Kyleakin Lofts

Welcome to the site.

The ring price was held at the same as last year, so I reckon you mean the membership fee. It was dropped from £17 to £15. The 50p to Medical Research was kept the same. There are more reductions being looked into for next year.

Basics is on FB. Don't use it, so it may just be an info page leading to here.

Cracking looking pigeon and great stats.

Looks a good midweek programme.

Happy birthday.

Which route do our pigeons really take from Barcelona? Part 2. In the first part we presented our project using geolocators. How we came to these devices, why we use them and not GPS loggers and how the first tests went. The Barcelona weekend was of course D-day, now it had to happen. Jelle Jellema had three pigeons basketed with geolocators and had the necessary confidence in them not to let us down. We all know now that Barcelona 2013 was a very tough race which only the valiant ones came through. The straight line distance from Barcelona to Nijverdal is 1260 km so under these circumstances it certainly was no piece of cake. Of the first four arriving pigeons there were three with geolocators. These are the pigeon’s arrival times and the provisional National results of the ZLU: 18.58hrs 08-2027103 332nd National (113th hens) 19.39hrs 09-1783744 423rd National (138th hens) 07.01hrs 08-2027077 847th National (253rd hens) From this we can safely conclude that the geolocators do not impede the pigeons from being able to put up a top performance, a lot different to all the GPS loggers that we tried earlier. The same weekend Ultsje Jellema sent two pigeons to Cahors. Ideally both flights would overlap and we could establish the route taken by the pigeons and we could use the data from Cahors as a Page 2 reference. Cahors, the cock that Ultsje sent had a number of leg feathers clipped so that maximum light could fall on the geolocator. Of the two pigeons he sent one was lost, the other was listed as the 3rd Steggerda pigeon and 18th in the Frisian Fondclub, 09-1653620 timed at 15.51 won a decent prize from 901 birds. After returning home, the geolocators were read and the data analysed. The computer programme developed for this makes it a breeze. The data is then presented as in the picture below: Figure 1: Two beams with wave patterns. The top bar is a shrunken view over a longer time period. The area blocked in red is the part selected (11th and 12th July 2012 in this case), which is then shown magnified below. The blue pattern shows the light intensity on the day. The light intensity is shown on the vertical axis, graded on the left starting at 1 and rising to 100,000 lux. Horizontally, the times of the day are shown between a green and red vertical line. The green and the red line shows that the light increases (sunrise) and decreases (sunset) from and to around 10 lux (twilight). The night between them is very clear; the light level is not far above the 1 lux. From anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere it is known for each day when the Page 3 sun rises and sets. This is used by fanciers to set the times for neutralization or hours of darkness. This data, and the amount of light that the geolocators have saved, makes it possible to calculate where the pigeon was overnight. A very brief explanation is under Figure 2. Figure 2. Showing the earth with the sun to the right. The bold circle around the earth is the boundary between day and night. To the left of the line is the night on earth and to the right, where the sun shines, it is day. The right globe shows the earth about 12 hours later. The sun is still on the right, but the earth has turned almost 180°. Circle B now gives the boundary between day and night. Now if we want to find the place where the sun rose on the left and where 12 hours later it rose on the right, then it must be at a point on both A and B. This position is where the two lines intersect, indicated by a red asterisk. If we know the times of sunrise and sunset and the date we can calculate the exact location where these lines intersect and thus the position around midnight. Four pigeons, five nights. In the first part it was indicated that the geolocators have mainly been used in research on migratory birds such as waders, swallows and terns. These species move over a greater period of time and therefore there are many observations available over that long period containing many nights. So we used a device that Page 4 is not specifically