Novice

Very well said Walter!

Once again many thanks to everyone who has offered congratulations to me on this site, on others and by phone and text. I am really grateful. Just to illustrate the ups and downs of pigeon racing I trained my racers today---not far about 25 miles flying and yes you can all imagine what bird was last home. I went from a high to rock bottom in the space of 24 hours because of 1 pigeon. Now I wonder if sending a pigeon on which has done well is really worth the emotional trauma. We could do it in the past with a degree of certainty but now pigeon racing is so random I really wonder.

I'll tell him John but I am almost certain you will see him before I do!

Thanks to everyone for the congratulations. Amid all the downs associated with pigeons there are definitely many highs. Most of these highs are people related.

On the page about the Buckingham race there is a section which says this race has been concluded---click view results.

Well deserved. The smoke inhalation certainly did her no harm.

The pigeons I have home 11/15 are in great condition so well done to the convoying team.

Yes indeed it's Speedy Reid.

Wrong thread with first post. One in Beith Ayrshire at 11:14.

One in Beith Ayrshire 11:14

According to the met office the visibility in the Preston area was poor to moderate from before 09:00 till after 14:00 so even if it wasn't raining it was not good racing weather.

I had a visit last night from a young fancier who witnessed his youngsters being herded into a ball last year by 2 adult Peregrines. They kept the pigeons in this formation to allow the young peregrines to dive into them several times. Obviously this is their training routine. This happened in South Ayrshire and my birds must find their way through this irrespective of where they are liberated. The bonus is that when they are close at hand we can start work to alleviate the problem.

Mine are ok. I have lost fewer birds racing down the west than I did down the east last year. I have lost more training than I have racing.

Absolutely correct. If a change of route is envisaged then the time to do so is with youngsters of the previous year. Ayrshire raced youngsters down the east last year then switched them to west this year. That, in my opinion, was ill conceived.

With the first race just around the corner do you guys all have the paperwork to hand?

There is very little sun and full cloud cover in some areas. There are also pockets of mist with little wind to disperse it. Hard to believe while Scotland basks in wall to wall sunshine.

The simple fact is that birds who have a home loft in the west must pass all the obstacles which the west has to offer. There is no way to avoid this.

Possible Cumnock or New Cumnock.

For anyone interested these guys race into the Cardiff area.

ok Thanks for that they are definitely at Nantwich on the 31st. If they are Welsh then that is all to the good. My fear was that they going in an easterly direction. Thanks for the replies I will phone the guy- Mr Bowen tonight.

Does anyone know which area this organisation fly into? The reason I ask is that they are liberating about 25 miles from my federation on Saturday and I would like to have an idea of their line of flight. I can always phone the race controller but thought I would try this method first.

Dull in Ayrshire but brightening up later I hope.

I lose very few in winter. Peregrine attacks start around the second week in February. There are so many migratory birds in this area in winter that keeping the birds confined has little impact. The highest losses occur when their young are fledged and learning to kill. That is when we should confine our racers and fly only a few select youngsters.

We can all do our bit in a small way. However, that will only tackle the tip of the iceberg. We are the reason that the Peregrine has prospered-we feed it. We need to start from scratch and rearrange our breeding and racing schedules to restrict the food supply. It can be done easily but needs to be coordinated at the highest level.

The wind is a concern but so is the fact that forecasts are changing every time I look at them. Even now different forecasts paint a different picture. Maybe that's just the fact that some are updated more often than others but it makes life complicated.