Ian McKay
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No reply on that number
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SU 17 AB 1846
Aberdeen Central club
Sec
Scott Robertson
Ph. 0780 232 3934
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Silver City R P C 7 members sent 141 birds to Thornton approx 80ml
Liberated at 7.15am into a S W wind
1st. E & K Elliott 1735.914
2nd A Baxter 1712.472
3rd I Ellis 1654.361
4th M Main 1640.678
5th I Ellis 1615.512
6th I Ellis 1609.912
7th E & K Elliott 1539.341
8th E & K Elliott 1531.165
Ian Ellis wins the food nomination
A Baxter is going to have a lovely well earned rest in Portugal have a nice time Arthur from your club mates
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1412for me Andy
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Silver City R P C Aberdeen 7 members sent 141 birds approx 80ml our first young bird race from Thornton in Fife
Good luck to all members racing
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The Joe Murphy Column
I noticed last week the Barcelona international liberated 17.000 birds at 08-05 British time on Friday 7th July with 94 UK members sending 279 birds. At the time of writing this article only 8 birds have been clocked in 4 days. With the Padfield Family timing the winner on day 3 flying 757 miles and just over an hour and a half later they timed their 2nd pigeon to win 3rd prize. D Winton & son of Chadwell timed the 1st east section bird flying 700 miles and are looking in 2nd place. Bob Bate of Lovedean wins the centre section and is 4th open flying 674 miles and R J Goodard & son of Reading wins 2nd centre section 5th open flying 711 miles. The last 3rd day pigeon was to SR & WH Knox of Tyler Hill winning 2nd east section 6th open flying 686 miles. Then Mark Gilbert of Winkfield has a bird just after 07-30 on the 4th morning to win 3rd centre section 7th open flying 707 miles. Mr & Mrs S Rhodes of Aylesham timed before 8 o’clock to win 3rd east section 8th open flying 680 miles. Well done to all who managed to get a bird home in this very testing race yet Holland and Belgium seemed to have had a better race altogether.
SNFC
Continuing from the disaster of the Alencon national we then turned our attention to the Ancenis race were 76 members sent 184 birds this was broken down into the following sections Section A (south section) 61; Section B (east of Scotland up to Edinburgh) 28; Section C (Fife Dundee & Angus) 17; Section D (From the Forth Bridge into West Lothian and Stirling) 22; Section E (Lanarkshire) 48; Section F (Glasgow & Ayrshire) 2; Section G (Aberdeen and the north of Scotland) – 6 birds. The convoy were liberated at 06-15am on Saturday 15th July into a variable wind, west/south-west turning to south/south-west. Information from the convoyer was the birds cleared the site in one batch heading in north-west direction. The forecast for Scotland and the north east of England for the Saturday was full cloud cover and rain and that is what happened the whole day. The Scottish Open (golf) officials brought forward the start of play for the 3rd round earlier by 2 hours as the European Tour officials confirmed adverse weather conditions were forecast with 35 mph west winds for late afternoon Saturday and Sunday as they wanted play concluded by 16-00 hours. The Formula 1 race from Silverstone shown on TV that the weather closed in and they did not have good visibility. You will see from the weather reports I have included into this article that there was a band of rain coming in from Ireland all the way across to York in the east side of England (these were publicised prior to the liberation) and yet we still went at 06-15 hours. Why did we not wait and have a midday liberation and even if the birds made it into the midlands they then had a clear run home on the Sunday. The BICC had 3192 birds at Le Mans and they waited until 09-00 am before liberating the birds on Saturday 15th July into blue skies and sunshine. Their report stated that the convoy cleared well in a very light north east wind the weather in France is very good with visibility on the channel shown as excellent, the winds are shown as SW force 4/5 this was compiled by John Tyerman & Mark Gilbert BICC race advisors. The reason for the later liberation was to allow the bad weather (drizzle/low cloud on the east side and Midlands, so it was clear when they came in during the afternoon) which is shown on the. They had over 300 first bird recorded arrivals from Le Mans and France was completely clear and that includes Ancenis. The BICC leaders were doing high 1400's and even Ray Anderson from Washington (Tyne and Wear) clocked at 21-32pm flying 489 miles so had a good race with several fanciers reporting they had excellent returns. However there were no birds recorded into Scotland from Ancenis on the day and Sunday started much brighter with the sun out but it was also a strong west wind. The first pigeon on the web site was to E Hodgson & son of Annan at 09-58 on Sunday morning then another south pigeon to W F Van Neil at 09-28 (He is having a good year and this should be 1st section A) then a bird into the west of Scotland to Jock Alston of Ravenstruther at 10-00 to win 1st section E and 1st west section. There was not another bird reported until near 5 o’clock at teatime. When we had D & R Osbourne of Locharbriggs in the south section timed in at 16-43. Tom and Mary Paterson of Plean in Stirlingshire timed one at 17-25 for 1st section D with Jim Sanderson of Pathhead a double 1st open SNFC Nantes winner timing at 17-39 to win 1st section B. W J Smith of Maxwelltown in the south section timed at 18-18 then word of George Veitch of Pencaitland (last year’s Gold Cup winner) timing in at 18-30 for 2nd section B. We then had word of 3 south section birds on the Sunday to Craig Halbert of Eastriggs (who has won the last 2 nationals from Ancenis) timed at 18-39 and E Warwick of Brydekirk times at 19-37 and Derek Nordon of Langholm 19-37 and the final bird on the day was to Derek Hay of Kirkintilloch who timed at 23-13 in the dark. (more about this later) 12 Gallant birds made it home on the second day then on Monday W McDonald became the 3rd section E pigeon in the race timing in at 06-55 with Davie Jamieson of East Calder timed at 07-18 to win 2nd section D with Jim Wood of Uddingston being the 3rd section E bird home from the race at 08-58 and finally John McNeill of Broxburn timed at 11-31 for 3rd section D. These are ALL the pigeons reported on the lib line and as you will see NO PIGEONS in sections C or G which means no birds made it north of the Firth of Forth. 16 pigeons home from an entry of 184 from the very best long distance pigeons in Scotland which is disastrous. The cream of Scotland’s long distance pigeons has been destroyed in the last 2 races from Alencon & Ancenis which has put fanciers back years. Let us say the pigeons were put down in the York area when they came up against the rain. These are were old experienced racing pigeons who have been over the course before so they would have sat there and when the time came they would have had a drink from the puddles and then headed home. But this never happened as you can see from the above result. OK the first 3 birds maybe did this as they are home the next morning but the pigeons that came in the afternoon and on the Monday must have done most of their flying on the Sunday. So they were further away BUT the question is where?? And what has happened to the rest of the birds? The SNRPC liberated their 517 birds at Arras at 06-45 am into a west to south west wind on Sunday 16th July. They had NO BIRDS on the day and as I write this column they only have 27 birds home from their entry. If this club has had a good race then we could have blamed the SNFC officials but they have experienced the same thing. As other major clubs throughout Europe have also suffered you just have to look at the Barcelona International race. Monday’s weather forecast said it was to be bad in the middle of England but the charts at night showed a clear map of Britain and said it was a beautiful day. However as I upgraded my weekly report for the BHW on Space Weather is showed that the K index figure was 6 which was very high and this had not been predicted. So maybe that's the problem? Is there something in the atmosphere that is affecting the birds homing ability. We all know there is something wrong and I do not believe for one minute that the race controllers don’t give a dam because they do. However maybe they should be more meticulous in their duties and use the technology that is around at the present time i.e. web cam; weather stations throughout Europe etc. It is endless were you can obtain information from and the World Wide Web is now at our fingertips. The Scottish national Flying Club is the ONLY club that caters for ALL of the country; the people from the North section pay their fees the same as everyone else and are entitled to have a chance of winning the national. Early morning liberations in races when the birds can only make it into the south section are unfair. Not only on the north section but on everyone else who has pigeons at the race therefore if it means midday liberation to suit EVERYONE then this should be carried out.