designed for racing pigeons, which is a shortcoming. This did not allow us to show anything with the data from Ruffec, because it was just a one day race and the pigeons did not have to stay out overnight. For Barcelona we knew definitely that the pigeons would be out overnight and also Cahors the heavy flight conditions made for an overnight stay. This information we could use to make our calculations, based on the assumption that the pigeons would not move between sunset and sunrise (although this is not necessarily a fact). In addition, there must be sufficient light received, otherwise it is only possible to estimate the latitude as it is a lot harder with longitude. For us this was the most interesting aspect as we wanted to know whether the pigeons went along the west coast of France to fly home or along the eastern side, so we needed to take the risk. Below we describe each pigeon and the results we now have: F956, trip with two nights. On Sunday morning at 7 am this pigeon was back home, so for the experiment this was perfect because she was twice overnight and therefore can be calculated with more certainty. The luminosity which has been recorded is shown in Figure 3 but it is not of the intensity shown in the loops in Figure 1. The moments of liberation and homecoming are marked with a red arrow, which are clearly distinguishable. It is also striking that the light pattern on day one is much more stable than the second day. Only in the afternoon of July 6 there appear more lines which could mean that the pigeon on the first day travelled a shorter distance. Figure 3: intensity of F956 during the period July 5 / July 7. Page 5 F957, Second to the loft. A smooth but hard trip for this hen that was home just after 7.30pm on Saturday, she was a little over 40 minutes later than her loft mate who came first. Even with her you can see the wave pattern and a clear peak at homecoming and at liberation. On July 7, she is already in the loft, which means the sunset is less well defined; we have manually marked this (solid red line at 6 th July evening instead of dotted line). The measurements in the afternoon clearly increased between three and seven hours, producing a clearer footprint. Figure 4: Intensity of F957, morning flight July 5 th to evening July 6 th . F958, first to the loft. This was the first hen to arrive with a geolocator at 18:58 and is the 3 rd pigeon in NIC Borne. It has a much more stable light pattern than F957, both on the first and on the second day. Striking on her first flying day is the brightness reduced at night, just before 2100 pm, she would then be roosting (almost 12 hour flight). On the second day there is a dip in brightness around 1400 hours (1600 hours our time), perhaps a drink break? We cannot retrieve the intensity measurements or the temperature. Page 6 Figure 5: Intensity of F958, the first home on July 6. The F960 at Cahors, a different picture on the same day. With this cock of Ultsje we first trimmed the leg feathers so that they would keep the geolocator free from the shade as much as possible. The fruit of this is shown by Figure 6. While the three hens at Barcelona show intensity values between 1,000 and 10,000 lux, this is very different for F960. The light levels are truncated at 100,000 but during the afternoon of July 5 they were probably still higher. It is also a much less erratic pattern, although of course we are dealing with a more constant airspeed and altitude. The liberation at 14:00 (12h UTC) is clearly visible, as well as the return the next day at 15:15 (13:15 standard time). Figure 6: Light intensity measured during Cahors F960 on 5 th and 6 th July. Page 7 For F960 there is more data available because Ultsje Jellema has been in the habit of weighing the pigeons. Regularly the weights of the pigeons are recorded both at basketing and returning so the condition gradient becomes visible. Pigeons being prepared for basketing put on some weight and pigeons generally lose weight before they arrive at home. The amount of weight loss also says something about the deviation of the flight line after all the more distance a pigeon travels the more fat they will use to get home. These measurements have now been available for several years and have been already developed in a graph which is shown in figure 7. As the pigeons have to travel more miles, the percentage weight loss is greater equally if a pigeon is flying a little it does not need to consume too much