magpie

Was really looking forward to racing from Nantes tomorrow with the NFC after not going to that race point for quite a number of years, then on the day of marking it suddenly transpires that the race has been switched to Cholet because "the French authorities won't allow a liberation from Nantes" Can't find anything on the NFC website to add anything further but surely these problems should have been anticipated ! I know most of the posters on here appear to be north of the border - but can anyone throw any more light on the subject ?

Velocity just under 1500 to South Coast from Fougeres with NFC but with the wind picking up from the SSW after fog cleared, I reckon we needed to be 20 minutes earlier and the Bristol boys will dominate the open result again. Still we got all ten in an hour and with such a big spread of birds along the coast that's pretty unusual for us shorter NFC flyers and bodes well for the future.

Messac with the British Barcelona Club, l80 miles

British Barcelona club up at 11.05 at Carentan in NE wind. Timed just over three hours for little over 100 miles.

Saw a most unusual scrap when taking my terrier for a walk in the woods tonight. Heard a commotion in the treetops and looked up to see a sparrowhawk attacking a grey squirrel which eventually beat a hasty retreat. Can only imagine the squirrel was after the sparrowhawks eggs - never thought I would be on the side of a tree rat.

Presuming you are talking about this year's young birds I would say don't be in too much of a hurry until they have been flying for at least an hour around the loft at a time and preferably disappearing for long periods (called ranging). Even then it will be a long time before young bird racing starts so you need to be careful not to tire them of the basket before you want them at their peak. Best of luck !

Sparrowhawks usually swoop in when the pigeons are on the loft etc, the birds try to take off but are knocked down before they get up to full speed, pinned to the ground and eaten alive. As a result most sparrowhawk victims will be found fairly close to the loft. Peregrines are a different proposition and can catch their prey in full flight and are strong enough to carry them off. Very much doubt if a cock or hen sparrowhawk could carry a fully grown racing pigeon very far.

Kept our birds in all winter because of raptor problems and only started letting the stock birds and some latebreds have open loft a month ago after pairing up. Since then seven have gone missing. Only found a few piles of feathers in the fields around the loft until earlier this week when another went missing and was found dead (partly eaten) in the garden with classic signs of hawk attack. Today another cock which had flown Tarbes disappeared and its body was found not far from the loft in similar circumstances. We haven't seen a sparrowhawk but everything points to that being the culprit. It's just soul destroying and makes you wonder whether it's worth continuing after over 50 years in the sport. The widowhood team have been paired up for a week now and ideally we would like to start letting them out to get a good hatch and to let them fly themselves fit for the season - but until the attacks stop that would surely result in more losses. Mark my words, this problem will be the death of pigeon racing if we don't find an answer to it quickly !

Looks like another terrible race into the West Country from across the Channel with the NFC. Any north in the wind seems to stop many of the youngsters from crossing the water and the west just pushes them along the French coast. Even the old hens have struggled today with Mike Staddon of Crewkerne doing well to win the section again at under 800 ypm.

Seven ybs and 5 old hens to Fourgeres with the BBC. South East wind forecast in the Channel so hopefully better returns than last two Channel races with the NFC and CSCFC when the West Coumntry birds really struggled into the strong NW wind

Basketed 10 today for the NFC race from Carentan and hoping for better weather along the coast than we had last week with the CSCFC from the same racepoint. Forecast says NW wind over the channel so it won't be easy for ybs.

Sometimes the weather beats even the best birds. In the local specialist club, which boasts a number of previous national and classic winning fanciers, only 26 birds were timed in from CSCFC Carentan out of 140 which for a race of around 100 miles is little short of a disaster. Also on Saturday I gather one club flying from Littlehampton with the West of England SR Combine, whose line of flight should have taken them through our area, had just six back out of 100 - a clear indication to me that the rain and fog along this section of the South Coast was the reason for the poor returns locally.

Very wise decision. It's been pouring with rain here in Weymouth/Dorchester area since about noon and the forecast is dire. Hope you get better luck at Kingsdown.

Not a lot better in Dorset this morning I am afraid. Very grey, some slight drizzle, visibility a little better than yesterday but no wind at all to move the cloud.