I have spoken to many fanciers over the past few weeks and with the losses experienced at Alencon and now Ancenis this has torn the heart out of the members. I have been in the sport since 1970 and have never spoken to so many downhearted people in all my life. They are absolutely distraught with the loss of their birds and some will NOT be back until there are changes made within the club. I asked the following lad if I could put his email in my column to prove that I’m not making these stories up he wrote; ‘Dear Joe, I completely agree with your article on the Scottish National to give all fanciers a level playing field and, as for the Alencon race I entered two birds - one four year old hen that had flown the channel three times before and the other a four year old cock that had flown the channel twice before. I have been a member since 1966 and to say I was completely downhearted and questioning why I was punishing my birds is an understatement, but today 13th July, after spending the day at hospital, I came home to find the hen I'd sent to Alencon had arrived back home. I cannot describe the feeling when I saw her. She was as light as a feather and could hardly keep her eyes open. I have promised her not to send her again. I hope the Scottish National starts thinking about what you've said. Keep up the good work. Best regards Michael Main of Portlethen’. To show the quality of pigeons that are raced by the members of the Scottish National I will highlight birds that have shown their quality in making the Ancenis result.
Band of Rain from West Scotland on day of Ancenis race
View of France 15 July
View of Channel from Isle of Wight
Good SNFC Birds
Derek Hay of Kirkintilloch was going to be on Sunday night the back of 11 pm and as his wife Linda closed the bedroom curtains she said ‘There’s an owl landed on your loft’ and Derek looking out noticed that his sensor light had come on and there was his hen from the race going into the trap. He ran out in his boxer shorts (believe me this was not a pretty sight and I’m glad it was dark as it would have frightened any children or even woman who were about) and yes it was his hen from Ancenis and she was clocked at 23-13 hours. Derek picked her up and gave her a big kiss. (Just as well Linda never saw this) and then took a photograph of her as she nestled down over the top of her youngster. They have now called this blue hen ‘Little Owl’ and she is the winner of 2nd west section 11th open and now wins her SNFC Silver Award. As she has now won 3 times from the longest race point of Ancenis flying 605 miles; in 2014 she won 10th west section 46th open then in 2015 she won 5th west section 23rd open Ancenis. In 2016 she missed winning silver award by an hour from Ancenis but now has completed the task in 2017 so well done to Derek and Linda on this wonderful achievement. See attached photograph of Little Owl. George Veitch of Pencaitland has also won a SNFC Silver Award with his chequer cock, see photograph. This 7 year old was on the probable result from Portsmouth in 2015. He scored from Maidstone winning 82nd section B 210th open and he was then sent to Ancenis and won 6th section B 27th open flying 594 miles. The following year 2016 he again scored from Ancenis winning 9th section B and 49th open and now come up and wins 2nd section B 6th open to win his SNFC Silver Award well done George. On looking at this Ancenis result I checked out some of the other fanciers who timed in and was fascinating how many good pigeons are amongst these 18 birds. D & R Osborne of Locharbriggs timed in a blue bar cock to win 3rd section A 7th open and his cock won 40th open Ancenis last year. My old mate Stevie Ferguson of Annan is the only fancier with 2 birds on this result and is first bird is a red cock that was timed from Ypres in 2014 and then went on to win 33rd open Ancenis last year and now comes up to win 5th section A 9th open. I received an email from Ant Morley who wrote ‘Hello Joe just like to mention a pigeon we bred for our friend Steve Ferguson from Annan. (red cock mentioned above) The sire was bought from your BHW/ Joe Murphy Sporting Challenge sale and was bred by Graham White of Dumbarton and the dam was bred by your son Kevin Murphy and bought as a youngster both these birds were in 2010. 'I hope you find this of interest wishing you all the best yours Ant Morley of Rousell & Morley’. My thanks to Ant for this information Stevie’s 2nd bird is a blue chequer hen who won 4th section A 4th open Ancenis last year and now win 9th section A 14th open Ancenis well done Stevie Boy’. Craig Halbert of Eastriggs won the Ancenis race the past 2 years and is on the result once again. He timed in a blue bar cock to win 6th section A 10th open and this cock won 48th open Ancenis last year and the previous year 2015 he won 5th section A 8th open proving what a good pigeon he is well done Craig. Another household name from the south Derek Nordon of Langholm timed in his blue bar hen that won 17th section A from Roye last year and now she wins 7th section A 12th open Ancenis. W McDonald of Uddingston is 3rd section E 15th open flying 597 miles and this fancier won 3rd section E 18th open from Ancenis in 2015 thus proving he is a true distance fancier. Davie Jamieson of East Calder who has a fantastic record in this Ancenis race is there once again with a chequer cock that won 3rd section D 21st open Ancenis in 2016 and now wins 2nd section D and is again 16th open well done Davie. Another household name from section D is John McNeill of Broxburn who timed the last bird in race time to win 3rd section D 18th open with the same mealy hen that won 5th section D 16th open last year. Now I would like to mention the 1st open winner Jock Alston of Ravenstruther near Lanark in the west side of Scotland. This is a win that no one will begrudge Jock as he has been a household name within our sport as he is a true long distance fancier who is steeped in the SNFC. A few years back Jock won the Scottish Homing Union bird of the Year and the famous Dewar Trophy with his lovely blue cock named ‘Renstrie Reward’ who won 4 times in the SNFC. Jock now wins the SNFC Gold Globe for the 1st bird in the longest distance race in Scotland. He timed his 3 year old chequer hen now named ‘Isabella’ after his late wife, this hen won 62nd section E 481st open from the Bedhampton race earlier in the year. Her sister was Jock’s main candidate for the Alencon race but like so many others she has not returned from the race (he looks for her every day) Bloodlines are the old Scottish bloodlines of Townfoot Goodboy from Davie Angus of Symington and the Stirling cock from Mitchell of Douglaswater who also contained the Townfoot Goodboy bloodlines. Jock informed me that many years ago he visited Louella Stud who had purchased Townfoot Goodboy to see if they had any offspring from him. Michael went and spoke to his dad and came back with an old mealy cock in his hands saying to Jock. ‘This is the last son of him he is 9 years old but is still filling his eggs so if you wish to take a chance you can have him for x amount of money’ and Jock paid up and came home with the cock which is in the breeding of his winner Isabella’. As I said earlier Jock Alston is proud to be a member of the SNFC and has been on national results for the past 33 years (which is some record) having won the west section 5 times and 3 times of these were from races from France. Jock believes that the high standards of the club are so important and I totally agree with him but feel these are starting to slip nowadays. For those of you who are steeped in the history of this great club this is the only the 9th time the longest race has been won into the west section. The last time in 1998 when J McGhie & son and grandson of Newmains who the race with a velocity of 800 ypm. (Jock was doing 772) The time before this was in 1987 when Jock Cosgrove & son John of Lesmahagow won the race and the time before this was Willie O’Neill of Larkhall away back in 1964. John MacGillivray & son of Forth won the race in 1956 & 1958 with J R Turner of Carstairs winning it in 1953. You have to go back to 1938 to find the next west section open winner is Smith & Aitkin of Braidwood and the first west section person to win the Nantes race was J Gillespie of Airdrie. Once again our congratulations to Jock Alston on winning the race and to all the others mentioned above on making the result.
