Ian McKay

The Joe Murphy Column Today Friday 7th July has a very special significance day in the history of my family as it was the day on which my dad passed away. He died in 1978 at the age of 53 and would have been 92 years old had he still been alive. He would also have been amazed at the changes within society today as well as the developments within the pigeon sport. Imagine trying to explain to him about the ETS system when he had to run with his rubber ring to the nearest clock – changes indeed. He would also be very proud of his grandson Kevin’s achievements with the pigeons (as am I) and hope he is sitting with us in spirit tomorrow for the Ypres race. Can you believe what has just happened as I sit here writing this column. Kevin has just contacted me to say one of his pigeon from the Buckingham race flown 3rd June has been reported 150 NORTH of Aberdeen on an Oil Rig. It is being brought back on a boat and a man from Aberdeen has contacted the SHU and informed him that it is Kevin’s bird. Kevin has contacted club mate Glen Cameron who works in Aberdeen if he could collect the bird for him after work today. Imagine it flying that distance past its loft as Kevin is measured 322 miles from Buckingham therefore this bird must have flown well over 500 miles and is lucky to be alive. He needs a bit of luck as last week I assisted him with training the birds for the SNFC Gold Cup race on the Monday and Tuesday mornings. Once the birds are released I text him to let him know the time and he looks out for their return home. The last trainer he text me to say they were all home except his main candidate for the Gold Cup race his good chequer hen ‘Rose’. This is the hen that topped Angus federation and won 1st club as well as being 9th Grampian Combine from Newark competing against 1189 birds. I phoned Kevin at night but she did not turn up. I asked him if all the other birds at the training had come together and he replied ‘Yes’ so I assumed that she must have hit a wire and been killed. To say we were ‘gutted’ would be an understatement but I have been long enough in racing pigeons to know that this is all part of the game. 5 days later Kevin phoned and asked both Margaret and I to go on the phone we thought something had happened to our grandchildren but he said ‘I went out to the loft and on entering the door looked at the ETS and noticed it had an entry on it. So on quicker examination noticed it was ‘Rose’ ring 792 but she was no place to be found then I noticed her in the corner of the feeding bin. She had been hawked and the back of her neck was torn right open and half of her wing had disappeared. The poor little thing was in a dreadful state. He took her into the house and stitched her up and placed in a nest box in the garage. She had a few drinks of water which was understandable as she could not have had any water all the time she had been out. Plus she would have lost a lot of blood by the size of the tear in the back of her neck. Kevin forwarded me photographs and how this little hen made it home is nothing short of a miracle, (see pictures) to be missing for 5 days and turn up in this state. Needless to say her season is over but we are all glad to have her back home as to her ever being raced again only time will tell if this happens. Rose on return Rose stitched up Rose wing Thank You My thanks to the Scottish fancier who on seeing my appeal for a national year book assisted me by forwarding one as this allows me to highlight very good pigeons that have performed well in national racing. This gives me great pleasure as I love nothing more than give good pigeons some credit and I do this in my SNFC Good Birds feature, so THANK YOU very much to the fancier and the others who offered me a book. The sad thing about this situation is all I’m trying to do is give SNFC members and their birds some publicity. Why not show the WORLD that we too have some excellent birds and fanciers within our country. There is nothing for me to gain personally in doing this - my article goes out every week and I have been doing this for over 41 years but during this time I have covered many fanciers and their bird’s achievements and I continue to do so. Just to prove how popular this feature is I received an email from Vic Couper of Dennyloanhead who wrote ‘Hi Joe, I am pleased to inform you that my good chequer cock named ‘Victorious Victor’ as my late mother was called Victoria and I am called Victor he is rung SU14AV 749 and has now won his Bronze Meritorious Award in last week's SNFC Bedhampton race. He got the result he needed by being 56th section E and 449th open from an entry of 6065 birds. As you know this was a very hard race with lots of birds missing, the cock returned back full of energy and is actually looking better now than he has all year, but I am not going to put him over the water. He will be put by for next season. I believe that he is the first bird to win this Bronze Meritorious Award in section E and this makes me very proud of him. I would like to congratulate you and Kevin on having a very good bird in this same race, well done yours Vic’. ‘Victorious Victor’ (see picture) previous performances wins are as follows, in 2015 from the Portsmouth race he won 36th section E winning £229.90.flying 375 miles. Then he won 15th section E plus £119.90 from Eastbourne a distance of 402 miles. Then in 2016 he was my sole entry into the Buckingham race a distance of 300 miles and won 30th section E and £525.35 plus the nomination of a free entry to the Gran Canaria one loft race. He then went to Littlehampton race a distance of 385 miles and he won 38th section E. The local SNFC members