Walter swanston

Stephen I nearly always use the pigeon club laptop while plugged in to the electricity.Is this OK

You look after yourself Tooshy, like yourself racing pigeons are a major part of my life, but your health must come first especially in this terrible weather.I had to pour boiling water over the gates and loft doors this morning everything covered in ice I really hope your con dition improves.

When this matter was discussed between the Minister and the SHU it was suggested that the sparrowhawks should be re-located somewhere in Scotland well away from existing pigeon lofts.As a relative of mine is very fond of saying "ABSOLUTELY CRAZY".But it ai`nt funny at all rest assured no govrernment official or politician will give the okay for the use of lethal force against these predators.

To make this affair as simple to understand as possible it is not that the Scottish Government is in anyway corrupt but like all politicians they have an almost supernatural abiltiy to sniff out where the votes are coming from.I have seen this in action at meetings of the countryside and wildlife committees of the Parliament where they are addressed by advocates acting on behalf of RSPB and other like associations.The pigeon fancier is given a hearing alright but you can see when you speak that you are addressing a bunch of stoney faces and closed minds and it is difficult to combat the skilled advocacy of a trained lawyer.Finally I would not worry too much about this vicarious liability business this law has been framed with landowners and gamekeepers in mind.

The whole business of internet sites and chat lines with minority interests such as this is fraught with dangers which should be obvious and I have noticed with approval the ever increasing vigilance of the administrators of Pigeons Basics in quashing posts which could cause difficulties.I applaud their efforts. I hope this post does not sound too patronising as I do`nt mean it to be.

Unikon here has been good with us

I hate to say the words but England deserved the win.Scotland were absolute f****** rubbish

Scotland will win

Heavy snow in Moffat, hadtro clear the snow off the satellite dish so as to watch the rugby.

Yes I can understand where you are coming from all right. You might care to know that Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland where I live is a beautiful part of Scotland and depends heavily on the tourist industry.Many of the entrepeneurs, hotel owners and caravan site proprietors have no compunction in inviting tourists to our region so as to view the magnificent pergrine falcons, buzzards and recently introduced red kites.Tourism attract large sums of money to the region and the protests of pigeon fanciers mean very little to the local authorities.So far as our ten year campaign against the depradations of peregrines and sparrow hawks is cocerned this was run by the Scottish Homing Union whom I should imagine would be able to furnish you with details.An example is that legislation exists for local authorities to issue licences to fanciers to deal with sparrow hawks around their lofts( this involves re-location not killing I must point out).So far as I know no local authority in Scotland has ever ever issued such a licence and I doubt if they ever will.However the RPRA has resouces at its command that might enable them to do something I wish you well

Why should I be bored of course I am not bored Darren,but I am certainly very cynical.I have seen it all before.We in Scotland spent around 10 years amassing the extremely detailed evidence much the same as you quote.I myself have given evidence and pleaded our case in front of committees of the Scottish Parliament all to no avail.I say again the power of the opposition is beyond anything we can do despite the expenditure of large sums of money pushing our case and the efforts of fanciers all over Scotland.If you find my attitude unhelpful I regret that and I have to confess I do not know what the answer is but I can tell you before you start you will not get a political figure to support pigeon fanciers, its all a matter of votes.

I have read these posts with some puzzlement.In Scotland a properly made out search warrant signed by a Justice of the Peace or a Sheriff indicating the alleged crime and the property sought is required and can only be enforced by Police Officers.However I am not sure of the powers of DEFRA officials but I am reasonably sure the RSPB minions have no legal right to enforce a search warrant.It would seem to me based on the information so far that some person has made a complaint about the medication brought in from France.

Tell you what Darren .The SHU has asked and pursued all of your 7 questions.The result total waste of time, effort and finance.The entrenched interest of the RSPB are far above and beyond anything the RPRA can muster.Darren my friend I speak from experience.

Thank you for the suggestion.Lindsay After struggling for about 2 hours finally downloaded Hawkeye looks promising ., Regards Walter

i HAVE east coast software and I hate it.It is designed for commercial pigeon breeders not ordinary fanciers total waste of money.I have tried to download Hawkeye (comproware) without success,probably my own lack of computer knowledge, I am back to notebooks and scraps of paper

Please allow me to thank the members of this site for their complimentary remarks on the Solway Federation web site which was set up about four years ago at my suggestion and after a lot of work the site was designed by our Federation secretary and his family and the success of the site is all down to him.I firmly believe that all of us who are placed in prominent positions by pigeon organisations should make every use of all the latest technological advances so as to bring the fancy into the 21st. century while never forgetting our heritage.

Well you know who has done the work Stephen tell me if you think there would be any appetite in the Solway for any age races like Pentland have arranged in late September and October

First heard this so called joke about 50 years ago it was a secterian joke then.Just as offensive now as it was then

Thank heavens for Cameron he is an enormous help to the SNP