A hawk floats in the air above our heads, calling and whistling to us on the earth below. He tilts his wings with the air currents playing on the wind. Charles Linton calls him back with a whistle and the bird dives down, eager to grab at the meat Mr. Linton holds ready for him.

This is a working bird, one of several that travel on a regular basis with Mr. Linton to places where he is employed to chase off other birds in airports and food manufacturers' properties.

It is a non-chemical, noninvasive way of pest control, where safety and hygiene are factors.

Having said that, the birds the peregrines and other hawks chase are not killed - they are frightened into leaving areas where they present a dangerous nuisance. The hunting takes place in the fields where the hawks catch prey that is natural to them and Mr. Linton makes short work of tearing it apart for them.

This assists their eating and establishes his standing in their thinking as a mate.

"The birds look on me as a partner," Mr. Linton explained: "there is no servant master relationship here. I am their hunting partner."

All this is the workday existence between the Hockley Valley resident and the birds he admires and loves so much. They have holidays, too.

I met Mr. Linton and his birds at the Medieval Faire in Waterloo in September three years ago. He had a group of youngsters gathered around him as he told them about the life and habits of the birds. One young person reached a hand in the direction of a rather sharp beak and, with a firm but gentle hand, Mr. Linton restrained the child's approach.

"He doesn't react well to people he doesn't know," he told the child reasonably. In the field around them, there was a general celebration of life in the middle ages. People walked about in costumes, ladies in long skirts, gentlemen in elegant jackets, veiled head gear on the ladies. There was a charming air of frivolity to the festival: vendors sold chain mail, the elegant clothing, princess crowns, mock swords and axes, jewellery.

All was fake and fun except for the birds that were real and fascinating as the crowd around Mr. Linton was noting. He held the birds perched in turn on his gloved hand and explained their natures and moods. He released them to fly above the crowd, to their delight and amazement - especially when the birds returned in response to his whistle. The smallest children held on to their parents and squealed with excitement as one of the hawks landed with a thud to accept its reward of meat.

Mr. Linton and his birds visit many of the shows that are themed to the Middle Ages - Renaissance Festivals - when hunting with hawks was the norm. Sometimes, they go to schools and other events specifically to demonstrate the power and beauty of these tremendous birds.

Mr. Linton spent his childhood in Caledon East where, at an impressionable age, he rescued a homing pigeon and began to develop an early passion for birds. In 1990, he rescued a kestrel which he turned over to a sanctuary that handled birds of prey.

In between, he studied at the University of Guelph and Rousseau Lake College, always with an interest in subjects related to the out of doors.

In the late 1980s, he travelled to Czechoslovakia where he saw the training and use of birds of prey to a much greater degree than he had and his interest in birds grew as his knowledge increased.

Finally, he met Mat Lieberknecht who worked within the Wye Marsh, breeding birds and Mr. Linton apprenticed with him. He learned about the artificial insemination of birds and began to work with them as a profession.

All in all, the attraction to Mr. Linton of taking the birds to the Renaissance Festivals is to bring an element of nature to young people. He worries that as people become more and more urban, lose their contact with nature and, hence become less in touch with their own humanity.

"I want to give them a glimpse of what they're missing in the cities," he told me, "to kindle their interest in nature and maybe come to the country to see nature for themselves."

He said: "You have to physically stop and look around - smell the roses. Everybody's so busy."

Nowadays, his teenaged stepdaughter Felicia joins him with the birds, handling them before the public, at the festivals. She assists him when it is time to exercise them at home but, of course, does not go with him to the job sites where he and the birds work.

Felicia commented, "I have learned a lot about the birds. It's very interesting - not something you do every day."