What is it?

A pick me up from the bottom of the hedge running around Hook Road Arena.

I think it is made of aluminium rather than steel and of bar rather than tube. Maybe a centimetre in diameter. Not very bendy as the bend at the bottom appears to have been reinforced with some kind of brazing or welding, with the joint at the top being closed in the same way. Most of the loop at the top being cased in what looks like green garden hose. The whole a bit scuffed and worn.

But what is it? A contraption for removing fish hooks from whales? For pulling high branches down far enough to grab them with the pruner? A gadget for grabbing small animals by dropping the loop over their heads?

My money is on some kind of fastener for a lorry. We may retain it to try it on the pruning application.

PS 31/1/2014: it has been suggested that this is a home made gadget for the suspension of bird feeding gadgets from trees. The home made because a professional would have worked out that the upper loop would be better open than closed for this particular application.