The falconers hitch would have been a great knot for the poor guy whose gas meter I changed today. I shall regale the tale of woe and misery for you now, although it does have a happy ending!
The guy was talking about going to play with his bird whilst I was doing the meter exchange, I sort of heard him but just wanted to get on. He obviously wanted me to go "Eh?" and I think may have been slightly dissapointed when I didn't. therefore, he told me that his "bird" was in fact an eight week old kestrel. That grabbed my attention!
He said that it was fledging and was getting a bit of air under his wings now and then, if I liked I could take a look after I finished the job. Damn right I will! The kestrel was beautiful, bought for 200 quid from a guy in Wakefield who he calls on if he needs any help. He's like his mentor. He took the bird from its platform thingy and held on to the jesses, a leash connected it to the platform. The guy was obviously taking great care of the bird and you could see the pride and devotion he had for it. I envied him to be honest. I cannot afford the spare time to keep such a magnificent creature so have to settle for watching them in the wild. Anyway, he put the bird back and tied him onto the platform. Next thing we now, "Weeeeo!" and off he goes! The bloody knot pulls undone and the little blighter flies off into next doors' window, turns about and does one towards the big blue sky!
I was worried for this guy, 200 quid was flying off. The bloke was no longer in the same garden as me, he can fair shift over a garden fence! Fortunately, the fact that the bird is only just learning to fly coupled with the fact that it had just been fed meant it didn't get very far. The fellah brought the bird back and tied him to his platform with some "can't tie knots, tie lots!" type knot and I would have liked to show him the falconers' knot but I don't know it. I showed him the siberian hitch instead.
Pretty exciting though, and what a beautiful creature. One day, probably when I'm retired so that i can give it the time it requires, I'd like to keep a little kestrel.