Mr Yorkie

Thanks for putting the posting on this site (I'm the person who posted on another forum); I did mean to last night but wasn't sure how many fanciers on here were in the North East? We believe she may have been stolen for breeding; she was the perfect age and was thought to be due to come on to heat soon. The owner herself wanted to breed from her ironically. The couple have another dog who is lost without her little play mate; all in all it's a heartbreaking story. If anyone can help please come forward.

It was the electric lines. I have actually managed to get both the low wires around the loft get orange balls and have also dealt with National Grid and got corks put on the single earth wire of the big electric pylons around our lofts.

Got ours done at the end of last season; just drop them an email. It does take a bit of time though as it isn't seen as 'priority'.

For the short races the best idea is for fanciers to put themselves out just a little bit and get up early on the day of the race and basket that morning. The birds then only have a couple of hours in the crate so if they don't get a drink it isn't the end of the world and this should hopefully elimate pigeons 'feeling hungry' and eating spewed up corn. Sadly in our Fed the fanciers just won't drag themselves out of bed in a morning and would prefer to basket the previous night so the YB do get stressed in the crate and the chance of illness becomes more likely. As for fanciers surely not sending birds which are ill... This season alone I've refused to rubber a bird with a broken leg and one with half its wing missing. Both times the fancier couldn't understand how they had missed it!

I believe Red Kites are scavengers and eat dead rabbits and the like and do not kill themselves. We have large numbers in North Yorkshire and to be fair they have not caused any problems.

Thanks, it's very strong with us so I'd hope we'd get something before 6hours. This is the last old bird race so fingers crossed for a good race. Have you started with the young birds?

Yorkshire North Road Fed at Thurso. We liberated at 7.30am into a North Westerly. Taylorsloft, how strong is the wind at Aberdeen? It's 309miles to us, how soon should we be looking?!

Yorks North Road Fed up at 7.30am at Dunbar, North West wind.

Well as I say our convoyer Tony Meek is still at Fraserburgh. He's a pigeon man himself so I'm sure if people could get the birds to him before we liberate (goodness knows when!) he would bring them down country and liberate them at Hull (a whole lot closer than they would be). From experience I understand Amtrak do not operate any further north than Aberdeen.

Do you know if there were any day birds? I understand the North & East Yorks Fed raced from Elgin but returns and times were not good. We held over at Fraserburgh due to fog yesterday morning at the racepoint. In North Yorkshire it rained most of yesterday afternoon with thunder and lightning although stopped for a couple of hours from 3-6ish. The wind was a very fresh to strong Southerly so this will also have challenged the birds. We're at Thurso in a couple of weeks so hoping for better weather then, that's if we ever get a lib from Fraserburgh! Welcome to British Summertime!

Were the birds libbed yesterday or today? Our Fed is at Fraserburgh and have held over both days. It's rained most of the day in North Yorkshire so really feel for the birds if indeed they are trying to get through this weather today.

Taylorsloft; what's it's number?

Just to everyone know that the probable winner of the Yorkshire North Road Fed will be Mark Ward winning on a velocity of around 1150. I understand that he did the double on Saturday winning our short race from Alnwick with the daughter of the hen which has won him Lerwick. Well done Mark, you and your Dad deserve it!

We had no idea about this, as far as I am aware the RPRA have said nothing. Is it far enough to mean that we sould have all been remeasured? Wonder if the NRCC lads had any idea?

NRCC Lerwick along with the birds of the Yorks & Lincs Combine pigeons libbed at 6am in a light west wind. Good luck to all, this really is one of the hardest challenges pigeons across the country face.

Joe Shuttleworth hasn't rung us yet to let us know they're off so you've beaten him to it! Thanks for all your postings about Lerwick the last few weeks. Even though we haven't sent I hope everyone has a fantastic race with good returns.

Unfortunately it's raining in Thirsk although the strong Southerly wind will at least help the birds.

Had a good race out of Dunbar this morning for the birds of the Yorks North Road Fed. Pigeons were up at 5.45am; a good decision by the race controller viewing the forecast for the day. Clocked in around 8.30am when the weather was still fine.

Carl, I know you're not knocking Joe; I think he flies a fantastic pigeon and is one of the nicest fanciers I know. Which club do you fly in and how many miles is Lerwick to you? Love the picture of the stock birds being released. The Shetland Islands are somewhere I would so very much like to go and visit to see the wildlife and the beauty of the island.

Joe's a good friend of ours and I wondered if you were referring to him! Sadly we don't have any for the Lerwick race this year having suffered losses from Thurso and Fraserburgh. Good luck to you, hope Joe's system works!

Does anyone have any remedies for stopping moths eating the feathers of birds? We have used moth balls, fly strips, duramitex and other disinfectants and used smooth edged feeders and drinkers but nothing seems to cure the problem. Each day when emptying out the water trough there is always a few dead moths on the water surface. It's not affecting the racing of the birds as they are still winning but doesn't make them look good!

What's the Shuttleworth system?

Sadly not but thanks for asking.

Its glorious sunshine in North Yorkshire with very little wind and a pleasant temperature so if any birds have come in land they have ideal conditions. Hope you have a better race than we did yesterday and get birds into Geordie land soon!

Can any fanciers shed any light on why we had such a poor race from Thurso yesterday? We sent 18 birds and had 4 home on the day and none to press this morning. Speaking to other faniers last night birds were very few and far between with about most fanciers having about 80% of their birds missing. Reports seem it was good up the North East of England coast but if fanciers down the East Coast of Scotland could let us know if it was fit for racing it would be much appreciated.