Avian Environmental UK
Specialist environmental falconry. Over 35 years of field expertise.
Avian Environmental UK is led by Wayne Davis — one of the UK's most experienced operational falconers, and handler of Rufus the Hawk at Wimbledon since 1999.
Wayne Davis — operational falconer
Wayne Davis has worked with birds of prey since the age of 11. Over 35 years, that became a career delivering specialist falconry-led bird mitigation across some of the UK's most demanding environments.
Wayne created the Wimbledon Championships bird control programme in 1999, operating it for over two decades — one of the longest-running operational falconry programmes at any sporting venue in the world.
He is best known as the handler of Rufus the Hawk — the Harris's hawk who has kept pigeons off Wimbledon's courts for over two decades. Rufus has his own Wikipedia entry and has been covered by BBC News, ITV, the Los Angeles Times and Reuters.
Rufus the Hawk — Wimbledon Championships
Rufus is a Harris's hawk employed by the All England Club to deter pigeons from the 42-acre Wimbledon grounds. An operational fixture since 1999, he has worked the Championships and the 2012 Olympic Games. His theft in 2012 generated global media coverage — the RSPCA recovered him three days later.
"Pigeons cannot get used to a falcon — so it constantly is effective." — Wayne Davis, ITV News
What we do — and what we don't
We are not a general pest control company. Every method we use is biological deterrence — working with natural predator-prey behaviour to achieve displacement without harm. No poison. No lethal control. No permanent structure.
Pest species cannot habituate to genuine predator presence the way they habituate to spikes, netting or acoustic systems. That is why sustained falconry programmes work where other approaches have already failed.
All operations are conducted within the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981.
Operational range
Based in Abergele, North Wales, Avian Environmental UK provides specialist bird management services across the UK, with operational experience in London, the South Coast and nationally. Commercial bird management in North Wales and across England is delivered from this base using the same biological deterrence methods applied at high-profile sites.
Historical operational experience
From 1985 to 1999, Wayne Davis undertook fourteen years of specialist bird management at US Air Force installations in the UK — RAF Mildenhall, RAF Lakenheath, RAF Alconbury and RAF Sculthorpe. The work encompassed daily falconry patrols within active aviation environments, imprint falcon training and live-airfield co-ordination, making it one of the most sustained specialist programmes in UK aviation history.
Read the full case study: Fourteen Years of Military Airfield Bird Management →