Nonchalantly as you do, caught a Sparrow-Hawk today, fed it, watered it and then released it.......
3 days ago in my engineering workshop at work, a Sparrow-Hawk chased a pigeon into our workshop. The roller shutter doors were open and as the pigeon ducked for cover, the Hawk, swooped in and up and ended in the roof space of the workshop - perched on the cross braises and sprinkler pipes that are up there. We have a big workshop, about the size of a 5-a-side pitch. This was on Saturday early evening.
Its stayed up there until yesterday, when I kindly persuade one of my team with his newly acquired IPAF licence , to get up there and shoo it across and down. No joy, this thing moved to quick and the area is too big cover. I persuaded my guy to keep persisting but aft about half an hour, all was lost and we gave up. Gutted if am honest, the thought of it just dropping out the roof space dead, broke me heart a bit.
I drove home last night and I'll be honest with you bird lovers, I though this isn't dying on me, am getting it out. So I go home and in my garage I have an old large fishing landing net, so I put that in me car and I lay there that night working out what I'd do. Catch it, get it in a box, give it some water, let it rest, then let it go...... I ask me missus if we have any mince in the house, am thinking I've got to give it some food, so why not mince - Quorn replies me bird.....Well thats that plan shot then.
Gets up this morning with the mission still in me head. Sets off and am no more than 600 yrds from are house, if that. and I notice a fresh scattering of feathers, the usual - knobhead wood-pigeons have been run over. I think, i'll stop but it will be flat as a pancake - but no, even better, this one is dead, but its flew into something, so its not flat,Its warm and a load of corn still in its crop and still very much warm, but in mint condition. I lobs it in the boot of me car and heads of to work even more determined that this plan is going to work.
Gets to work, Dave (yesterdays nominated driver of the cherry picker) groans when he finds out hes nominated again. Do all the morning meeting bollocks, get a nice big box, put a bowl of water in the box and before placing the carcass of the wood pigeon in the box, pluck and expose its dark and succulent ruby red breast.
So we go up, me with welding gloves on and landing net in hand, Dave shitting himself with welding gloves on as well(fuck knows why) lanyards on for any safety managers out there. We get up top, I take a picture of it perched on a sprinkler pipe and then we have 4 goes and passes at trying to catch the Hawk. The roof space it is in now, is raised from the rest by about 3 foot, and is about 10 meters by 10 meters, so this Hawk is sort of trapped.
5th go and we catch it amazing! and to a round of applause from all my engineers below. Its amazing how soft engineers can get.
We get down to terra-firma, and I put the Hawk in the box and leave it in there. I leave it for an hour and go back to find that its ripped into the Woody and it (not the woody) looks a whole load better. We move it into the middle of the road outside the workshop open the lid and after a small amount of persuasion, the Sparrow-Hawk is free.
To say am chuffed, is an understatement. I took very few photographs, but being that close to a wild bird, holding it me hands(welding gloves on of course) and in all certainty, saving its life, has probably gave me today, the best day I've had an a long time.
*Beware, the picture of it in the box with Wood is a bit gruesome*