Little Owl of Derek Hay
Falaise National
As I write this article the birds have been race marked for the last old bird race or the year from Falaise and Kevin said he has never met so many fanciers so low in all the time he has been helping out at Dundee race marking station. I have also heard that many people are sick at the losses of their beloved birds. I have said it in my column that the officials and management committee need to change the way they are running the club. For Ypres there was a drop in birdage going into the race baskets from 20 to 17 and I believe that this was down to 16 birds per basket this week. However I can assure you that at one race marking station and they STILL PUT 20 BIRDS PER BASKET. Which is crazy as there are only 802 birds sent to this race which is the lowest entry on record; and a transporter going to France with ¾ of it with empty baskets, it beggars belief. I said it a few weeks ago that fanciers were going to join the other national and go to Arras. Maybe the SNFC officials think I was stirring it up well the proof is in the entries. The SNRPC had their biggest entry at Arras while the SNFC has now got their lowest entry for the last old bird race of 2017. This used to be the race where everyone emptied the loft and the ones that came home earned a perch for the year but now fanciers either have to keep the birds they have got or dispose of them and call it a day. If the membership does not see changes within the SNFC then I can see the numbers of members dropping which is a pity as it has so much history attached to it.
Joe’s Joke
New SIM to Surprise Her Husband
Woman buys a new Sim Card. Puts it in her phone and decides to surprise her husband who is seated on the couch in the living room. She goes to the kitchen, calls her husband with the new number: "Hello Darling." The husband responds in a low tone: "let me call you back later Honey, my wife is in the kitchen’.
Please continue to keep the news flowing; to Joe Murphy Mystical Rose Cottage 2 Flutorum Avenue Thornton by Kirkcaldy KY1 4BD or phone 01592 770331 or Email to joejmurphy1@gmail.com REMEMBER THE J IN THE MIDDLE or log onto www.elimarpigeons.com www.fancierchat.co.uk and www.pigeon-chat.co.uk also www.pigeonbasics.com Pigeon Racing the Basics who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland.
© Compiled by Joe Murphy
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sorted Thanks
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NWHU 17 R 9270
Thanks will get it checked for you
Ian
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Could be Kevin Elliott's will contact him
Which number is correct.?
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The Joe Murphy Column
I’m like everyone else ‘sick as a parrot’ with the SNFC losses from Bedhampton and the Gold Cup race from Alencon and I’m glad to a meeting of the Management committee to discuss the matters of this race will be held. The thing that annoys me most is that these losses could have been avoided. For years we have been using old federation transporters that are not fit for national racing were the birds are in the baskets for 3 to 4 days. These federation transporters are ok for picking up birds on the Friday night and liberating them the following morning. For years we have been putting 22 birds (inland) and 20 birds (channel) into baskets. Last weekend this was dropped to 17 birds per basket for the Ypres race and thankfully this turned out to be a better race with all the open positions won by pigeons on the day and some birds even as far up Spay Bay near Elgin. I have also heard that a bird was timed the following morning in Orkney flying 613 miles. Quite a number of fanciers did not participate in the Ypres race as they were so discussed with the losses from the Bedhampton and Gold Cup race. I have heard that many members will not race again this year with the club as they are so dismayed by the heavy losses that they have put what birds they have left by for the year. While others who are in both nationals would rather send to Arras with the SNRPC rather than go to Falaise with the Scottish national. Quite a number of people have expressed they have joined or are going to join the SNRPC if things don’t change dramatically within the SNFC. The main issue as far as I have been told is TRANSPORTATION of the birds; and too many birds in a basket and the MOST IMPORTANT topic NO access to water on BOTH SIDES of the basket. I have said this before and I repeat myself once again about the amount of money the club has obtained over the years from direct children from National winning pigeons. This happens every year and I can remember a youngster direct from Willie Kinnear & son famous pigeon ‘Auld Reekie’ going for over a £1000 and he won the race in 2004. All this money collected has been put into the club funds and we could have bought at least 2 Geraldy transporters outright during this time. But what happens there are shortfalls on the running of the club and the money from the sales is used to clear the debt and to balance the books. 2018 is not far away and the officials need to hire Geraldy transporters for next year NOW show the members that they accept their mistakes and show a willingness to fix the problem. Because if they don’t then there will be a large drop in membership which also has a knock-on effect as through time the club will not be able to employ a full time secretary.
Death City
The above heading is quite appropriate when you think of the losses from the Alencon race however I received a phone call from Alan Smith of Edinburgh whom I spoke to many years ago and at that time he highlighted problems with using Alencon as a race point. Alan raced his pigeon in France about 16 years ago and like everyone in a new country tried to learn the language as quickly as possible and was soon a member of the local pigeon club. He used to get his birds to fly about 1 ½ hours in the morning and then at lunch time he would go onto the (motorway) to Alencon which would take him 35 to 40 minutes to drive and liberate his birds. Then at night he would again give the birds some exercise round the loft. He worked hard at his pigeons however he could not get into the top bracket of the federation (known as the Groupmont). As hard as he worked at the birds his performances were not what he was looking for. One day a young lady (who spoke French and English) came up to Alan and said that this old man wished to speak to him would he mind going to a local restaurant and joining him for coffee. The 3 of them went and the young woman became the interpreter and informed Alan that the old gentleman was the Champion fancier 20 years ago. He lived near Alan and had watched how much work he had put into the pigeon and when told Alan trained from Alencon the old champion said ‘Death City’ there is something about Alencon an atmosphere he did not know what it was but knew there was something bad about the City. He informed Alan to train from Domfront and he would win with his pigeon and he took the old champions advice and never looked back. Alan told me this story when the Scottish national first started going to this race point away back in 2005 and I recorded this in my column but this information has gone unheeded. Maybe some of the club members will take this on board now and change this race point. Let us not forget Alan is not highlighting this just for the sake of it or because the national has had a bad race this year. He highlighted this over 12 years ago and we have continued to race from this location and to be honest we have not had great races over the years. Alan also informed me of Colin Crees pigeons which you will read below; my thanks once again Alan for your contribution.
Alencon to Spain
Received a phone call then an email from Alastair McCudden of Rosyth in Fife, who informed me that one of his entries at the Alencon race; has been reported by a fancier named Alberto Perez who lives Spain. Alberto is located in Valdovino which is in the region of Coruna and is in the top west corner of Spain just above where Spain borders with Portugal. I googled this and you have the Atlantic Ocean on your left and to the north the Bay of Biscay. It looks like the bird has flown directly south from Alencon (only God knows why). I have emailed the fancier and awaiting a reply. Thought your readers of the column may find this of interest kindest regards Alastair’. I went on Google maps and had a look for Valdovino and it looks like the bird (or birds as I don’t think this bird would be its own) has flown south from Alencon to Le Mans; Tours; Poitiers; Niort; Bordeaux reaching San- Sabastian then heading right over Santander; Gijon and reaching Valdovino on the tip of the coastline. If it went down the coast line as I have mentioned above it is 837 miles or 1348 kilometres and would have taken it 12 hours 12 minutes. However as the crow flies in a straight line over the Bay of Biscay it is 516 miles and would be the last point of land prior to heading out into the Atlantic Ocean. It makes you think we sit in our back garden waiting on the birds to return from a race and low and behold this bird has gone the other way and to be honest there is no way it is going to fly from Valdovino back to Rosyth in Scotland as this is 883 miles as the crow flies.