have a £10 nomination on the inland national race and he has won them all plus £400 however in this race from Bedhampton George Harris won the nomination. Well done once again to Vic Couper and his good chequer cock ‘‘Victorious Victor’. ‘Victorious Victor’ Common Sense I was overwhelmed to hear the news that the SNFC had postponed their race marking for Tuesday (today 27th June) for the main event of their year the Gold Cup race from Alencon. This was due to the poor weather forecast for the weekend with no chance of a race and now the race marking will take place this Friday 30th June for a proposed Monday liberation. This is a great decision as there is no use pigeon's being in the race basket for 6 days and then expected to fly 550 miles into Central Scotland. Let’s hope it is a good race and the officials are rewarded for their forward thinking. I hope this pleasing attitude continues as we race mark for the longest race from Ancenis in a few days. I hope they put fewer birds in the baskets as we have not had over 300 birds in the 4 years that we have competed from this race point. Yes we did go with the Midland National so were tied down to their rules regarding birds per basket. However as the SNFC is going on its own; depending on the amount of baskets in the transporter they can use 20 of these and put 15 birds per basket. This would allow ALL of the birds to eat, drink and rest prior to the liberation and if we get good returns I can guarantee there will be plenty of happy members within the club. Us included as we are going to send 2 birds to this race so hope to get them home and if our luck is in maybe even make the open national result, time will tell. Results Angus Federation From the Ridsdale race flown on 24th June Kevin and his club mates never raced and only put in some birds as trainers; the convoy of 304 birds were liberated at 07-00am into a south west wind. Topping the federation are Macaulay Ferguson & Curran of Forfar with another 5 birds in taking 10th 11th 12th 14th & 15th open. Last week’s 3rd national winner Bob Baldie continues with his good from and wins 2nd 7th 8th & 19th federation with Davie Glen winning 4th 5th 6th & 9th places. David J Liddle is 3rd 13th 16th 17th & 18th federation with Ian Scott making the top spots being 20th. East Section is won by G Campbell of Montrose with J & J Leven from the same club is in 2nd place. Chic & Ann Carrie of Inchcape takes the next 3 places winning 3rd 4th & 5th with B Craig of Gourdon in 6th spot. W Wallace & son of Montrose are in 7th place with Gourdon partnership of D & D Hay winning 8th & 10th places. Les McKay of Inchcape is 9th and makes up the top 10 places. Club winners; Forfar 186 bird’s winner Macaulay Ferguson & Curran; Montrose 23 bird’s winner G Campbell; Gourdon 13 bird’s winner B Craig; Inchcape 59 bird’s winner C & C Carrie and Arbroath sending 23 birds on a training toss Ayrshire Federation News from Archie McIntyre with the report on the Bedhampton race he also attached 3 photographs to go with this report. One photo is of the federation winner Robert Donegan which is quite funny photo as when Robert was preparing to get his photo taken with his federation winner, one of his pigeons decided to get in on the act by landing on his head (brilliant photograph Joe M). For the federation 8th race of the season we have the federation members duplicating with SNFC race from Bedhampton. These 182 birds were liberated as part of 6,065 SNFC convoy at 06-00 into a North West wind. This race certainly for the Ayrshire members turned out a pretty poor race and when you hear some of the reports from other areas it looks like it has been the same type of race all over the country. Leading the way in to Ayrshire federation this week and putting up an outstanding performance given the type of race it turned out to be, is Robert Donegan of Newmilns. Rab as he is known to his friends takes the top 3 positions in Ayrshire with velocities of 1160.1, 1037.9, 999.6 and also takes 1st, 6th & 9th section F, 198th, 501st & 580th open SNFC 6,065 birds. , Robert’s winning pigeon is a 5 year old Marris crossed Jan Aarden cock raced natural. Over his racing career, Robert has described him as an average pigeon that just homed from most races. The week of the Bedhampton national, Robert sent his birds (including the 5 year old cock) training on the Tuesday with South Lanarkshire federation to Tranent approximately 55 miles to Robert. On his return, Robert noticed he had just thrown his first flight. In the week’s leading up to the Bedhampton race the 5 year old cock lost his mate and he started tagging with a yearling hen. His original mate, a 2 year old hen turned up and after a few scuffles with the yearling hen for the box, the two hens seemed to settle their differences and both hens laid in the bowl. Robert described it as a merry go-round as they all took turns sitting on the 4 eggs. After a few days of sitting on the 4 eggs, Robert removed 2 of the eggs and after doing so, he noticed the cock was not as keen to sit so Robert put the 2 eggs back in and he seemed more content to sit on the 4 eggs. So off he went to Bedhampton sitting 12 days on 4 eggs with two mates in the one nest box and this certainly worked out for Robert as he recorded his first ever 1st section F win well done Robert. His 2nd federation, 6th section F, 501st open is a 2 year old cock his sire being a Jos Soontjens from K Thompson of Moffat and is a brother to Kenny’s 2nd open winner. The Dam is a Staff Van Reet pigeon from the lofts of Roy Milligan of Doncaster. 