Walter swanston

Roland, Saltcoats and the Firth of Clyde can be really beautiful in the spring and the views over to Arran outstanding,much depends on the weather of course I am sure you will have a marvellous time.

I was cleaning my lofts at 11am this morning,the pigeons were circling overhead,some on the gravel in front of the lofts when the adjacent crow colony started to make a dreadful noise.I came out the loft and found a pigeon with hawk talon injuries on it wing close up on the shoulder the crows were going mad clearly they had objected to the presence of the resident sparrow hawk and chased it off its prey.If I had not intervened the crows would have made short work of the traumatised pigeon.

Someday we'll run our own country

It is because they fear snakes it is inherited memory,

It is by no means perfect yet but before the dreadful tragedy at Dunblane it was most regrettably simple for any eejit to acquire a firearms certificate or a shotgun licence.

Two 2015 birds build a ginormous nest in a nest bowl out of tobacco stalks.They then hatch two babies which are perched on the top of the pile like mountaineers.Everything seems OK and I ring the birds on Sunday.I go out this morning and find one dead on the nest box floor obviously fallen or pushed off this gigantic nest.Question should I discourage this pair from this type of nest building?

Please forgive my cynicism Mr. Stokes but I have spent years of my life in the campaign against avian predators to little avail.I live in a beautiful part of Scotland where tourists are encouraged to visit and view the magnificent Peregrine Falcons

Well I have also completed the survey gotta encourage the eager students at Nottingham University

It's no all black and white this business of running Feds or pubs.A guy applies to join. He has a seriously poor reputation because of a series of past misdemeanours,the members vote to refuse him membership so what then? A guy applies to join he is debt suspended from years ago and has made no attempt to repay so what then? A guy applies to join ,three members say if he joins we leave so what then ? Genuine examples

There is a post on here about attracting recently retired persons into the pigeon game, I believe this a perfectly viable idea. I started in the doos at the relatively advanced age of 63 and have now been a fancier for 20 years ( not particularly successfully) and have enjoyed every minute of my time with the birds and hope to continue for a while yet health permitting. my point is that older guys with the kids gone are often in a financial position to build a loft with advice from experienced fanciers and can afford to but all the equipment required plus the pigeons.I have thought about this quite a lot and would be happy to publicise pigeon racing to older men in the newspapers or whatever.

Hey Roland. Long live the Scottish Republic.

I have been pushing at a securely closed door on this one for years.It is very difficult as you run up against traditionalists who are keen to accentuate the long history of their club and react with unabashed horror to what they see as the loss of identity of their revered club.I must point out that this is a point of view with which I completely sympathise but the facts are that there is strength in numbers and if the pigeon fancy is to survive we must embrace change.Everone in the Solway should know the clubs to which I refer.

Looking terrific Michael.

As always Steven the problem is money

Sorry to hear about your Aunt,Michael condolences fromAnnelise and me.

Sorry to hear you are jacking it, I am sure you have your reasons.I find the doos help me to keep going in my old age.

Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes,am I the oldest on this site.

This stuff 4 in1 can be bought at MurrayFarmcare in Dumfries.They have a website you can google it up

I do not know a lot about this but I know of defectors to the SNRPC

Yes I have checked it and if the SHU council minutes are not enough which they should be I will request written confirmation

I am not too sure about that statement,consultation of the Minutes of the October meeting of the SHU council might indicate the council's approval of the Solway's use of their own system and surely by implication its continued use.

I note that the SNFC website has changed their directive to members regarding the GPS positioning of lofts and now requires that the measurement be obtained using an SHU approved device and no longer specifies any GPS manufacturer.

Stevie,The Solway members were all measured by our own Garmin GPS getting on for three years ago, a move initiated by the then president I forget who he was.These measurements were compared against the SHU Benzing system and found to be accurate