Good SNFC Birds
The winner was J Gilmour of Ecclefechan who timed in a chequer cock 3693 for a velocity of 1049 to win the race our congratulations to Mr Gilmour well done. 1st east section and 2nd open is Colin Crees of Ladykirk in the Scottish Borders he timed in a mealy cock which is an exception pigeon as he has won 5 times in the top 70 in 5 national races. In 2014 he won 25th section B 68th open Alencon flying 512 miles that same year he also won 13th section B 61st open from Clermont flying 480 miles. Then in 2016 he competed in the Gold Cup race from Reims a distance of 520 miles and won 21st section B 70th open he was then doubled back into the Roye race and won 10th section B 15th open flying 464 miles and now he has come up to win 1st section B 2nd open Gold Cup race from Alencon thus now winning his SNFC Gold Award for 5 times a winner from France. Do not think the above winner is a flash in the pan because Colin won a SNFC Gold Award last year with a chequer cock 594 who won 6 times in the top 63 open positions within 5 nationals. Before going on about this bird you will notice the distance is different from the above winner and I’m assuming that this is because Colin is now measured by the GPS system. In 2014 the chequer cock won 4th section B 10th open from Alencon a distance of 511 miles that same year he competed from Clermont and attained 3rd section B 25th open flying 480 miles. In 2015 he accomplished 1st section B 3rd open from Alencon and in 2016 he succeeded twice being 10th section B 35th open Reims Gold Cup flying 520 miles then into the last old bird race from Roye to triumph being 24th section B 63rd open flying 464 miles to gain the Gold Award. HOWEVER he was sent to this 2017 Alencon race and he was also timed on the day of the race to win 3rd section B 3rd east region (only 3 birds on the day) and 11th open. What a fantastic pair of cocks and when you see from the pigeon press that Colin’s brother Davie won 1st & 2nd open SNRPC Reims last week. My congratulations to the brothers on making history within the pigeon sport in Scotland. Andrew Agnew from Kelso wrote the following ‘Dear Joe, hope you and your family are all keeping well, this is just an update on my good hen ‘Border Belle’ SU13 363 she is Cooremans bred pigeon and has won the following performances. In 2014 she won 8th section B 8th open from Maidstone and then she won 46th section B 76th open from Ypres. In 2015 she won 11th section B 12th open Billericay and was then sent to the Clermont race and she won 122nd open (no section prize) the following year she again had the 2 national races the first from Littlehampton where she won 7th section 15th open and then from Ypres she won 4th section 4th open. This year she was won 314th open from the inland Buckingham race and now wins 5th section B 9th open from Ypres. As you can see Joe that is 5 times in the top 15 in national racing with the Scottish national flying club. She has now secured the SNFC Silver Award and will be retired and be paired to my Bedhampton national winner ‘Monty’ to hopefully breed some more like herself. (What price would these birds be worth on PIPA if raced in Belgium Joe Murphy) Anyway keep up the good work on highlighting good Scottish pigeons Joe I know people look forward to reading about them in your column, all the best for the rest of the season to you and Kevin kindest regards Andrew’. Another outstanding performance from this race was by Jimmy McGinty of Blackburn who sent 2 hens to the race and timed both of them in to win 3rd section D 31st & 4th section D & 38th open with the first a red hen who won 32nd section D 16th open SNFC Roye last year. Another pigeon who won at Roye last year was a mealy hen for Dave Baldie of St Andrews in Fife as he won 14th section C 46th open and now wins 4th section C 34th open with a mealy hen that previously won 14th section C 46th open Roye last year. Gerald Macpherson of Broughty Ferry (just outside Dundee) clocked 2 yearlings with the 1st a chequer hen that is bred from a Jack Alexander of Monifieth cock that contains the very best of the late John Ellis of Wellbank bloodlines. The dam was a ½ sister to Euro Diamond now the reason I know about this is a while back I had in my article that Gerald had let a Brockamp pigeon go as it had stopped filling its eggs. A fancier phoned me up and asked if Gerald had any more of these Brockamp birds for sale. He was recommended the mother of the yearling timed in from Alencon (flying 569 miles) but he refused the offer. The next day Gerald had another yearling home to win 43rd open this pigeon contains Jelle Jellema bloodlines. While on about Gerald his brother Michael who won 2nd open SNFC Reims last year timed the furthest flying pigeon in the result to win 32nd open flying 578 miles. East of Scotland Federation news from John Baillie who write ‘Hi Joe please find information from our members from the Alencon race. John Baillie was 5th section B and 26th open, this 2 year old cock was bred direct from my House of Aarden pair of Padfield family. George Veitch won 6th section B and 37th open this could only be described as a disaster of a race with only 47 birds making it home in race time. However some birds have been wandering in over the past few days with George Veitch's Gold Cup winner ‘Karamojo’ from 2016 came home on the Thursday when we were basketting for Ypres race.
Jimmy McGinty
Ypres
The convoy of 2320 birds entered by 409 members were liberated at Ypres on Saturday 8th July at 06-40 am into a west to south west wind. Margaret and I travelled up to Arbroath in the afternoon and were caught up in football traffic as Dundee were playing Arbroath in the town. Kevin had sent 9 birds to the race and was hoping for a better race than the last national as he did not get a bird home. We settled down to look for pigeons when word came that Dave Baldie in St Andrews had a good bird at 18-12 and then we noticed on the lib line that fellow Angus federation member Davie Glen had timed in at 18-50 we wondered if this was his good blue cock ‘Lowson Lad’ as he only required one more section prize to gain his SNFC Silver Award. It was a bit windy down in the garden and we moved up to the side of the house when all of a sudden a ‘blue flash’ and there was Kevin’s blue hen ‘Lynne’ on the top of the aviary. Boy was she racing and when she landed she fell forward then composed herself. This hen won 70th section C 202nd open Buckingham from 4169 birds. She was then sent to Bedhampton and won 9th section C 26th open and in this Ypres race she won 24th section C 63rd open she had previously won 25th section C 63rd open from Ypres last year and is a half-sister to ‘Lucky’ (same dam) who won 4 times for us in SNFC inland racing. Her mother is named ‘Jenny’ and was bred by fellow scribe Adrian Duggins from his Leo Van Rijn bloodlines and her sire was a direct Leo Van Rijn cock I purchased from Holland with the help of Adrian. Kevin timed in his 2nd pigeon a pied hen to win 43rd section C 153rd open she previously won 118th section C 483rd open from Bedhampton this year and is bred from son of Brian Johnstone of Pencaitland Deanview Blue Star who won both a Silver and Gold Award with the Scottish National. The dam of the pied hen is Bridget a hen bred by John McGee of the Barcelona One Loft in France. His 3rd pigeon to make in 190th open on the national result was a yearling. His sire was bred by the Macaloney family while the dam was a direct daughter of Ron Lilleby famous ‘40 cock’ and was a half-sister to ‘Lucky’ our good hen mentioned above.
