Big Davie

Hope you get a good race Davie, did your club organise and go here on their own??

Jimmy, last couple of times I've fished the local Calder I've noticed that small bird life is completely absent, I see gulls, craws , and cushies passing overhead but no small birds at ground level, don't even hear anything singing, discussed this one some of my mates but can't quite get my head around this, I used to rake all these areas when I was boy collecting eggs and it was teeming with birds then, can't understand where all the small birds have went too??

Cem, Jimmy, just as I said on my last post I know they are everywhere but for me it is madness trying to race a route that we know for sure is infested with them, again, especially with youngsters, the gain and advantage thing needs to be pushed to the side and fanciers need to think outside their back garden

If their are 24 pairs in London then just think how many pairs are in Cumbria and south west Scotland where it is a FACT that this area holds the highest population of perigrine Falcons in Europe London to some extent can be avoided when racing OB,s I also know they are everywhere but surely it is sheer stupidity to organise a race programme where our birds are liberated within or have to fly through this area every week, and even more so with youngsters when the population of BOP at least doubles at this time of the year, absolute madness unless your training latebreds

Spot on Stuart, been saying similar for years, the inland Nats have also destroyed Fed races from the coast but if they were dropped these could be resurrected, would also give guys a chance to build a team with a view to tackling the Nats when they were ready to do so JMHO

To silver fox, happy birthday ya auld turd

Homer Don't really disagree with any of this, also agree that the programme proposed by the committee was a good one where I voted to adopt same where like yourself I am a member of the SNFC, however there is no getting away from the fact that it was defeated by a large majority and this was because it did not include convoying with the SNFC to three races, if it had it would have sailed through Personally I would be happy with any program that is on the east route, with or without convoying with the SNFC as the west route, especially with young birds is IMO a slaughter house Cheers Davie

Wattie, it absolutely does matter why they voted for this route, you said above that the pigeons come first no matter what, do you think the proposers of this programme had the best interest of the birds in mind when they proposed it?, I can tell you they didn't, they were thinking of position, gain, and advantage where the welfare of the birds and the Fed was the last thing on their minds It is also important that the members realise this so that the whole Fed is not duped into the same situation next season so it is important that the members know why this west route programme was adopted Just to rub salt into the wounds you then hear that the proposer is sending his youngsters with another organisation who are flying an east route programme whilst Lanarkshire Fed are getting wiped out on the west I know there are BOP everywhere but it makes no sense to arrange a race programme that runs straight through the heart of the area with highest population of peregrine falcons In Europe, as I said earlier the Midland Fed were slaughtered down this route year on year, now some of their former members are doing the same to Lanarkshire We should also consider that the last two times we flew this route with Lanarkshire that an EGM was called before YB racing started to change back to an easterly route for YB racing, some people have short and selective memories

Wattie, the body of the hall only voted for racing west because it was the only programme on the table that allowed for the Fed to convoy to three races with the SNFC, if this had been included in the management committee proposal then we would have been east The mans original proposal was incompetent with SNFC race dates wrong and a number of races where the fed could not get in, it should not have been accepted as a competent proposal by the management committee but it was and was voted in for the above reason, i.e. Convoying with the SNFC Having then worked out what flying the adopted race programme actually meant the committee then negotiated a revised west route race programme with the proposer to include correct dates to convoy with the SNFC, they then called a second race programme meeting to vote on the original programme which had already been adopted against the negotiated and revised race programme where a straight vote was the only thing allowed and you were not allowed to speak or have any debate on this and where for me this was absolutely wrong and should never have happened Think we need to return to accepting proposed race points from the body of the the hall on a race by race format at the race programme AGM meeting Not withstanding the above my view is that the members who proposed racing the west route are all former members of the the Midland Fed who year on year were decimimated racing this route and should have known better, and that's putting it politely, where as such my view is that any flak that is directed at them is fully warranted because they were not thinking what was best for the birds they motivated by what they could gain

Danny, don't agree with most of what you write but this is a good post which makes a lot of sense to me anyway

Haven't seen a result like this side I was a boy, so unusual to see anything hand written now days and so beautifully written to boot Well done Avril M if this was written by you

sums up the situation perfectly Paul, great post

They pick the times to show up, hope you get your doo John

Very well done Hugh, really chuffed for you, good to see a nice guy and hard worker for the sport getting rewarded for his efforts

Got my first doo from Alencon this morning' a bit thin but otherwise unscathed' pleased to see it

Jim, think you are spot on with that, the INFC held over on Monday at St Allouestre due to low cloud and drizzle from north coast of Frace to south coast of England, where for me this tells its own story, were the SNFC race control team not aware of this poor weather on the channel?? And if not why not ?? or did they know and liberate any way?.cany understand how they wouldn't be aware of this poor weather ( the Irish were ) and if they new about it why did they liberate??, fckin shocking race where races like this are becoming the norm with the SNFC

Brilliant Mick, well done, good to see something moving this morning

Very well done to all who timed last night' special well done to Eastcoaster and his bean fed no hoper which looks like the only west pigeon on the day, fantastic performance both man and doo, think it's gonna be long day for the rest of us!!!

cant disagree with that Del

Cheers Jock, no hard feelings

Cmon Jock, you know me better than that, I'm a fair and reasonable man ( most of the time ) I'm not blaming anyone I'm only posting what I'm thinking

Jock, likewise, I don't think it's fair to blame the transporter for the bad race Lanarkshire had from Carentan, there were a lot of contributing factors to that also putting it politely Regards Reims last year I think it's plain to see which Nat had the better race that day where for me that could be down to the transporter

Jock you and I both know that you can have a bad race out of any transporter, Including Lanarkshires, but the SNFC have also given us a few Debacles recently out of the transporters they use, for instance Reims only last season and then this race on Saturday from Bedhampton Like you at one time I was all for wicker baskets and shavings but having watched the birds drinking in the Geraldy crates I've changed my mind, we must give the birds every opportunity to be liberated as fit and well as possible so they are able to face the race in front of them, I hate to say it but the SNFC could learn a thing or two from the so called wee national, you only have to look at their races in comparison to ours IMO I agree it's time for change

Cracker PMSL

Was wondering how this race went today Greenlands??