Lorant de Bastyai was a well-known falconer.
He was born to a rich family in southern Hungary in 1910. He 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 World War II. 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 World War II 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 carrying 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 near Newport, Wales in 1962 about 20 people including him formed the 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), and the Welsh Hawking Club made her a vice president for life. On 29 December 2009 she died, and on 15 January 2010 her body was cremated at Oakley Wood crematorium.