Ypres
UK
Lynne
The winner of the race is Dave Baldie of St Andrew who won 1st federation 1st section C 1st open SNFC Ypres with a 2 year old blue pied hen named Rose a Frans Zwols pigeon from his good friend Willie Donachie of Dundee family. Rose is a previous winner from Ypres as she won as yearling when she gained 172nd open against 2324 birds. She also won 1st Federation 1st section C 11th open from Buckingham this year against 4169 birds and now she comes up and tops it all by winning the Scottish national from an entry of 2320 birds; well done Dave and Willie. When I first heard Dave’s time I remarked ‘Chris has been looking down on Dave’. Chris his wife since 1968 passed away this year and it must have been hard for him and the family. 2nd open is Davie Glen of Forfar who timed in his champion blue bar cock ‘Lowson Lad’ this widowhood cock is from Dave’s old Busschaert family of birds that have stood him well over the years and ‘Lowson Lad’ is related to Dave’s 1st open SNFC Ypres 2013 winner ‘Dave’s Dream’. In 2017 ‘Lowson Lad’ topped the federation in 2017 from Leicester and was also 3rd Grampian Combine from the same race. As a yearling in 2013 he won 4th section C 25th open from Maidstone a distance of 401 miles. The next year he won 5th section C 26th open from Maidstone. Then in 2015 he won 17th section C 83rd open from Portsmouth a distance of 407 miles he was then entered into the Eastbourne race which is 20 miles further and he obtained 14th section C 47th open. In 2016 he won his Meritorious Inland Bronze Award for gaining his 5th win from inland national races as an old bird when he won 27th section C 137th open Buckingham flying 330 miles. Nevertheless Dave then entered him into the Littlehampton race and he succeeded again by gaining 22nd section C 56th open flying 415 miles. To prove the quality of ‘Lowson Lad’ and Davie Glen as a pigeon fancier he entered him into the 2013 national race from Ypres a distance of 465 miles and he won 114th open although he did not win a section prize. In 2014 he again contested from the Ypres race point and gained 3rd section C 15th open and now in 2017 he wins his SNFC Silver Award for winning 3 section prizes from over the English Channel. Plus this wonderful pigeon won from the Scottish national race from Buckingham in 2017 and won 33rd section C 100 open from an entry of 6065 birds flying 407 miles. Therefore has now won 10 times in the Scottish National and his reputation as a truly ‘great’ pigeon. I think fanciers will agree he is a truly outstanding pigeon and raced by a very talented fancier whom we congratulate on his success in Scottish national racing well done Dave. Brian Chalmers of Kennoway is 3rd open and he has had a good season with his first bird in the previous 2 nationals winning 15th open Buckingham and he won 44th open from Bedhampton showing the quality of this fancier. Less McKay of Carnoustie is 4th open and he has been so consistent over the years and is a name to always look out for in distance races. 1st section B 4th open is Gordon Turnbull of Duns who flies a good pigeon. Another loft that has a very good race is the father and son partnership of A S Thompson of Port Seton who is 6th & 7th with many more birds on the open result which is a great team effort. They are having a fantastic season just like previous years. 1st section E 11th open is the Macaloney partnership of George Willie & Paul whom you may remember won 1st open SNFC from the first national from Buckingham. Therefore the partnership has won 2 west region and section positions in the same year well done lads. 1st section D 21st open are Jim & Colin Smith of Polmont who also won 2nd section D 4th open from the first national from Buckingham this season. 1st section G 1st north region 26th open is John Thompson of Spey Bay with a yearling Welsh rung cock flying 529 miles. John is another fancier that name often appears on the national result. 1st section F (far west section) 95th open is H Wallace of Newmilns in Ayrshire and 1st section A 187th open is J Ferguson of Annan. This race turned out to be a better race than the previous 2 events and fanciers are happy that the amount of birds in each basket dropped down to 17 birds. Another outstanding achievement; Kevin informed me that a 4 year old hen had been clocked on Sunday morning into Orkney at 10-10 hours flying 613 miles from Ypres to the loft of John Buchan. She is bred from 2 yearlings her sire was bred from John Ellis of Wellbank ‘Surprise’ bloodlines and was bought at a sale his dam was a Pete Patrick of Thornton hen bought at his entire clearance sale. She is a half-sister to Mary the Double Gold Award winner. Dam of the Ypres hen was a gift youngster from Herbert Mackenzie containing some good distance blood flying into Orkney from Hastings 569 miles. This hen flew Ypres last year but was out of race time. John would like to thank the secretary Mary Pryde for her assistance in getting the Orkney entries away to the national. In the East of Scotland Federation John Baillie informs us that the federation had a good race from Ypres with 10 birds on the open result, winning 8th open SNFC and 4th section B is Jim McNeil, this hen is bred from a Taylor Bros of Newbiggin cock when paired to a hen from the late Jackie Blackhurst of Easthouses. Next we have John Bird of Prestonpans in 12th & 14th section B and 20th & 24th open. Richard and Jamie Combe of Elphinstone timed 4 birds to win 15th & 17th section B and win 25th, 34th, 143rd and 172nd open. George Veitch of Pencaitland has 2 winning 18th & 30th section B 35th & 67th open. John Baillie wins 36th section and 83rd open with 2 year old cock ‘Parksyde Night-vision’ now winning his Silver Award with the SNFC, (I’m not sure if many 2 year olds have won a Silver Award so young so well done John Joe M). He scored twice as a yearling from Ypres he won 39th section B 77th open and then from Roye was timed at 04-10 on the 2nd morning to win 12th section 23rd open. Cambusnethan & Morningside news from Andrew Eadie who writes ‘Hi Joe from Ypres duplicating back in from the SNFC, the club and federation put up some truly fantastic results. Liberated at 06.40 into a west wind we had 17 members sending 149 birds and taking top spot and his 3rd win of the season is Tam Richardson who won 1st club, 1st section 3rd open Lanarkshire Federation; 3rd section E and 62nd open SNFC after 13 hours on the wing. The winner is a yearling blue chq cock named ‘Champagne Charlie’ after Tam’s dad who passed away early in the year. The yearling cock flew the full federation programme and is bred down from his Auld blue Craigneuk lines crossed with Stuart Hawkins (Arthur) Staff Van Reet family and last week in the comeback race he finished up 2nd club 2nd section 3rd open from an entry of 3100 birds. He was raced feeding a big youngster (see photo) and fed purely on Peanuts and Red Band. Tam is currently on vacation in Benidorm looking for Sticky Victoria, but has asked me to thank on his behalf his loft assistant Cecil Campbell (see photo) holding his 2nd bird who won 19th section E 117th open SNFC and bred by the Legend Billy L Bilsland of Ayton. 2nd club 5th section E 69th open SNFC is J Whiteford & Son. 3rd & 7th club 12th & 26th section E 96th & 144th open SNFC is J K Millar. 4th & 6th club 17th & 23rd section E 113th & 127th open are J J & K Gillon with Tam Richardson taking 5th club 19th section E 117th open with his 2nd Doo. Lastly I would like to congratulate on behalf of all the members in Cambusnethan & Morningside the Macaloney family on topping the Lanarkshire federation once again, 1st section E 11th open SNFC and all the other fanciers who took some fantastic positions in their respective clubs. Special mention to J K Millar winning the Old Bird average with a velocity of 1194.825 and the longest four races and to Tam Richardson runner up on both occasions with a velocity of 1193.345 cheers Joe yours Andy Eadie’.
Dave Baldie 1st SNFC
Dave Glen 2nd Open SNFC
Left to right Cecil Campbell and Tam Richardson
Champagne Charlie with his young birds
Great News
Received a phone call from Liam McCall of Wicklow South Road flying club who informed me that he had just been informed he had won Irish National Flying Club race from Saint Allouestre. To win the Kings Cup is every fancier’s dream and Liam could not believe he had pulled it off with his 5 year old hen, her grand dam was a hen Liam purchased from me in 2007 and he tells me that the national winner is the double of her in the hand. Liam sent 5 birds to the race along with 670 other members and the convoy of 2546 birds were liberated on Tuesday 4th July 2017 at 07:20 in a light and variable wind. Liam well his wife timed in another 2 birds to win 138th & 139th open and he also won the INFC / BHW Single birds challenge with a velocity of 1343 for the 377 miles. So some good news at long last!!!!!
