yeboah

Must be great being able to fetch marking forward to suit weather conditions and handling massive bird-ages ,we have to stick to dates because town or village halls were pre booked Stonehenge comes to mind Good luck .

Me and my big gob saying things were going OK ,took the Yb's and yearlings to wamphray liberated half Yb's first and watched from open farmland they headed towards moffat after gaining height followed them with binoculars and all seemed well ,then lib 2ND batch of young only to see first batch heading south along hilltops when i put binoculars on them they were being tagged by peregrine it stopped the chase after about 2 miles only then to be joined by the female one mighty big f--- ,the cock bird again headed north and i focused on the big hen for half an hour as she worked the sky's when i thought she was far enough away distance wise i started to lib yearlings in groups of four only for here to return directly above me the pigeons went above her and she tried to follow but gave up to easy so i was then sure she was not hungry so followed her again before continuing to liberate ,on getting home a lot were still missing,have ended up not to bad with 2 yb's to come and 5 yearlings some of which should show in morning as the one's that came tonight after 7hrs had almost certainly been to ground,will now have to jump them even further and try and get them racing before they hit the final 7mls which is f-- murder ,mind you after watching the falcon operate today at the height it reached she can travel miles in seconds ,the way they are multiplying they will be one every square mile just shortly ,report in our local paper today showing local woman mp helping out at ringing of goshawk chicks and stating that peregrine Merlin and sparrowhawk chicks have been rung to keep tabs on them she also states it is good for tourism and we need to clamp down on wildlife crime .

Mediterranean weather here

Must be getting to oor MP he was in the local paper last week saying he's lost three stone's F-- C--

Think clubs should get a rota organised whereas all members would have an allocated time to phone there local mp every day giving him major grief regarding the welfare of our doos if every club the length and breadth of the country were to do this for a solid month it would be the main topic of discussion in parliament as it would be driving them to the point of doing something .

Brilliant told you there was around the corner

Perhaps they are very fortunate that we live in a civilised society or perhaps they would be the one's finding themselves targeted .

Good to see things are going OK Walter ,I am heading of to wamphray tomorrow and Friday with the gang all 118 of them the sky was black over moffat tonight they certainly were flying well in several groups ,funny thing so far no peregrine strikes(oh s-- should not have said that) ,of out on the lash Saturday our gala day then having a day of pigeons Sunday as i will be feeling rough so going to take ma wee dog peregrine visiting just in case they are all dead would hate it if that were happening

Didn't want to say on my previous post but any i have had go that high and not get down before nightfall never ever seen a feather ,really sorry for you as it is bad enough nowadays without this happening,really makes you wonder at times if its all worth the hassle nowadays think it is our thoughts of yesteryear that keeps us going ,my prob is i would need some sort of a pastime couldn't hit the pub all the time cant play golf and Scottish football is worse ,so we will just have to keep our heads up my friend and hope there is sunshine around the corner

Dreadful news,sure i have read in previous posts of birds being struck at same spot ,as for youngsters going high have also had this happen seem to get spooked as light fades and disappear ,have also witnessed them going to dots when being targeted by falcon really hope some turn up for you takes so much effort nowadays building a team without this crap luck .

Think your spot on there Jamie,same problem at messac chasing an incoming weather front never an easy call .

Good luck to all thats sending ,and hope you all get you awards ,think they are forcasting a wet night down here friday which would be normal as its our Gala Weekend

Got them finally started tonight with a wee short toss,90yb plus 28 yearlings total 118 Clocked 119 Welsh darky youngster (new a shouldnae have started that far away )

With the massive new windfarm currently being erected from the dumfriesshire -lanarkshire border extending across the hills from little clyde and beyond past crawford and onto the hills leading to bigger area ,this will surely be a massive obstacle for any birds that were racing this route ,now i am sure these wind farms give handouts in the way of cash payments to local communities that are effected which makes funds available for village hall repairs etc also a yearly payment is also made thereafter,i am sure if pigeon organisations that were effected because of these obstacles interfering with there main line of flight the clubs effected will be given similar grants worth seeing into ,at the cost of 1.8 million each a few quid to a pigeon club would be a drop in the ocean (or hills )

Quite nice morning here although cooler

Good reply John ,tennis ball does wonders after couple of days prob solved ,would also agree with other reply could be bit overfed cut out the protein and keep them we bit short should sort prob if they have been cankered and are free from respiratory.

We are getting murdered with our birds now no matter which route we go ,but midland fed proved what can be achieved by holding a direct line ,also have to say they have one of the best in the business at race controlling with Andy Mckie ,no risks taken just patience in letting members try to establish a team if the weather ain't to good for the weekend they just adjust there programme with no dissent,as i say someone who is always on the phone continuously checking the race route for the good of his fellow members .

Where i live 30 mls north of first drop into gretna where birds split ,eastriggs annan dumfries all break to the west ,langholm to the east only leaving hoddam and lockerbie to come north ,i only ever school my youngsters to just south of ecclefechan (hoddam) which is approx 23mls after they get dragged all over dumfriesshire first race soon sort themselves out and come north on there on ,if they cant they are stupid and not worth worrying about ,never train after there first race for obvious reasons although i did from the 23mls with darkness youngsters first year i tried it and was getting a drop of sixteen plus in three minutes ,most important thing to me by far is there health and condition if that's right everything else is easy to them .

Bloody nightmare for you and getting worse by the year ,a lot of our fed members shouting to go back west as we are also taking a hammering east ,the nest site must be very close to liberation when you have been hit by a family of them think they need fed midweek

Very Overcast here at present.

I have stated all along that some of the finest racers were bred of old birds between 10-15 years of age ,quite simple really if they are still being kept in your loft at that age they are obviously something special and have been bred down from your original proven stock ,if you check the breeding of some of the finest European birds they are mostly all bred from old stock ,breed some wonderful young from an old cock or hen paired to a yearling

Sorry never heard of that one ,basically as Steven says miss out the fells then OK ,good ones LOCKERBIE ,APPLEBY ,STAINMORE ,LYMM ,STAFFORD BAD ONE'S SEDBURGH SEDBURGH SEDBURGH -LEYLAND AT A PUSH BUT IFFY WEATHER GOT TO BE GOOD GOOD LUCK

Spot on its the liberating 12miles south of shap at sedburgh it sits on top of hills with great open moorland but they get murdered on release and once chased down through the valley wont face coming back ,as for leyland - lancaster don't seem to get a good enough run at fells in front of them ,if they hold a west line from leyland they are on the wrong side of the hills and into maryport workington area and they don't seem to be able to get out of the mountains that surround them ,fantastic racing from lymm must hold a different line ,we intended missing out sedburgh area after 2 appleby's and jump them straight to lymm but vote went east ,perhaps next season .

Never had a tablet over his neck ,kept the youngsters of him last year ,put the first two into race team this year but am keeping the last bred hen as it is his double ,don't no where he is getting his energy could do wae some

You are 100% correct no clashing but still wouldn't send the wife to SEDBURGH once you get to lymm you will get good races its sedbergh -leyland that clean us out .