3rd federation, 9th section F, 580th open is a 3 year old hen who is bred down from Robert’s own family of pigeons. Please see attached photograph of a very happy Robert Donegan holding his 1st Ayrshire federation and 1st section F winner. In and around the Clubs starting with the North Section (95 birds) Dalry - 1st T Smith 946; 2nd D Armstrong 762, 3rd John Shepherd 750 Ardeer - 1st J & J & C Nicol 865, 2nd & 3rd W Hughes 738 & 591 Kilwinning - 1st J & T Davidson 428 Central Section (47 birds) Irvine - 1st & 2nd D McCullen 996 & 921; 3rd H Pollock 863 Crosshouse - 1st & 3rd W Julyan 786 & 538; 2nd A Wilson 736 Kilmarnock – 1st C & C & K McKerrow 739 Darvel - 1st, 2nd & 3rd R Donegan 1160, 1037 & 999 South Section (40 birds) Mauchline - 1st E Stewart 498 Cumnock - No Birds Sent. Dalmellington - 1st G Mitchell 945 Carrick – No Birds Sent. Annbank – 1st G Morrison 677, 2nd K Harris 485 Whitletts – 1st, 2nd & 3rd Cree & Cuthbert 974, 820 & 722 Thanks once again Joe for all the publicity the federation has received during the old bird season. Robert Donegan 1sr, 2nd & 3rd Fed Bedhampton Robert Donegan 1st Fed Bedhampton Robert Donegan 2nd Fed Bedhampton Fife Federation The federation had 63 members sending 965 birds with the SNFC for their Bedhampton race with the federation 1st & 16th open winner and 1st & 5th west section 2nd and 100th open SNFC from an entry of 6065 birds are Jock Hynd and son Ian of Cowdenbeath. Ian is the federation race controller and does a first class job however on this occasion we congratulate Ian and his dad on a wonderful achievement well done to you both. 1st & 5th centre section 2nd & 11th open federation and 4th & 62nd open SNFC is Mick McMurchie of Glenrothes. A Suttie of St Andrews is 1st east 3rd federation and 17th national the partnership of Turpie & McCord from Glenrothes club are 2nd & 3rd centre section 4th & 5th federation 21st & 27th open SNFC. With last year’s national winner from Roye Jocky Scott of Kennoway is 2nd & 3rd east section 6th & 8th federation and 28th & 40th open SNFC. C Wright of Lochgelly club is 2nd & 3rd west section 7th & 12th federation 32nd & 68th open then we have Brian Kinnear of Glenrothes club winning 4th centre section 9th open federation and 43rd open SNFC. Kennoway’s Brian Chalmers is 4th east section 10th federation and 44th open SNFC. Clark Clark & Page of Leven club are 5th east section 13th federation 73rd open SNFC with Jim Doig of Lochgelly club winning 4th west section 15th federation and 90th open SNFC. Glenrothes & Leslie Pigeon Club News from Rosie Armit who writes ‘Hi Joe we had 5 members sending 83 birds to the federation open race which was also a national race. Winning 1st club was to M McMurchie on a velocity of 1325.033, with a 4 year old red celibate hen bred from Bruce McKenzie of Dundee from Mick’s own Dundee Mealy cock lines which won 10 x 1st to 3 different locations and 10 separate liberations for Mick. Then went on to be a superstar breeder, g/sire of a number of National winners. Micks bird was 1st section, 2nd open federation, 3rd section C, 4th open SNFC. 2nd club are Turpie & McCord with a velocity of 1269.088, they timed a yearling blue hen sent sitting 10 day eggs. Her sire is a J Ellis A Muir (Andy’s Boy) cross Black & son of Drumore. Her dam was a gift bird from Dougie Barnes of Crossgates breeding Kipp & Son. Terry's bird wins 2nd section, 4th open federation, 6th section C, 21st open SNFC. They are also 3rd club on 1261.445, with a yearling blue cock paired to 2 hens. His sire a Mick Donnachie Rutter, dam bred by Black & son of Drumore this Black's hen is the grand dam of Terry's 1st bird. This bird won 3rd section, 5th open Federation, 10th section C, 27th open SNFC. North of Scotland Federation Held a race from Peterborough on 24th June with 53 members sending 520 birds these were liberated into a fresh west wind. The east section had 27 members sending 330 birds with Jim & Ann Donaldson of Peterhead & District club taking 1st & 2nd section and 1st & 2nd open flying 347 miles the winner was a 3 year old IHU rung pigeon with the runner up a yearling. 3rd open 1st west section are Fulton & Ritchie of Devern Valley with Fraserburgh West End member R Barclay having a good race winning 3rd 4th 6th & 7th east section and 4th 5th 9th & 10th open. R Higgins of the same club is 5th east section 6th open with R Wilson of Keith club in 2nd & 3rd west section 7th & 8th open positions. The west section had 26 members sending 190 birds; the 1st x 3 places I have covered above. Fulton & Ritchie are 4th west section 30th open with their 2nd bird while A J Reid of Keith is 5th west section 35th open. We now come back to R Wilson of Keith who wins 6th 7th 8th & 9th west section 33rd 34th 35th & 36th open. The 10th spot in the west section is won by A Wilson of Devern Valley who also wins 37th open. Clubs First Bird Peterhead & District winner are J & A Donaldson; Devern Valley winner Fulton & Ritchie; Fraserburgh West End winner R Barclay; Keith winner R Wilson; Fraserburgh & District winner A B Geddes; Inverurie winner J S Robertson. Elgin & District winner R Richards; Buckie & District winner I Coull; Well done to Jim & Ann Donaldson on topping the federation and also well done to Fulton & Ritchie on winning the west section; yours George Duthie. Lanarkshire Federation Cambusnethan & Morningside club news from Andrew Eadie who writes ‘Hi Joe hope all is well and you are getting over the bad returns from the national Bedhampton race. That is us up to 8 bird’s home from our entry of 15 and one reported today in Port Talbot in Wales. Anyway upwards and onwards as this Doo Game is hard to swallow don’t you agree? Yes indeed Andrew we need to have thick skin and a heart of stone Joe M. From race 10 we were at our comeback race from Appleby on the 24th of June and the convoy of approximately 2350 birds were liberated at 09-00 hours into a West to South West wind with almost 100% returns. Our club had 17 members sending 300 birds and taking pole position this week is J & K Gillon with a yearling blue Belgium rung hen raced on Josie’s foreign system. 