Sad News
Received a phone call from Ritchie Kerr of Greenock; who informed me that his dear friend Sammy Glover who is 92 years old has decided to give up the pigeons due to his age and also health issues: Sammy has been having falls in his back garden and at the loft and he now realises that the time has come to call it a day. Sammy has been a pigeon fancier for 80 years and his father kept the pigeons before him. He has 8 hens and 7 cocks who are free to a good home if anyone is interested then give Ritchie a call on 07958517734. May we wish Sammy all the best in his retirement from the sport and I thank him for his kind words about the column.
Joe’s Joke
Your Husband Needs Rest
Doctor: Madam, your husband needs rest and peace, so here are some sleeping pills.
Wife: When should I give them to him? No No says the Doctor: They are for you!
Please continue to keep the news flowing; to Joe Murphy Mystical Rose Cottage 2 Flutorum Avenue Thornton by Kirkcaldy KY1 4BD or phone 01592 770331 or Email to joejmurphy1@gmail.com REMEMBER THE J IN THE MIDDLE or log onto www.elimarpigeons.com www.fancierchat.co.uk and www.pigeon-chat.co.uk also www.pigeonbasics.com Pigeon Racing the Basics who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland.
© Compiled by Joe Murphy
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Well i think the 3rd Thornton is a printing error as well.
Are there different kinds of printing errors?
No but some are more understandable than others !!
Problem is why has it taken 5 months for this to come to light
Why did a member of the race committee or an official not notice this because nobody's interested you know that
One thing for sure it's not my fault so don' t have a go at me
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That does not wash Ian because if you go by the official race programme we should have been at Thornton with y/birds on 5th July. Anyway i know it will be 3 Thorntons now so end of, but not for me. As i said in a previous post i have never looked at the race programme because i new what it was and had no need to.
I understand. Your disappointment Willie but look at from my point as club secretary that was what I was given to hand out and had no reason to disbelieve it
The 5th July was a printing error as was the spelling mistakes which is the same mistakes as last year
:emoticon-0136-giggle: -
Fred look at my post in February on the Aberdeen Federation board under race programme 2017.
That is what was decided at the race committee meeting.
It. Does not matter what you posted Willie (right or wrong) the Official Fed programme issued to all members stated 3 Thornton's
Why has it taken you 5months to notice it ?
Who wants 3 Arniston's ?
Who's stupid idea was it to have 3 races from any race point ?
The idea of a race committee was that all clubs would vote on the programme they wanted and bring it to the meeting that's not happening and what we have is a select set of people with there own agendas
We get very short notice of a race meeting and cannot give members the 7 days notice of a club meeting to decide what they want
I complained last year and the reply was are you serious, my complaint then went in file 13??????
That,s the situation we have your comments about a shambles are correct
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It's not decided at the AGM Alex it is a race programme Committee who decide.
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Archie I have told you before the loft is unfit for purpose as admitted
Your being strung along
I have seen your loft and you need to request a loft fit for purpose or your money back
Legal action may be required to resolve this
At your age you do not need this but it has to be done
Crafty fifer needs to man up and resolve this not keep doing or suggesting a patch up
Ian
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Who knows. Another shambles. Whats new.
This could be my last year racing as i have had enough.
You have been a good servant to the Fed Willie and understand your concerns
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It will be 3 Thornton's as stated in race program Guaranteed or I will object to the end
As Willie says a shambles again
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Ian have you been on the soda tonight
Not me Alex
:emoticon-0136-giggle: -
That's why they don't allow vaccinated birds into the Country. They test them all, and the vaccine we use takes up to 5 years to leave their system, so why do we vaccinate every year?
Cause it makes them easy money and approved by the government and the unions
:emoticon-0179-headbang: :emoticon-0179-headbang: -
What about the call back I've been in all Dady
When he turns up ask him to call me please I have lost his number
:emoticon-0179-headbang: -
The Joe Murphy Column
For the Scottish national Gold Cup race from Alencon 403 members sent 1472 birds these being the ‘cream’ of fanciers lofts and pigeons you look after all year for this one race. Baskets are dropped off at each marking station prior to the race marking and are then filled and loaded onto the transporter when it arrives at each station along with the empty baskets. I cannot believe that the national put 20 birds into each basket when we have not had over 1500 birds at this Gold Cup race in the past 10 years. What is the point in takin empty baskets in a transporter to a race point it doesn’t make sense. Fanciers are asked on their previous entry form how many birds do they intend to send to the next race so the officials should have an idea of how many birds will be going. Surely if the transporter holds 100 baskets then divide the amount of birds going to the race for example 1472 this would be 15 birds per basket. Instead of 20 birds per basket which is 74 therefore 26 empty baskets are taken for a ride. I would like to know if the last marking station (south section) uses up all their quota of basket by spreading the birds out. If so this information would help everyone within the club, because if they did do this could this be the reason the south section has more bird’s home than the remainder of Scotland. I’m not saying the south section fanciers don’t have good birds because they do but if they were honest with us and told us they had put less birds in the baskets then the birds would be able to gain access to the drinkers. Then this information could be given to the management committee and they change the number of birds in each basket. Surely it makes sense to have a small amount of pigeon in a basket so that they can ALL reach the drinkers. I’ve said it before DEHYDRATION is the killer of more pigeons than hawks. There are 2 x 12 drinkers on each basket and as we as pigeon fanciers all know these would soon be filled up with shavings as the birds move about the basket or flap their wings. So with 100 baskets this would mean 200 drinkers and it would take a good while to fill all these up. Then within a few hours they could be covered by shavings and the convoyer would have to go over the whole scenario of lifting out the shavings and topping up the water. Can you imagine yourself doing this and the answer if you are honest is ‘No Chance’. The convoyer has a hard job in front of him looking after a transporter of pigeon and it honestly depends on how dedicated these people are as it is not an easy shift. The welfare of the birds must come first and one of the most important issues is that EVERY BIRD IN A BASKET GETS A DRINK OF WATER. I am happy to say that a notice has been put up on the SNFC web site saying there will only be 17 birds per basket for the upcoming Ypres race. At long last a move in the right direction.