energy. In particular, the steepness of the line can be used to say 1) whether a pigeon is economical in its energy use or not, and 2) how far a pigeon has been flying if you know what the weight loss in % has been. Figure 7: weight loss versus distance, the result of three years of weight measurements U. Jellema When F960 was basketed this cock weighed 480 grams and on return a weight of 400 grams, which means that 17% of its weight at basketing has been consumed during the flight. Of course this is not an exact science, because while staying in the basket one pigeon might eat and drink more than another, causing weight in the digestive tract. With this weight and the early prize (direct Page 8 flight) we can deduce from the figures that this pigeon must have flown between 900 and 1100 km, roughly. This seems to be fairly accurate. Probable overnight place. Previously this technique required all kinds of complicated calculations to adjust and determine the location nowadays this happens in the background within the program. The key question is, where were the pigeons themselves during their stay? That is, given the low accuracy of this technique it cannot be said with certainty. As indicated above, the latitude especially is pretty accurate and clearly 5° east was not the latitude for all three pigeons. 5° east is important because almost the entire Rhone Valley is at that latitude. In the table below are the probable coordinates displayed for the 4 pigeons. The latitude is a lot more secure than the longitude, which may differ just one or two points, meaning that the pigeon may have been found 50 km to the north or south. Furthermore the distance “as the crow flies†is shown in the last column. This shows that the pigeons fly more mileage than we account for, for all four pigeons deviate from a straight line, F960 is still the least on the first flying day. That is also the closest to an average rate of speed of a pigeon with moderate headwind. Table 1: calculated on eight sites and perpendicular distance from liberation to night landing place. Of course, these coordinates can also be plotted on a map, and we have done that in the final image. GEOLOCATOR NR. FLIGHT LATITUDE LONGITUDE DISTANCE TO NIGHT LANDING PLACE F956 BARCELONA 51 3,7 1090 km (2nd Night) F957 BARCELONA 47 1,7 633 km in 11 hours (57 km/h) F958 BARCELONA 49 1,2 835 km in 13 hours (64 km/h) F960 CAHORS 48 3,7 480 km in 7 hours (70 km/h) Page 9 Figure 8: Markers of the Barcelona birds night spots (A, B, C), the blue marker shows the night spot of the Cahors cock. At the top are the two lofts of Jellema Sr. and Jr. and under the planes the liberation points Barcelona and Cahors It is striking that the F960 from Cahors has picked the easternmost night spot. This pigeon is on the same latitude as the F956 and we know that she was at home on July 7th at 7 pm and may therefore have been sitting just two hours from the loft. This means that they are already close to the Belgian border. Where this pigeon has been the first night is to less well known and we Page10 therefore prefer to omit it until we have better information. The fact is that a lot of pigeons came home much later than Jelle’s three pigeons, since all three have earned a neat position on the result. On Monday they were still timing in Belgium and also in (Northern) Netherlands with less than 25% home. These pigeons have spent the night further south than the pigeons in this experiment and it is obvious that they remain "stuck" in the Rhone Valley or that they have gone around the Pyrenees for their first night. The map above shows that all pigeons have taken the west coast of France route to go home, something that no one had expected in advance. Depending on the location of the home loft, it can be better for the pigeons to take the east side but with the Mistral present it may not be the easiest route. "Detours" on the west side are perhaps more inviting under harsh conditions, in addition to which many Dutch pigeons have used this route for all other flights. So this first analysis of the data gathered with the geolocators has given us a small glimpse of the potential route home of our Barcelona pigeons. Our experiment is not over yet, because we have two pigeons equipped with a geolocator at Orange and it is intended that F956, 957 and 958 go to Perpignan. We will tell all about that in the final Part 3. Jelle and Ultsje Jellema, Wiebren van Stralen wiebrenvanstralen@duivensites.nl