Glad to hear some people had a good race - you couldn't have had the weather we did today. Perhaps you'll get it wet and foggy next week and it will be finer over to the west - and then of course they'll be held over !

Only just seen your post but I would imagine your birds are still at Portland which has been under mist and drizzle all day. Even when the weather improved slightly in South Dorset around 3pm the low cloud was obscuring the top of the island completely from the mainland. The forecast is a little more promising for tomorrow and I will post an update on weather conditions here in the morning.We were also with the CSCFC at Carentan but we had no hope of getting among the prizes given the prevailing conditions and consider ourselves lucky to have at least got 7 out of 18 back by nightfall.

Some birds have now worked into our area and hats off to them because it is now pouring with rain again after a brief dry interlude. Visibility on the Ridgeway between Portland and Dorchester has been down to about 100 yards all day but it has obviously been better inland and further along the coast or they would not be doing the velocity they are into Hampshire. Think there shouild be a good chance of getting them into Worcester if, as seems likely, they came in to the East of the Isle of Wight.

Whoever decided to liberate these birds needs a kick up the backside ! The weather in South Dorset has been terrible all day with mist restricting visibility down to a few hundred yards with thick drizzle on and off since early morning. It may well be ok further east but surely to completely shut out one area is very unfair and will cause fanciers around here to seriously consider whether to continue to support an organisation which clearly has little regard for the welfare of our birds. After three and a half hours and flying just over 100 miles we have still seen none of the young birds or experienced old hens we sent and with the weather showing no sign of improvement the likelihood is that very few will make it into this area today - just another nail in the coffin of pigeon racing as the numbers of fancier decreases in what was once a hotbed of top national flyers.

Central Southern Classic FC basketed yesterday for Carentan (on the Cherbourg Peninsula). If the forecast is corrrect it looks as though they could be there until tuesday.

Well it's been a week now since we dropped 40 of our 70 young bird team in that disastrous toss and surprise. surprise, not another bird has shown up and none have been reported. From that number we had expected the odd one or two to make their way home and as they were all stamped we thought something might get reported. Must be a big black hole somewhere which just sucked them in !

Took our 70 youngsters for a 40 mile toss last Thursday in perfect weather and knew we were in for a bad one when the first came back alone after three hours following a 10 am release. By nightfall only 25 had made it in ones and twos, five more returned the following day and so far that is it ! Previously they had all been to 25 miles about four times and 20 had been raced to 60 miles the previous Saturday. They had been ranging well for up to two hours the previous couple of days so there is just no obvious explanation as to what went wrong and where they all went. All I know is that after 50 years in the sport the disappointment of things like this is becoming too much to bear and it won't be long before I give up the ghost like so many others appear to have done just lately.

Only reason I can see why the Tarbes International birds were held is because of storms well to the east of what would have been our birds flight line and therefore a hindrance to the Belgium, Dutch birds etc. Will they think of us tomorrow if, as forecast, a weather front comes in from the west.....no prizes for getting the answer right ! On the subject of internationals - will we ever learn the truth of what exactly happened with the theft of birds at the Barcelona race. Supposedly one basket of cocks was stolen while they were at the lib point - but I know of one fancier who was informed that his entry had been taken - and it was a hen. Also there are rumours that many birds clashed because of the way the transporters were aligned and a lot of dead ones were collected after the liberation. Hopefully there will be an inquiry into this disaster (apparently still only around 2,000 are back a week after 26,000-odd were released) and lessons can be learned or a lot of fanciers from GB will not bother again.

It's a fallacy that widowhood cocks won't compete at the distance - we've won our section in NFC Tarbes and British Barcelona Club from Palamos, second open BBC Bordeaux and plenty of other positions at the distance with widowhood cocks. But it's no good pairing them up early and hammering them down the road every week from mid-April if you want them at their best in late June-early July.

Lots of media making great play of the fact that the breeders of Dream Alliance, Mr and Mrs Vokes, used to breed racing pigeons and won the Welsh YB national before switching to race horses. If we had someone who was really media savvi in the RPRA we could be getting some very good publicity for our sport on the back of their success !

You just can't beat clay nestbowls and tobacco stalks in my opinion - never had a sign of red mite last year and the nest is how nature intended. Fail to see the point in spending more money on something that is unnatural at best and perhaps dangerous at worst.