Walter swanston

New roof on the loft this morning corrugated bitumen sheets pigeons now have a bone dry environment ( I hope) .

A few drops of rain and a bit breeze in the south of England usually merits the national news.

Try Solway Feeders Mk.4spring trap

Dickins medal on the Antiques Roadshow tonight awarded in 1942 to a pigeon called Cologne valued at £10'000.0

Must be great to have80 birds flying out all winter, good luck to you around here the local hawk population would regard that as a fast food joint obviously different in Welsh Wales

I thought I would try a change this winter and have the pigeons on en open holeBig change of plan as I have lost two this week to hawks, one stock bird lost from loft and one young bird so badly torn up that she was almost decapitated,so I am afraid that my pigeons will be inside until early April 2014.not the way Iwould really like to keep pigeons.

Federation officials have got to sell this idea to their management committees and to their members at the fed.AGM which is hard enough without having to cope with attacks from out with our own circles.There is no doubt that this is an imaginative and forward thinking proposal ,fanciers must realise that for Pigeon Racing in Scotland to survive we have all got to cooperate and accept new concepts and ideas so that the fancy can change and evolve to meet the challenges which we are faced with.

What's your problem with the Solway,I might have enough trouble selling this idea at our AGM without our efforts being undermined by fanciers from outside our area,I am sorry to say this and I apologise in advance if I offend but there are doubters in the Solway who would be overjoyed with this sort of ammunition.

In 2011 the Solway AGM put a three year deal on the race route on going down the so called west route, this continues until the end of the 2014 season, there have been mixed views on this decision but we have stuck by it.It is my personal opinion that for pigeon racing to survive in Scotland federations must cooperate and indeed where necessary amalgamate and this is a process I have advocated for some years.There is no doubt that it will be fraught with difficulty but I believe that it could be an idea whose time has come.

My typing is f******. Awful

I have spoken about the question of joint liberations for young bird races for some years now and it may be that it's time has come, I intend to moot the subject of an amalgamation of the Solway,Lanarkshire,Ayrshire and Midland at our AGM and I will also raise it in the SHU council, I would he for. Sport for my prosals. Should be hope for sport Should be he for support

I think I might be able to guess who you were talking to Michael,nice enough guy but oh dear !!l

I wonder if it would be alright to ask for the views of the many experienced fanciers on this site over the idea of different federations liberating from the same liberation points during at least part of the young bird seasonFor example Solway,Ayrshire,Midland and Lanarkshire all at different times obviously would this help to avoid the clashing problem?Would the later libs. Help to sweep up babies still lingering from earlier liberations.I know this would be seriously complicated to arrange but is it worth a try?

How do I ety it? Mistype I mean empty it

Same deal with the Solway.Sunday is not too promising either

How mischievous of you Mr.Boswell

Does anyone know if there is training from Elvanfoot tomorrow (Wednesday 4th.) so I can hand over strays, if not I will release them at Crawford.

I seem to have f***** it up 3 copies sorry

I feel that Owen has probably got it right,if I might relate a little of my own limited experience regarding transporters,I bought a transporter for our Fed. 6 years ago amidst great controversy.We had it fitted with the proper type of ventilated curtains for the transportation of pigeons,immediately a great uproar arose over the use of these curtains as it was claimed that the birds were too enclosed.However we persevered and the following season an equally loud protest was voiced that the vehicle was running with the curtains open thus allowing rain and mud thrown up by passing traffic to get amongst the doos.No win situation here for Fed officials.We have tried our best to ensure that the health and condition of the pigeons is not compromised and will continue to do so.

Correct,

Maybe you are right about fanciers burying their heads in the sand but I aint and will continue to do what I can for the pigeon fancy down here as far as yb losses are concerned we intend to look at the problem and hopefully come up with some ideas.