Which route do our pigeons really take from Barcelona? This question has intrigued us avid marathon flyers for a long time now. For this international classic not only has a magical attraction for pigeon fanciers around the world, it is also surrounded by mystery and stories. The pigeons immediately after they have rounded the shoulder of the Pyrenees fly to the North via the Rhone Valley, so at least some experts argue. It is in the Rhone Valley that the notorious mistral winds cause the characteristic hard flights and make it difficult for the Western European enthusiasts flying against a head wind. Others claim that the pigeons quickly deflect to the west of France, because they are accustomed to flying that route from liberations at Pau, Bordeaux and St. Vincent. The message provided by the PIPA radar gives a beautiful image of the timing pattern but is inconclusive about whether they have passed the Massif Central to their right or left. Unfortunately in the current state of the art it is still not possible to follow the exact GPS track of our pigeons but we did not let it sit there. Previously we had tried to use small GPS loggers to capture the pigeons route despite the weight (14 grams), the lightest little logger out there on the market today, but it was not a success. The pigeons refused to do their training flights with the group and went back much earlier than the others on to the roof or in the loft. If you are a fancier then you know this is wrong, especially if this is still the case after an adjustment period. Scientists have tried this, but it was with pigeons that only have fifty kilometres to fly home. At the beginning of this millennium the National Le Mans, Blois and Bourges pigeons in the Netherlands and Belgium were equipped with GPS loggers from Italy, but again they did not bring the dream answers. Other fanciers like Roland den Blanken and the organizer of the one loft race Derby Page 2 Arona on Tenerife sometimes had their pigeons equipped with a GPS logger, but it showed that it was not easy to gain something useful and really was distracting. The pigeons are affected by these heavy and clumsy devices and you dare not use them if you want them to have some chance of a top prize. GPS loggers are excellent in terms of accuracy but far too heavy due to the battery (10-20 grams) needed for the chip to work and register. So we had to find something else. Through various contacts we finally came across geolocators, tiny data loggers that provide information about the daily position of the birds using the measured light intensity. These devices have already been used attached to the back of swallows that were caught and ringed by volunteer ringers of the Vogeltrekstation (The administrative centre for bird ringing in the Netherlands.) (See photo above of a swift). Even small songbirds have already been successful with these geolocators, as well as waders and other shorebirds. In weight and size this is an ideal device just over 1 gram, about as heavy as a chip ring. After some emails with the Englishman James Fox of the firm Migrate Technology we decided to take a chance. So 6 pieces were ordered and a device to read them. The accuracy of the geolocators is at most 50 square kilometres and it is an absolute requirement that at least two days data is collected. The suns rise and fall are necessary to determine the correct latitude and longitude in the Northern Hemisphere so they are only suitable for flights where at least one night out is involved. At Barcelona, a distance of almost 1300 kilometres, this was virtually guaranteed so we took the gamble. The chip rings have holes and with a tie-wrap we could tie the geo's in the ring, see the picture below: Page 3 First test Ruffec. Three pigeons with a geolocator were sent to Ruffec. Logger number F959 and F960 on pigeons of Ultsje Jellema and the third F869 on a pigeon of Wiebren van Stralen. They were attached to proven pigeons, as the loggers cost too much to lose on risky pigeons. The geolocators register the amount of light (in units of lux), and possibly also temperature and conductivity (to determine between wet and dry). As mentioned it is necessary that there is a night between liberation and the return home, this did not succeed at Ruffec unfortunately because the pigeons were liberated in the morning and all three were back home that evening. The information brought back by the pigeons offered us no information about the route, but we can derive some other things from the recorded data. It is a learning process, such a project, so everything is included. The sensitivity of the geolocators is very high; the lowest value which is set is slightly more than 1 lux in which a man cannot see a thing. Daylight, indirect sunlight 10000-20000 lux, well lit offices about 500 lux while quite a cloudy day 1000 lux and twilight is about 10 lux. We could from the data at least deduce when the pigeons flew or were pottering around the loft, when they were basketed, when they were in the dark truck and when the pigeons were conducted in the car etc. The liberation is quite perceptible in the data set, as well as the homecoming. At the same time after a first test case you can find things that can be better. The data from the two cocks that went was clearly different from that of the hen; she recorded significantly greater amounts of light. Feather Shade is the new word that we acquired, the loggers probably sit too much under the tail or the feathers on and around the upper part of the pigeon’s leg. Page 4 Barcelona and Cahors After proper co-ordination and collaboration with the NPO, Department Friesland'96, NIC Borne, NIC Noordwolde and Nic Balk, not to mention the ZLU preparations could be made for the Barcelona race. Jelle Jellema basketed three hens with a geolocator attached to the ring, the first nominated and two decent pigeons, so confidence was high. The markers at Borne were informed and when the pigeons were presented, as required by the ZLU for a control rubber and wing stamp they had a picture with a description of the geolocators printed in front of them, provided by ZLU Secretary Hub Wetzelaer. Everything went smoothly. The liberation took place as expected on Friday morning. At 9:30 the pigeons with geo F956, F957 and F958 departed from the beach of Barcelona for their epic journey home, the weather left nothing to the imagination, it would be very hard. On Saturday July 6 at 18:58 Jelle clocked the first nominated pigeon, with a geolocator! On Sunday morning they were all back home, mission accomplished. Ultsje, at the National Cahors sent two pigeons; the cock was trimmed around the top part of the leg, to try all ways as best as possible. Cahors was also about this time a night flight and one of the two pigeons brought the happy geolocator home on Saturday afternoon. The data was read out on Monday morning and is now being analysed. As soon as we know more we will report it, because it would be wonderful if we can reconstruct the route of these flights? Ultsje and Jelle Jellema and Wiebren van Stralen wiebrenvanstralen@duivensites.nl