2nd club is Alex Blyth with another yearling. With 3rd 6th & 7th places going to Eadie and Kelly with their Vandenabeele’s the partnership also wins the Last 3 Longest Inland Trophy. (Well done Joe M) 4th is J K Millar with another yearling and again down from their Jack Be Nimble Strain and 5th is A & J Cook. That is it for another week the federation results are not yet to hand, and let us hope the Gold Cup pigeons get a fair crack at the whip. Enjoy the Doos Joe and let us all look forward to the next few weeks as maybe one of us could win a national.(that would be good Joe M) yours Andy Eadie. Eastern Ontario Combine Thought readers may like to know how fanciers throughout the world get on with their pigeons. I’m friendly with Brad Foster from Port Hop who is the chairman of the Canadian Racing Pigeon Magazine that I forward articles to once in a while. Prior to this race Brad wrote ‘We are getting more rain here it has been raining since last night and thunder and lighting. It is our national race from Kashee Ontario all I can tell you is it is over 500 miles and it is a new race station. The weather looks good for Saturday but Sunday is heavy rain I have only sent three cocks and I’m hoping to get a day bird however the winds are not in my favour. 317 members sent 2626 birds to Kashee these were released at 05-30 on Saturday 24th June with the winner the partnership of D & L Ramcharan of Liftlock who timed in a yearling at 15-23 for a velocity of 1345 flying 798 kilometres (496 miles) the partnership were also 6th 9th & 18th open. Brad was 16th & 20th open flying 837 kilometres (519 miles) his 16th combine is a red chequer yearling cock who has been a very steady pigeon for him all year. He doesn’t know his breeding as he was a gift last year from his friend Dr Hoss Yassein. Brad’s 2nd bird in 20th combine was very wet on his arrival from the race he is a blue chequer cock his sire is from a cock of Janssen lineage and was a gift from his friend Shawn Whetstone and the dam is Jan Aarden and was also a gift from my good friend Larry Wakelin. Brad’s 3rd entry a blue bar cock must have tried to go around the weather as there was heavy rain in some areas with a west to North West wind. The bird was reported in Cape Town New York around 300 miles in the opposite direction. Well done to Brad having 2 on the result from his entry of 3 which he now knows is alive and well. Joe’s Joke Bringing back some memories? Of a few weeks ago seemed to have gone down well with readers; so here are a few more trips down memory lane ENJOY. Checking out at the supermarket, the young cashier suggested to the much older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because Plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologised and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days." The young cashier responded, "That's our problem today - your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." She was right -- our generation didn't have the 'green thing' in its day. Back then, we returned milk bottles, lemonade bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilised and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. Grocery shops bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we re-used for numerous things, most memorable besides household bags for rubbish, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school), was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalise our books on the brown paper bags. But too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then. We walked up stairs, because we didn't have a lift in every supermarket, shop and office building. We walked to the local shop and didn't climb into a 300 horsepower machine every time we had to go half a mile. But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day. Back then, we washed the baby's Terry Towel nappies because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 3 kilowatts – wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids had hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. Back then, we had one radio or TV in the house - not a TV in every room and the TV had a small screen the size of a big handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Scotland In the kitchen. We blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We pushed the mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then. We drank from a tap or fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the "green thing" back then. Back then, people took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their Mums into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's £50,000 ‘People Carrier’ which cost the same as a whole house did before the "green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances and we didn't need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest Pub! But isn't it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then? Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart upstart young person...We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to ‘P’ us off...especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartarse who can't work out the change without the cash register telling them how much it is! Here ended the bloody lesson 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

