Pompey Mick

That's the way to do it!

The NFC liberated at Cholet at 7.30 in a light and variable wind, birds cleared well. Good luck to everybody

Portsmouth 07.30, bright blue sky, clear, calm. The Isle of Wight ferry is disrupted due to fog in the Solent, let's hope it's local.

Solent up at Messac 7.00, No wind

Solent fed at Messac

Have the ETS systems got retentive memory similar to the T3 whereby you can go back to the clock a get another readout at a later date, or is everything wiped after the race is finished.

Looks a real mixed bag windwise, Northerly in France, West in the Channel and Southerly in England according to www.xcweather.co.uk Weather looks good though with plenty of sun forecast, lets hope they're right.

Lovely outlook Paulo,it must be a pleasure to race pigeons to that location. What,s it like on race days, do you get to see plenty of racing kits going through?

The Solent had a very good race from Messac 208ml with near 100% returns in my club, the weather here in Portsmouth on Sat was cold & overcast for most of the morning but brightening with sunshine in the afternoon but with a cold northerly wind blowing. Visibility was good with no rain. I put a short video of the Liverpool liberation on an earlier thread.

I think the deciding factor was the cold headwind, a definite shock to the system for the birds after what has been a mainly warm start to the season. Return wise we had a good race from Messac 208mls, but the birds were really showing it when they came, looked like they had flown a hell of a lot more than 200 mls. As for the Portsmouth lib for the NW fanciers, the birds did eventually get away with no sign of any batches locally during the afternoon, and no reports of strays in local lofts. I would have thought the later libs would have fared better, but the there was reports of appproaching rain later in the day which probably was the deciding factor in letting them go at 8.00. How did the later libs fare?

What is the safest remedy to remove light oil or grease from feathers? My last return from Messac came Sunday afternoon looking very wet and bedraggled, but he must have found cover in an industrial site because he's got oil on his head,throat and back. Any ideas would be helpful.He doesn't seem to have swallowed any as he's out flying okay today, just looks a mess.

Got my last bird from Messac at 3.00. It hasn't stopped raining in Portsmouth since 8.00 last night.

We discontinued the Fed strike in the Solent Fed some years back. Each club does a master strike with TIM before each Club strike.

How was the race, the batches cleared Portsmouth eventually, but fanciers all over Portsmouth remarked on the numbers of pigeons milling about.

8 out of 9 from Messac,pleased with the returns but a bit off the pace.

http://s135.photobucket.com/albums/q156/PompeyMick/?action=view&current=2007_0526libs2605070004.flv

I arrived at the Portsmouth lib site on Southsea Common just as they were liberating, I didn't think they would be liberating until slightly later. There was a cold northerly wind blowing and it was overcast with no sun, but brighter to the east. Visibility was good. Once they were liberated the birds were reluctant to clear, like swarms of bees criss- crossing the skies. Fairly large batches were still visible 45 mins after liberation. The combination of a cold head wind and overcast conditions will make this a testing race. It's 10.50 and still no sun, still cold, but brightness coming from the North. Hopefully the day will improve for my own race from Messac, up at 9.00. I will post the video as soon as I've downloaded it

Solent up at 9.00am Messac light NE

Just got back from a cold and overcast Southsea Common, Portsmouth after watching the Liverpool birds go at 8.00. Very slow to clear in a cold northerly wind, large batches still visible 45 mins after lib. Good visibility but no sun, I would think that a testing race is on the cards. Hopefully I wil be able to post a short video later.

Portsmouth, 07.15 Very overcast, light wind, clear air

Hopefully here are all the photos I took on Southsea common of all the transporters there. http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mickjhnsn/album?.dir=/76bbscd&.src=ph&.tok=phLZ1yGB4zczwjS4 You can download them for a better look

Here's some more transporter photos

We went to Fougeres with the Solent Fed last week and the fed bill totalled £1977.00, that was a Friday night basketting and 1676 birds went at £1.18 per pigeon. Next week we are Thursday night basketing for Messac with a below 1000 birdage predicted which will give an anticipated price of well in excess of £2.00 per bird for 208+ mls. and it will only get dearer with the 7day rule in force.

As Secretary of the Milton Homing Society I must congratulate the following members for their outstanding performances in the British Barcelona Club's race from Messac. 1st Open Mr/Mrs Mick & Sue Betteridge 2nd Open Barry Robertson & Steve Vaizey 3rd Open Bomber Mellis 5th Open Terry & Lee Austin (1st Bird verified times) I personally think this is a wonderful achievement for a Club who's members fly mainly to restricted back-garden lofts, especially Mick & Sue who's lofts virtually fill their tiny garden.

That velocity was on the NFC early times but was removed, probably an input error on the computer