Now onto the race: the convoy were liberated on Monday 3rd July at 05-45 hours into a light south west wind. What can I say about the SNFC Gold Cup race other than it has turned out to be a disaster with 11 day birds and only 47 birds timed in 3 days with 24 of these from the south section; every other section except the north and far west of Scotland have been lucky enough to have birds to win the section. The race controller’s made the decision not to race mark on the Tuesday and did so on the Friday for the following Monday liberation as the weather forecast for the Friday and Saturday was not good. The convoy cleared the site in one batch and we all expected day birds and we made arrangements to go up to Kevin’s at teatime after he had finished his work. As we waited for word of arrivals Kevin showed me his Ypres candidates and I have to say I was very impressed with the condition and alertness of them and could not find fault with any of them. However there was a chequer hen that I fell in love with she was faultless (as far as I was concerned) and I told him this was my pick. He replied ‘Dad this bird was going to go to Alencon but she laid the night before Basketing for the race so I have had to send her to Ypres instead. All my 6 birds at Alencon are like this and I’m confident of getting a time in’. We waited and watched the sky then word on the lib line of 2 birds in the south section to J Gilmour at 19-10 the winner so well done Mr Gilmour. and Billy Van Nuil at 20-09 who won 5th open there were a few more in this section and then word of a cracking pigeon in the east section to Colin Crees of Ladykirk at 20-37 to win 1st east region 1st section B 2nd open he got another at 22-11 to win 3rd section B and east region 10th open and Sinclair Thompson & son of Port Seaton at 21-24 who won 2nd east region 2nd section B 3rd open these were all the east section birds on the day. Then word of a very good bird to C Grieve of Greengairs near Airdrie who timed the only west section bird on the day at 21-49 hours to win 1st west region 1st section E 4th open; truly great pigeon when you think only 11 pigeons from the convoy of 1470 made it home on the day. The next day Tuesday rained the whole day across central Scotland (see weather chart) with another 30 birds making it home on the 2nd day and as I write this column on Wednesday 4 more birds are on the lib-line but there could be more in as today is a beautiful day. Congratulations also to Davie Jamieson of East Calder who won 1st section D 17th open and Willie Pratt of Rosyth in Fife who won 1st section C 21st open. John Tyerman the president of the BICC sent an email to me saying ‘SNFC Alencon race seems to have been very difficult and sadly the weather on day 2 was not favourable in Scotland. I am seeing criticism of the liberation on 'pigeon chat' but in fairness the birds got a good start and clear channel crossing. The weather print out from Steve Appleby confirms this and I will send you a copy (see picture) it was good at Alencon and I can also confirm that independent web cam images taken from Alencon airfield show blue skies white cloud and good visibility around the time of the SNFC liberation. There is no doubt that an hour after lib, Alencon would have been under cloud cover but even on the channel Steve says the cloud was not rain bearing. As BICC regularly race from Alencon I would estimate that by 09-00 am the race day, the SNFC birds should have made the south coast, Kent/East Sussex area. It was a good flying day here on the Sussex coast, with force 4/5 SW winds on the channel and visibility was at least 15 miles. There was some drizzle in parts of SE England but that was forecast to move away into the North Sea. Whatever caused the poor returns is more likely to have occurred further up country. I genuinely believed you would have had more day birds into the south section around the 06-00 pm mark. Certainly the next day rainfall in Scotland was very bad and clearly this stopped the birds getting home on day 2. Joe, here are the weather images as discussed today. Steve supplied these for Ray White at my request and you will see Alencon was clear at time of liberation. Below three images giving the overall picture of weather conditions in France;
Pic 1; Alencon circled in under clear skies.
Pic 2; Cloud is approaching from the west (yellow arrows) and it would not be long before he loses the liberation sky. Fair amount of cloud over the channel but not rain bearing. This radar rainfall image identifies the drizzle over south east England at 06:00 hours this morning, which is moving eastwards off the line of flight.
Pic 3; The above image shows the extent of the cloud over most of France. Not the best of flying weather.
Cloud over channel at 7am
Cloud over France
Rain fall drizzle
Weather forcast for 7am
My thanks to John for the above and there are always two sides to a story. However I also phoned my good mate Guy Reed on the Isle of Wight between 09-00 and 10-00 am on the day of liberation of the Gold Cup birds and he informed me that it was raining in the channel at that time. So even a few miles along the south coast we have different weather reports.
Alencon or Reims
Obviously there has been a lot of discussion about the Alencon race point because of the losses incurred in this week’s race. Many fanciers believe that racing from Alencon the birds have too big a span of the English Channel to cross before reaching land. Also as I will point out in a few minutes the Gold Cup race is now a 2 day affair. It is ok pigeons getting into the south section or the Scottish borders but the majority of fanciers come from the central belt of Scotland and therefore time in the next day. This was nearly impossible this year as you will see from the weather chart and the race controllers need to take this into consideration. If it is a 2 day race then a late liberation on day one and every bird spends the night out. I also know that it is going to be hard to get 2 days of perfect weather all the way from France to Fraserburgh. However fancier’s birds MUST have a fighting chance of getting home and with a later liberation they are fresh to get up and work the next day. At the present time there was no consideration for pigeons north of the borders and as for the poor lads north of the Tay and in northern Scotland they do not have a hope in hell of getting a pigeon home on the day even if it was perfect weather. The last 2 SNFC races this year have been disasters with many good pigeons lost and this could kill the club as many fanciers have had enough and if the officials and management committee do not do something about it people will go else ware to race their pigeons. I personally would never join the other national club but I have to admit their officials are more forward thinking than the top brass at the SNFC. Their race programme has been the same for years and even though they only had over 200 birds at Reims they have had as good returns as the SNFC with near 1500 birds entered. Plus they also liberated their birds on Friday which was to be so bad that we cancelled the race till the following Monday. How did their race controller have a different weather report than the SNFC controller there are plenty of weather sites on the internet but this is not the problem it is the outcome of every race that is more important and the past 2 races with the SNFC have been disasters. I have stated many times that racing from Reims is a shorter channel crossing and the birds reach land quicker. It is the same with Ypres and we have had great racing from this race point over the years. There are other points that can be used for example Arras or Roye so why pick race points that are not on the same line of flight as the majority of fanciers race on a weekly basis. The majority of Scottish federations race down the east side of the country whereas Lanarkshire and Solway race down the west side. It was proposed that the SNFC race the current race programme for the next 5 years well if this is not changed at the a.g.m then the club will see a large exodus of members going the other way.