Nice photo Billy.

Good morning all.

Stuart Potter of Coalville Leicestershire NFC Certificate of Merit Award winner 2017 by John Clements I am finally writing my last article on the NFC Certificate of Merit pigeons of 2017. Those who have been following this series of five champions will know the NFC Certificate of Merit is awarded to those individual pigeons that have flown Tarbes (the NFC longest race) three times at least within the first 200 positions in the open result. This is no mean feat - in fact it is exceptional, for since the inception of the award in 1979 there has been less than 40 pigeons who have qualified (an average of One a Year) and are listed every year in the NFC Handbook. . A Tony Cowan Idea This award was first proposed by that well known auctioneer, Tony Cowan of Hampshire. Tony’s inspiration has since proved to be 'far seeing' for it has found the few exceptional pigeons that have proved themselves consistent at this distance. The view at the time the award was founded was that there would be many if not hundreds of individual pigeons who would qualify over time. Tony disagreed with this assessment. Events have proved Tony right and his critics wrong. As I have already said there have been less than 40 in 38 years. ‘Hard Power’ versus ‘Soft Power’ The usual materialistic 'hard power' approach with pigeons based on fitness acquired through work - geographical position or - how much the original stock costs, does not cover this type of pigeon. There hasn’t been a winner through the ages that has’t benefited more from a ‘Soft Power' approach aiming for mental happiness in the pigeon, contentment in the loft and friendship between fanciers. Soft Power in our sport is at last becoming recognised as being more of a vital factor in marathon pigeon racing than anything else. Materialistic measurable stuff (Hard Power) of feeding and training. . do not work when it comes to cultivating a three times Tarbes pigeon. This finding is usually not spoken about because soft power is difficult to express, difficult to measure and difficult to put into words. Imagain’ Stuart Potter’s pigeon has an unusual name. It's called 'Imagain' a name derived from Stuarts wife's remark when she sees the pigeon arrive. Stuart, for one reason or another, has never actually seen 'Imagain' arrive only his wife has seen it who then calls out ‘’it’s him again “ as the pigeon hits the loft. She must have shouted it many times over the years or at least every year for the last three years. ‘Imagain’ Tarbes Performances Three times Tarbes 661 miles 10th Section 142nd Open 2015 3rd Section 53rd Open 2016 8th Section 128th Open 2017 ‘Imagain’ - Him Again - the Potter `NFC Certificate of Merit award winner of 2017 Problems Many things about ‘Imagain’ are typical marathon racing with ‘imagain’. For a start he is raced on the natural system. He is paired as late as April so that the moult is not too advanced when Tarbes comes around. He rears one youngster and then is sent sitting on eggs from the second round. This appears to be a laid back approach but ‘laid back’ with much planning behind it from the initial ‘pairing up’ to the big race marketing date. Everything has to go perfectly but some years this is not so. ‘Imagain’ occasionally had to be sent straight to Tarbes from an inland race point. This is not perfect - ideally there should be a prep channel race prior to Tarbes - this is the aim but problems arise but really good pigeons as I have found out writing about them, tend to overcome problems of strategy. . . . . For a start Stuart has a Hawk problem - Sparrow Hawks have been known to fly into the loft and then do a rapid turn about and fly out again. Stuart has to physically stand over his pigeons when they take a bath. He also has had the odd Peregrine fly with his flock as they exercise. The Peregrine in level flight cannot hope to catch the birds and the pigeons know this. All this appears to be a risky way of managing pigeons but it has in fact turn out to be beneficial for the birds get street wise to raptors - so streetwise pigeons can look after themselves during long marathon races when all sorts of hazards are bound to crop up especially when a pigeon attempts Tarbes. In 2017 Stuart sent six pigeons to Tarbes and got four back. This is a pretty good average in this the most difficult of all NFC races. Pedigree When it comes to pedigree or the source of blood there is a mixture but mostly from local sources. These are mainly gift pigeons; - these were from the Glover brothers from Ravenstone, J & H Williamson at Coleorton and Ron Mitcheson, These are all top distance fanciers. In the past few years Stuart’s good friend Jack Howe before his retirement bred Stuart a few late breds These were mainly Glover's crossed with Cedric Barker's, who is a very knowledgeable long distance flier from Loughborough. Again an example of soft power expressing itself through friendship by fanciers trying to achieve the same thing and not by money trying to buy success. . This method seems to disprove the theory that wads of money or huge investment is the only way to success. When it comes to Marathon racing this is not so and has been prove time and time again. . This is especially true when top individual pigeons are required to repeat their performance more than once in subsequent years. These are different pigeons - different than one good year but nothing the next season. These are pigeons that have reliability bred into them. Looks and Build I have attached a photograph of ‘Imagine’ which confirms my favourable view of the pigeon, it’s build and it’s posture. This is the sort of pigeon I myself would love to have in my team. A pigeon with a good head - wings wrapped around the body and a pigeon not showing pronounced wing buts more common in sprint explosive pigeons. Still staying power is there with a huge chest cavity able to process a lot of oxygen for many hours. Undiscovered Gems I have enjoyed writing about Certificate of Merit pigeons. I hope I have been able to express the fact that these pigeons are different. They are individual pigeons that have been allowed to express their tenacity, by virtue of their inborn natural instincts for self preservation. . For the most part this instinct responds better by being left alone rather than being interfered with. These pigeons don’t want interference they want contentment through a ‘hands off’ management style. If the fancier can restrain himself the rewards are enormous. If he can’t restrain himself he will inevitably ruin a pigeon that in other hands would turn out to be a champion. ‘Soft Power’ more than ‘Hard Power’ is the underlying message for this type of pigeon. These pigeons are one of the last undiscovered gems in a modern pigeon world that thinks mostly in terms of speed being always better than reliability.

