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British ice cream-maker turned falcon-breeder attends Abu Dhabi auction for first time
Luke Massarella has bred around 90 falcons and produces up to 100 birds a year, carefully selecting winning birds and bloodlines for his breeding programme
- PUBLISHED: Wed 19 Aug 2026, 6:00 AM UPDATED: Wed 19 Aug 2026, 1:52 PM
Luke Massarella comes from a family that has been making ice cream for around 200 years. But increasingly, his days revolve around something that flies rather than melts.
The fifth-generation Italian-origin ice-cream maker has spent the past 17 years breeding falcons in Britain, producing between 70 and 100 birds a year and flying to the Middle East about five times yearly to work with customers and watch his birds compete.
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It was Massarella’s first time attending the ADIHEX falcon auction in Abu Dhabi, where he came to learn more about how the event and its bidding process work. He had already spotted a couple of birds he liked at the auction but said his main purpose was to watch and learn.
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His falcon breeding began as a childhood hobby. His father and older brother flew falcons and hawks in Britain, and Massarella followed them into the hobby before eventually trying to breed birds for his own use. What was just for hunting and flying, gradually became a passion for breeding, he said.
By around 2013, he had sent his first falcons to Dubai. Since then, the Gulf has become a regular part of his breeding calendar, with trips to the UAE and Bahrain among his destinations. He said he now travels particularly during the training and flying season, sometimes making around five trips a year.
The trips are not simply about delivering birds. Massarella said he goes directly to customers' training sessions and watches his own falcons fly. If a customer tells him a bird is not performing as expected, he takes notes. “I write it down, then I go back and I change,” he said, describing how he may alter the father or another part of the breeding combination.
He can also adjust the birds' training, including giving them longer periods to fly so they become stronger. “It is a lot of things,” he said. “As long as the guys are happy, I'm okay.”
That feedback is central to his breeding strategy. Massarella said he initially concentrated on a smaller number of bloodlines because he needed to establish a reputation for producing successful birds.
His approach has gradually expanded as he has identified bloodlines that perform well. Among his favourites are birds from the Shama line, which he said are known for winning races or regularly finishing among the top three.
Another bloodline, he said, produced a particularly fast falcon known as Turb. He now breeds several types, including pure falcons and Garmousha, while continuing to build combinations based on performance.
The process involves constant trial and selection. Massarella said he considers factors including bloodline, shape, size and performance before deciding which combinations to continue.
“You have to make a match and mix and match until you find the perfect match,” he said. He has around 90 falcons retained in Britain for breeding, while his annual production is between 70 and 100 birds.
The birds are trained and kept fit before he decides which ones and which bloodlines should continue into the breeding programme.
The scale of the operation means the falcons have become more than a hobby. But Massarella still has another family business competing for his attention. His family has been making ice cream for around two centuries after moving from Italy to Britain, and he is the fifth generation to work in the business.
He started helping with ice cream from childhood, even before school. “I was always working on the ice cream,” he said. Now, however, falcon breeding takes up most of his time.
Asked whether one day he might have to choose between the two, he said he would rather do both full-time if he could. The two businesses have one important thing in common, he said: neither rewards half-hearted effort.
“To be successful in ice cream or with the falcons, you have to commit 100 per cent,” he said. Both require work seven days a week, he added.
If Massarella decides to take part in the auction next year, his return to Abu Dhabi could look very different.
This time, he came to see how the auction works. Next time, he could be back with his own British-bred racing falcons, ready to put them up for sale and see how they fare with Gulf buyers.