I have decided to check out the results of previous Gold Cup races. The first time the SNFC went to Alencon was in 2005 were 2244 birds were liberated at 13-15 pm into a light north east win. Taking 1st open was Frank Tarnawski of Valleyfield in Fife who timed at 09-37 on the 2nd morning for a velocity of 1084. The race continued the whole day and the last open position in this race was 224th open and was won by another Fife fancier in Eddie McWilliams of Blairhall who timed at 18-46 for a velocity of 673. The following year 2006 the convoy of 1556 birds were liberated at 06-30 am into a light north east wind. The winners were Mr & Mrs Guenther of Dumfries at 16-25 hours on the day and recorded a velocity of 1433 ypm. There were 70 day birds recorded and the last open position of 156th was won by M Wilson of Fife at 09-53 the following day for a velocity of 738. In 2007 the convoy of 1470 birds were liberated at 10-30 am with no birds on the day however the winner was timed at 04-30 am on the 2nd morning to W & S Aitchison of Eyemouth doing a velocity of 1225. Pigeons were timed throughout the day with the last open position of 148th open won by Gary Gilfillan of Newmains at 18-46 same day as the winner for a velocity of 586. The following year 2008 the 1419 birds were liberated at 12-45 hours into a west wind there was no day birds recorded but the winner was Gordon Willox of Peterhead (one of the best performances since 5 o’clock rock won the national) who timed at 10-58 am recording a velocity of 1107. Again pigeons were timed all morning with the last open position of 144th open won by K Howie of Musselburgh at 12-30 hours for a velocity of 858. In 2009 race the convoy of 1303 birds were liberated at 07-30am with no wind at the race point. The winner was E S McCarton of Annan at 20-46 hours for a velocity of 1049 there was only another 2 birds timed on the day both in the south section. Billy Allison of Cambuslang timed the first pigeon in the morning at 05-14 to win 1st west section and 4th open and birds were timed throughout the day with the last open position of 133rd open won by J J M Gillon of Motherwell at 17-37 hours recording a velocity of 550. We went to Reims in 2010 and Messac in 2011 returning to Alencon in 2012 with an entry of 1201 birds these were liberated at 06-30 into a south west wind with the winner in the south section to J M Dalgleish of Annan who timed at 15-52 hours for a velocity of 1486. There was 103 birds timed on the day in this fast race with the last open position of 123rd open was won by W Gray of Bonnyrigg at 05-46 am on the following morning for a velocity of 878. In 2013 the convoy of 1355 birds were liberated at 09-30 am into a light south west wind with the winner timed in Dundee to the loft of John Duthie at 04-58 am 2nd morning and recording a velocity of 1202. Birds were timed right throughout the morning and the 138th open and last position was won by D Gillespie of Blantyre at 12-10 hours recording a velocity of 746. The following year 2014 the convoy of 1427 birds were liberated at 07-45 am into a light south west wind with the Dumfries partnership of Skachill & McCormack timing at 20-38 hours and recording a velocity of 1106 with only 4 birds timed on the day all in the south section. Jim Hannah timed in at 05-21 to win 1st west section 5th open and birds were timed right through to mid-afternoon with the 146th open and last position was also won by a South section member E Warwick of Brydekirk at 12-25 hours to record a velocity of 604. In 2015 the convoy of 1416 birds were released at 06-45 am into a west to north west wind with the south section husband and wife partnership of Mr & Mrs G & P Power of Gretna taking the top spot with a velocity of 1220 timing in at 18-07 hours. 35 day pigeons were timed with 19 of them south section pigeons the remaining 16 from sections B 8; D 3; E 4; and F 1. The remaining 135 open positions were won the 2nd day with A Nicholson of Annan winning the last place of 145th at 08-06 am with a velocity of 701. So out of the 9 Alencon nationals 5 have been won in the south section; 2 in section C and 1 each in section B & G. When reading the above you will have noticed that it is a 2 day race and the drop in velocities from the winner to the last open position bird in the race which on average is about half. It is the same with races from Reims in the 4 races flown from this race point starting in 2002 the convoy of 2650 birds were liberated at 06-05 into a light north west wind with the winner R V Graham of Langholm at 20-48 for a velocity of 1011 again there was only 7 day birds timed all in the south section and Jim Mullen of Lumphinnans in Fife timed 2 birds within 2 minutes to win 7th & 8th open. Pigeons were timed throughout the morning and the 177th open and last bird on the open result was to A & R Pringle of Gorebridge at 10-40 am for a velocity of 691. The following year was much better as the convoy of 3168 birds the most pigeons entered into a Gold Cup race since Rennes in 1997. The convoy were liberated at 06-05 into a light north west wind the winners were R J Rome of Annan at 18-46 hour recording a velocity of 1166 and there was 69 day birds timed in and the last open position of 317th was won by S Mullen of Port Glasgow just after noon at 12-17 pm for a velocity of 700 ypm. Seven years later we returned to Reims when the convoy of 1187 birds were liberated at 06-15 am into a light North West wind. The winner was John Duthie of Dundee at 20-02 hours on the day recording a velocity of 1237 with another 57 day birds being recorded and pigeons were timed from early morning to the last open place of 121st won by E & E Crabb of Monifieth who timed at 08-56 with a velocity of 799. Last year 2016 we again flew Reims with 1330 birds competing and these were liberated at 08-45 am into a light north west wind there was no birds on the day and the winner was George Veitch of Pencaitland in East Lothian at 05-17am 2nd day for a velocity of 1062 and 97 birds were timed on the day with the pigeon winning the last open position of 113 flying to D Mathieson & son of Coalburn at 12-10 the following day for a velocity of 401. By looking at the above races Reims seems to be the best race and the fairest however it is also notable that to have a fair a race as possible for ALL of Scotland then we need to have a midday liberation or a release were ALL pigeons spend the night out. There is no good having pigeons into the south section and the remainder of Scotland excluded from the race. The fanciers in Fraserburgh or Peterhead pay the same fees and birdage as the south so therefore should not be excluded from winning the national. I could go on and on but I think you will have got the jiff of what I have tried to prove.
Helping Fanciers
Phone call from Harold Broadhurst of Crewe in Cheshire who gave up the birds 13 years ago however he still gets his BHW pigeon paper and reads it from cover to cover. A month or so ago Harold caught a racing pigeon at the nearby ASDA superstore and reported it to the SHU. This bird belonged to a Mr W Smart who from the west section who lost the bird at a race from Stafford. He made arrangements for a courier to go and collect the bird and it was returned back to its home in Scotland. Low and behold Harold noticed it back at ASDA pairing up to a ferial hen he has tried phoning Mr Smart but his mobile keeps ringing out. Hence his phone call to me asking if I would put the above information in my column in the event that Mr Smart may read it. I thanked Harrold for taking the time and explained there is no good Mr Smart sending for it now it is better staying with the hen and who knows maybe in the winter time it will get something into its head and return home to Bonny Scotland. FOOTNOTE Harold has phoned to say that it is not the same pigeon but has a ring on its leg but is a different colour.
Received another phone call from Mike Couglhan of Wales reporting a bird SU16A 1966 he informed me that the bird was well down when it came into him but he has built it up and is hoping to get the transport driver to liberate it 140 miles north of him at next week’s race. I have contacted Archie McIntyre of Ayrshire federation who sends me in his weekly results and I also gave him Mike’s phone number so the owner can get in contact with him it is 07955191818 hope this situation works out well and thanks once again to Mike for all his trouble.
Joe’s Joke
A woman and a man are lying in bed next to each other when her phone rings.
She picks up; the man looks over at her and listens. She is speaking in a cheery voice, "Hi, I'm so glad you called. Really? That's wonderful. I'm so happy for you. That sounds terrific. Great! Thanks. Okay. Bye." She hangs up, and the man asks, "Who was that?" "Oh, she replies, "that was my husband telling me about the great time he's having on his golf trip with you."
Please continue to keep the news flowing; to Joe Murphy Mystical Rose Cottage 2 Flutorum Avenue Thornton by Kirkcaldy KY1 4BD or phone 01592 770331 or Email to joejmurphy1@gmail.com REMEMBER THE J IN THE MIDDLE or log onto www.elimarpigeons.com www.fancierchat.co.uk and www.pigeon-chat.co.uk also www.pigeonbasics.com Pigeon Racing the Basics who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland.
© Compiled by Joe Murphy
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Did it not make the result or is John not a member of the SNFC?
Don't think they are in SNFC
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Report by Herbert MacKenzie
John Buchan's 4 year old hen was timed on the Sunday morning from Ypres at 10.10 hrs. She flew Ypres last year but was out of race time. Her preparation this year saw her go to Beauly (113 mls), Kingussie (135 mls), Dunfermline (201 mls) from where she took 17 hours, Worksop (402 mls) 2nd. Club on V.1629 and she was then sent to Ypres sitting 12 day eggs. She was bred from two yearlings. Her sire was bred from a John Ellis cock of Wellbank Surprise blood, bought at a national sale, when paired to a Peter Patrick hen bought at his clearance sale. She was a half sister to Mary, the Double Gold Award winner. Her dam was a gift youngster from Herbert Mackenzie containing some decent distance blood flying into Orkney from race points such as Hastings (569 mls).
John would like to thank Mary Pryde for her assistance in getting the Orkney entries away to the Ypres race.
John's approx distance is 613mls
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Just heard of a pigeon in Orkney at 10:15....600mls ish. Well done that doo
Yes John Buchan Secretary of the club
Well done brilliant bird 10.15am Sunday
Can someone send in more info on John who I believe is from central Scotland originally
If you can't put it up send it to me and Marlene will put it up + Photo if possible
Ian
Natural
in Racing Pigeons
Posted
Think you need to get some advice from him Peter.
