A renowned falconer illegally sold a £1,200 bird of prey, magistrates have been told.

Torbay Falconers Club organiser Paul Hill, 41, sold the young female goshawk without the right registration documents.

Mr Hill from Dairy Lane, Ivybridge, denies seven charges relating to the registration of the birds that have been bred in captivity.

He is standing trial after earlier pleading not guilty to selling the bird last year and offering the bird for sale a few weeks earlier at the Festival of Falconry in Reading.

He also denies four charges relating to possessing goshawks that were not properly registered or ringed, and obstructing a police officer who searched his former address at Audley Avenue in Torquay.

Hill runs the International Falconry Forum website and exhibits at events including fairs on Paignton Green.

In opening the case, prosecutor Mark Haddow said the close-knit falconry world was secretive and "has a cloak and dagger way of going about business".

The court heard the birds were without registration documents that act as a lifelong "passport" with keeper details.

The paperwork stops the trade of endangered wild birds that are indigenous to the UK. Potential penalties could include a ban on keeping birds for up to five years.

Defence solicitor Nigel Butt said police first investigated the well-known falconer on suspicion he had taken birds from the wild.

"Those allegations were false," said Mr Butt.

He said that Hill was known to every falconer in the country and in most of the world.

He said: "He is a person who has skill with great affinity and ability.

" This is about whether he has the correct documents at the right time."

The trial continues.