Looking good.

Another good read.

Good read.

Just the time of year I think. Once people start breeding and racing it will pick up again.

That's good, but the writing is on the wall for a few clubs and it looks like it is only going to get worse.

The memberships are shrinking, so clubs and feds will close. This is the reason we should be pulling together instead of trying to split for personal gain. Feds should be helping each other by sharing transport costs, etc.

Good morning all.

Good morning all.

I would certainly agree with you Derek. What is the saying, "Distance kills". Some just don't have it and that includes the fancier because ensuring they are prepared properly is the fanciers job. I think that for distance, the bloodlines are paramount.

Taking the over-complication away, that is what I said. You know your family because it is established. You breed towards the type that has won for you in the past. Blood will tell, so you have a better chance than those who continually cross good winning lines. Winners, that is where the luck comes in. It used to be called the nicking factor.

Breeding winner to winner, you are hoping that the winning genes pass to the offspring. Breeding winner to winner on line gives you a better chance of the winning genes passing to the offspring, especially in a well established family. What we are breeding for is not looks, it is unseen, so chance plays a very large part in the outcomes. It is expected that you stack the odds in your favour by staying on line. You need to know when to introduce a cross and after introducing it, you have to breed it back out of your family. This is easiest done when breeding on a male line. In that instance, the cross would be female. Owen occasionally posts on FB.

Very good book Ryan. You are spoiled for choice down that way for top bloodlines. Loads of International fliers as well.

Welcome to the site.