Bless him and may he rest in peace
Terry

That is really sad. And what a sad life he had in the last few years. Lets hope he has wings of his own now and enjoys them:cry:

[Altai]

I went to see Dennis many years ago, before the raid. He had young birds everywhere for imprinting. I think he was tame hacking imprint merlins in the house because one flew past us in the corridor! He was totally immersed in his work with the birds, so much so that he had to send out for some milk so that we could all have a cup of tea. He was a real gent.

[Falconry Equipment International]

Very sorry to hear about his passing , only met him once in the late eighties when I referred a student of mine to him to purchase a ahwk, as others have already said, seemed a true Gent RIP

[StormRider]

Rip

Stu

[Pete Kent]

It is with great sadness that I have to inform youn that Dennis died from Lukemia on the 20th October and the funeral was held on the 27th Oct.
Dennis was one of the pioneers of Falcon breeding in the UK with friends and contacts all over the world, over the last 10 years or so Dennis has gone through some rough times, he was Raided by the RSPB and Police and although totally cleared of the charges was never the same man again, he suffered a nevous breakdown and this was followed by a break down in his marrage that most of the people who knew him and Pauline could not work out as Dennis was her life.
He had moved from Wings Falconry in Hertfordshire to build a new Breeding facility in Wales where he was not accepted by the locals only to loose everything and end up in rented accomodation in Norfolk. He then went on to breed Mice for a living and set up a breeding station there. I offered to give Dennis a couple of breeding pairs of Falcons 2 years ago in an attempt to get him breeding Falcons again but he would have none of it.
I will miss Dennis and I am sure that when the news gets out many other falconers/Breeders will feel the same.
God Bless him and may he rest in peace
Terry


What a sad story, I didn't know him, sorry to hear about that Terry, poor bloke.

Was that North or South Wales ? Heard a similar story about somebody else in North Wales.

[Gosman_2]

Got to know Dennis and Paulin when they lived here in wales its a sad end to a sad story .

[DeadDogs]

Having known Dennis for many years it is with great sadness that I heard of his death.He was a real character and I for one will miss him greatly.

[Dave G]

sorry to hear of your bad news terry , lets just hope dennis feels peace now as what was said about his last few years he was hit hard r.i.p dennis and may the lord watch over you

[BHawk]

condolences to all who knew him. and i am disgusted at how he was treated!

[MitchellBrad]

I just read this! Dennis imported from the US one of my copulating peales tiercels. That tiercel was an unique individual in that his genetics were almost unknown in the peales peregrine community. His mother, Sheeba, was a bird imported from Martin Lee in Canada. Doug Emard imported the bird and was so successful with her Martin was swamped with buyers. Unfortunately he couldn't fill the demand. She was a dream falcon. In time she was bred to several tiercels one of which was a Jamieson tiercel, a close relative of Reno. Only 2 tiercels were produced. One went to Germany the other was given to me. That tiercel is the father of the breeding peales falcon I presently have. At one time I figured I wanted out of peales and sold him. In fact he was resold to Dennis Blacktop and was confiscated when they raided him. That was sort of a cluster F because that tiercel produced some peales that would have knocked your socks off. The tiercels were what one would consider 'one in a million' birds. One was lost on his second freeflight and made a good living in New Mexico for several years. I've been trying to find out what happened to that tiercel for years just because I wanted to tell whoever got the bird that he had the real deal and a stupendous producer. The female out of him killed something like a hundred ducks in one season alone. She's my breeder.

Oh well.

Brad

[MitchellBrad]

I just read this! Dennis imported from the US one of my copulating peales tiercels. That tiercel was an unique individual in that his genetics were almost unknown in the peales peregrine community. His mother, Sheeba, was a bird imported from Martin Lee in Canada. Doug Emard imported the bird and was so successful with her Martin was swamped with buyers. Unfortunately he couldn't fill the demand. She was a dream falcon. In time she was bred to several tiercels one of which was a Jamieson tiercel, a close relative of Reno. Only 2 tiercels were produced. One went to Germany the other was given to me. That tiercel is the father of the breeding peales falcon I presently have. At one time I figured I wanted out of peales and sold him. In fact he was resold to Dennis Blacktop and was confiscated when they raided him. That was sort of a cluster F because that tiercel produced some peales that would have knocked your socks off. The tiercels were what one would consider 'one in a million' birds. One was lost on his second freeflight and made a good living in New Mexico for several years. I've been trying to find out what happened to that tiercel for years just because I wanted to tell whoever got the bird that he had the real deal and a stupendous producer. The female out of him killed something like a hundred ducks in one season alone. She's my breeder.

Oh well.

Brad

I forgot to mention Steve Sherrod has a few birds out of this bloodline.

brad

[Kentish Falconry]

condolences to all who knew him. and i am disgusted at how he was treated!

Dennis was treated really badly there were 3 TV documentaries showing the Raid and they made a real big thing of it but when he was totally cleared of the RSPB allegations no one ever bothered to make a Documentary clearing the stain on his name and the papers didn't bother to print about his name being cleared either.
The RSPB response to this was "well you win some and you loose some", much the same after I was cleared the RSPB said live on the news that I was guilty and the judge didn't understand the evidence, what was there to understand there was no evidence in the first place except concrete evidence and time lapse video to show I was not guilty
Terry

[Gosman_2]

I know that one of the few birds dennis and paulin had left after they were raided was a tiercel peregrin hat bird ,they wanted £3000 for him , maybe the one your on about?sorry i dont know who bought him but i bet someone on here will know

[MitchellBrad]

I know that one of the few birds dennis and paulin had left after they were raided was a tiercel peregrin hat bird ,they wanted £3000 for him , maybe the one your on about?sorry i dont know who bought him but i bet someone on here will know

that was a copulating tiercel. He'd copulate with a falcon I had then I'd strip him to inseminate an imprint I had. Never got many eyeases from the falcon he was with but did get plenty from the bird I inseminated. Somehow he never did like me.

Brad

[Kentish Falconry]

I know that one of the few birds dennis and paulin had left after they were raided was a tiercel peregrin hat bird ,they wanted £3000 for him , maybe the one your on about?sorry i dont know who bought him but i bet someone on here will know

That was an Anatum Tiercel from Canada eventually sold for £650 and one of the last birds Dennis sold.

[Kentish Falconry]

that was a copulating tiercel. He'd copulate with a falcon I had then I'd strip him to inseminate an imprint I had. Never got many eyeases from the falcon he was with but did get plenty from the bird I inseminated. Somehow he never did like me.

Brad

Not sure if he was sold or even if he survived the mishandling of the RSPB and the Vet who wanted to know how to take blood from a Merlin and the other Vet told him to just pull it's head off and that was shown on the TV
Terry

[Craig S]

Dennis and pauline taught me everything i know on training birds of prey, from the age of 10yrs i was visitng their place in hoddesdon on weekends and they took me hunting with their harris'.

Dennis will be missed not just by me, but by many

[CanadaManada]

I've just read this and it's not the sort of thing I normally comment on, but that man had a rough time at the end and nobody should have to go down like that.

Justin