Yorkshire Lass

Dad's raced pigeons since the 60s and doesnt send yearlings to Lerwick, infact as a yearling they dont go to the first Thurso either but end their season with Thurso in July. Racing North Road as people have already said is very different to South Road racing. Many a person in our local area have said "you could race a paper bag North and still win" but on trying to turn North they have found it to be far from true. North roaders have more bird of prey to face, valleys and mountains and the unforgiving and very changeable North sea. The 23 miles of the Channel is crossed in minutes and the pigeons should be able to see land all the way. The Lerwick birds see nothing and have to have excellent racing and homing instinct. Over the years I've known some excellent Lerwick races but on the other hand I've known plenty of disasters.

Sadly we've had the nasty experience of a stoat in the loft this week which has wiped out 5 pigeons. We have traps set in the loft but not yet caught anything. Does anyone have any good bait tricks to help us catch the blighter? Thanks in advance

The race was excellent despite showery conditions here in Yorkshire. I see from the NRCC website that the provisional winning velocity is 1333. The results shows 40 birds with the bottom velocity dropping down to in the 900s. I understand conditions on the island were perfect - did you take any pictures of the liberation this year?

Just thought fanciers further down the country may like to know we have reports of three birds back into North Yorkshire which were liberated with the NRCC this morning at 6am. I believe (although these are only reports; nothing concrete) the first birds landed about 3.30pm and would have flown approximately 430 miles. Good luck to everyone else waiting for arrivals.

"none home as far as i know" The poor pigeons. Don't you think there are any back from Lerwick at all?

Yes, they certainly are! I started off with Dovey who won Dunbar but then was sadly lost. Thankfully his son Frostie has taken over and has one win and two seconds to his name with other top ten cards. His daughter Icicle also won and had top ten cards! Dad and me have great fun every Saturday betting if Frostie will be in the top ten!

Hi Paul, firstly I'd like to say I have every sympathy with you. As a fellow north road racer it seems this season has been one of the very worst in history. Our Fed also had a bad race from Fraserburgh in May and again from Thurso last week. Our team alone is halved with some fanciers calling it a day for the old bird season. I appreciate Roland's comments although think they have come across very harsh. I myself logged on to the forum last weekend to try to ascertain why we had suffered a bad race from Thurso. The comments and support I received were most welcomed. We all know that whilst many fanciers say 'you could race a paper bag on the north road' the elements and obstacles that our birds face are far more challenging than any south road birds encounter. If it's any help the weather in North Yorkshire yesterday was warm although it was late in the day before the blue cloud broke through preventing the chance of starting to train the young birds. I have friends up at Newcastle where I believe it was misty most of the day. I've found using the Met Office weather website very useful as it allows you to get the nearest weather observations meaning you can check visibility and wind speeds. I do wholeheartedly hope you get some back today. Which organisation were you racing with as it seems strange when the NRCC held over?

It seems to me that it looks like the pigeons have run into fog as well as being battered by strong southerly winds. We have just done the club result with the leading pigeon only doing 852ypm with many birds still missing and two fanciers having none back at all. One of my favourites has just come in the last half hour although is absolutely flown out. We had a very hard race from Fraserburgh at the beginning of May and the pigeons look both physically and mentally exhausted and there is still half the season to go. Please keep the weather reports coming as they are much appreciated.

I wonder if any other fanciers can shed some light on why the birds of the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Combine had such a bad race yesterday? We were up at 6.30am into a Fresh SE wind and personally we fly just over 300 miles. Although the wind was a challenge for the birds it appears something else prevented us from having a good race. Pigeons were very few and far between on the day with some fanciers not getting a feather. We would love to know if it was just the wind (how strong was it in Scotland) or whether the birds hit rain or more likely fog on-route. If any fanciers down the East Coast of both Scotland and England could shed some light it would be most appreciated.

I've found it! It on the Race results page if you scroll right down to the bottom http://www.nrcc.co.uk/RaceResults.aspx.

The link doesn't seem to work and looking on the NRCC website I can only see last years result. Having raced from Lerwick a few weeks previous we know it can be a hard race..

The link doesn't seem to work and looking on the NRCC website I can only see last years result. Having raced from Lerwick a few weeks previous we know it can be a hard race..

We don't know why the local 'yobs' seem to have it in for the pigeon transporter. We have reports that the lib site is in the middle of what seems to be not a very nice area with many drug dealers present (although this is only word of mouth). We'd like to know if other organisations have the same problems. On a different matter it has been confirmed that Harry Cartwright of Beeswing has won the Queens Cup with a bit of help from his Granddaughter Emma. A full report has been sent to the BHW and will hopefully appear this week.

Next weekend the pigeons of the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Combine were due to race from Fraserburgh. The first Fraserburgh race earlier in the season saw the three race convoyers threatened by local residents/youths resulting in them fearing leaving the cab for the abuse they were receiving and for the pigeons welfare. have any other organisations experienced this or do any local fanciers know of an alternative site in the area we could use? We will be racing from Elgin next week although have not always had good racing from here.

What fantastic pictures, thanks to the photographer for enlightening us and proving to all what a fantastic morning it was weather wise in Lerwick yesterday. Glad to report most fanciers have 100% returns, Dad and I included! As Scribe for the Yorkshire North Road Fed and LCC I wonder if the Photographer would let me have copies of the pictures to accompany my article in the British Homing World? I would obviously give you the credit you deserve for these fantastic photos and the fantastic website you have.