Novice

You will only breed better if you start with sound specimens. Even a complete duffer can have a world beating pedigree but will breed nothing of value. Don't become obsessed with pedigree. It's the bird which is important.

That's ok I have reported it via the SHU. IF he contacts me I will certainly do my best to get it to the Coatbridge area.

I AM IN Beith Ayrshire.

Coincidence or not I have one in tonight SU14L12675 14 digits removed from yours. It looks as though someone has suffered a disaster. I am reporting it to the SHU now.

If you get a trainer in then send him in any weather. If you don't get a trainer in then only send him if the forecast is favourable (not a head wind). I believe that one of the pigeons timed from the SNFC difficult race at the weekend had only been as far as Otterbutn this year a distance of about 100 miles to the home loft. I have no idea what other training it had but if the bird is up for the job he will do it.

I have none away at this race but let's see a bit of confidence in your race control team. Sit back, try to chill and enjoy the moment when a bird hits the loft.

Just as long as it's home safely that is the main consideration. I could have picked it up no problem and dropped it off as I will pass through Lanarkshire tomorrow training.

No he only just heard about it!

Personally I would play safe and do one at a time but that is not speaking from experience.

Ok thanks we use the golf course site. The convoyer thinks the golf course is a good site but access may be poor for your larger vehicles.

Is this the site at the Golf course?

Frank I know there are devices which transmit but wondered about the range and weight of them. If I remember correctly the hawk which was shot by a fancier about 2 years ago was fitted with one.

Are we talking really sophisticated devices here? As far as I am aware the ones sold by Gem required the bird to return home to download the information onto a P.C. I know someone who has done this in the past and found that there were irregularities in the path his bird took which he explained as hawk avoidance.

I could be wrong here but I don't feel that the SNFC had great returns From Maidstone. In fact I know that returns into Ayrshire were only about 50%. There could be various reasons for this but I know I had 9 home from 15 sent. Personally I feel that the Maidstone birds went straight up the east coast sheltering from the strong westerly wind behind the hills. When the birds had to turn into the wind very few did so homing from a North easterly direction. Therefore as far as I can see pigeons returning into a westerly location found the race very difficult irrespective of whether they were released in the east or west. I agree with Hotrod that clashing is almost impossible to avoid when racing from the east. There is only one solution to this and that is to race North and South convoys on different days. Joint releases would help as well.

There are some key words in this post-----survival of the sport. Choosing east or west of the Pennines is not the answer. The main population of Peregrines is at the home end and anyone who races into the west must face this this hazard irrespective of the route chosen. The answer lies in a coordinated effort by fanciers and the only way we can legally do this is to restrict the food supply. This can only work if it is coordinated and the only body which can make recommendations to do this is the SHU. At key times racing from South to North East of the Pennines when The English are racing North to South defies logic. We need to do this on different days of the week. Best wishes to your grandfather!

I believe her on is Stuart Wilcox who is a pigeon auctioneer. Someone must have contact details for him and that would be a first step.

I think the citizens of Killie need to get their priorities right. Pigeons come first.

Magic I laughed out loud then !

Did Janssen Brothers own white pigeons then?

One of them is in my loft now with a fresh race rubber on and I know for a fact that the other did not arrive home and I assume it will be in the loft on the line of flight that it has called into twice this season already. However the fanciers will quote these missing birds as lost due to a bad race and probably blame the race controller. I fully expect to be asked to return bird 2 to it's owner when I attend marking on Thursday night.

Having raced down both sides of the Pennines (that was for the benefit of Stuart) losses are similar on both routes. I would suggest that returns on the west have been better this year (to my loft) even though some of the birds return later showing signs of hawk attacks. I have had very few returning late when we raced down the east. I assume this is because when they meet an obstacle on the east side of the Pennines they cannot navigate west because of the wall of hills so their choice is to turn through 180 degrees and fly south or to attempt to fly round the obstacle by navigating east where there is a fair possibility that they will become exhausted over the sea. Basically we need to address the raptor problem in the west by restricting the food supply at peak demand times then race down the natural route where we actually have an idea which flight path the birds will follow.

I delivered 2 strays to their home lofts last Monday. Both birds were back on the transporter for a 125 mile race on Friday. Neither arrived home on Saturday. Many fanciers either don't care or have no idea how to race pigeons.

That would exclude you then !

Do you post this rubbish seeking attention?

Bright and sunny in Ayrshire