Same here Davy then realized he had me mesmorized so he could take measurements :unsure: :unsure:

Are you gan gator hunting again Stuart :emoticon-0136-giggle: :emoticon-0136-giggle:

Phil had them here for 23 yrs never ever bothered the birds that's why I got such a surprise Think I might invest in a pair of eagle owls to fly free :emoticon-0136-giggle:

I had a friend from Sweden here last year he is a drone head and wanted to show me them working all set up in the front of the house stood back looking at it and it malfunctioned and went up like a rocket to about 1000ft before he got control, learned a lesson stay away at the launch cause if that had hit me I would still be in hospital But once he controlled it it was amazing had a camera on it and you wore special glasses to view the camera brilliant :emoticon-0136-giggle:

Always had Buzzards in my area and did not think they bothered with pigeons until yesterday at 7.30 let my youngsters out and within 30sec it had nailed one stone dead by the time I knew what was going on. It was one of my oldest youngsters so not a baby So more problems to be solved so look out I am on the war path !!! Lasers and rockets to the ready :drinking-coffee-200:

Do they do Palm Sanders :emoticon-0179-headbang: :emoticon-0179-headbang:

Happy Birthday Archie are you sure your birth certificate is right 84 !!!! :drinking-coffee-200: :drinking-coffee-200:

For sale 4 ton of best quality manure might be more but you can have it free :emoticon-0136-giggle: :emoticon-0136-giggle:

They are certainly brave wee things! Mind you, he isn't interested in them and I have yet to capture what he does catch. Marlene

The swallows not liking the Kestrel and swooping on it but it isn't bothered at all Marlene

What's new :emoticon-0179-headbang:

SNRPC Billericay Report 2017 Report by Duncan Knox Billericay 3.pdf

When are they coming back to connect you phone line :emoticon-0136-giggle: :emoticon-0136-giggle: Stop bleating about spending your money you sound like an Aberdonian on a flag day :emoticon-0136-giggle:

Too much !!! rule 4 comes into play ie you can only win 4 bags per season :emoticon-0136-giggle: :emoticon-0136-giggle:

Silver City R P C Arniston 01/07/2017 5 members sent 46 birds approx 97mls Liberated at 8.45 into a Light South West wind 1st A Baxter 1570.210 2nd E & K Elliott 1559.148 3rd M Mooney 1516.551 4th M Main 1505.016 5th M Main 1496.428 6th I Ellis 1481.145 7th E & K Elliott 1476.654 8th A Baxter 1468.755 John Elliott wins the food nominator with A Baxter's bird Ypres race next week which is a big one so good luck to all who send I hope the weather is good for you Ian

Happy Birthday OLD man hope the roofing work is going well :emoticon-0136-giggle: :emoticon-0136-giggle:

I unapproved the ones out of context after I edited the topic title Ian

I edited the post and informed Ken I would have thought that should have been done at the outset Sorry BWF :emoticon-0136-giggle: Ian

Thanks to Hannah for doing the presentation Thanks to all who contributed Ian :drinking-coffee-200:

The Joe Murphy Column The Scottish national sent a great entry of 6065 birds to the Buckingham inland national with a few extra hundred birds that were convoyed by the national but only competed for federation prizes and the total could be about 7000 birds. The last time the national had over 6000 birds in an old bird race was in 1983 from Dorchester with 6202 birds competing and Wilf McAulay & son of Jedburgh won the race that year. This year’s race was held on Saturday 17th June and the convoy were liberated at 06-00 hours and the weather forecast was perfect for the whole route except it was to be exceptionally hot. The K index on the Space Weather was a little high for Friday 16th and Saturday which gave me some concern, but many people don’t believe in this information while other fanciers do take notice. We travelled up to Arbroath just after lunch time and after settling down in the back garden we discovered that pigeons had been timed in the south section Annan/ Gretna area just after 13.00 hours and word came through that they were in Edinburgh at 14 -00 and at good one into the loft of Jock & Ian Hynd of Cowdenbeath in Fife at 14-20. Ian is the Fife federation race controller and does a very good job so some reward for all his hard work well done to you both. All our eyes were on the sky however the wind was now a strong west and even the seagulls were struggling to cope with it. As we all sat chatting I just caught sight of a bird coming in from the west of the loft as it closed its wings and dropped on the loft, and was timed at 15-17 flying 400 miles. To say we were excited would be an understatement and then we settled down to enjoy the remainder of the race or so we thought. This turned out to be a very tough race with large gaps between the birds and many fanciers having only a handful of bird’s home on the day from large entries. I have heard all the stories about another organisation being liberated at Littlehampton at the same time and the birds clashed. Littlehampton is about 20 miles away from where the Scottish national liberation took place. These birds would have been long away by the time the west of England birds came into this area. So what went wrong? I have heard many theories but let us look at the facts. There were 22 birds in each basket; they were race marked on Thursday; the baskets have 2 small plastic drinkers fitted to each basket in the middle of the corridor; the weather on the Friday was scorching hot in England and therefore the heat in the transporters would be unbearable. There is no air-conditioning in ANY of the transporters and the birds would be fed and watered on the Friday. Many birds would not have access to water as it is at one end of the basket in small plastic drinkers. Therefore some of these birds would not have had a drink when the birds were liberated on the Saturday morning at 06-00 hours. Many birds would not have had a drink of water since they left their lofts on Thursday. We all know what dehydration does to human beings so just imagine what it would do a little pigeon. We had 9 birds home on the day from our entry of 23 birds with another 2 the following morning and that is it. Some people had 3 home on the day from 18 birds entered while others had 4 from 20 I could go on and on with the numbers quoted to me but you will get the point. The welfare of the pigeons must come first and the majority of people whom I have spoken to say that this is not happening. With the heat, lack of water, and no air conditioning these are contribution factors behind the losses of fancier’s birds. The weather forecast was perfect and it was a good racing day, which has been proved with the leading pigeons. I have been informed that this weekend 23rd June the weather on the continent has to be very hot. The Belgian officials have put out a notice to all organisations that due to the hot weather there has only to be 16 BIRDS PER BASKET instead of 20. Now there is forward thinking!!! Less birds in the basket; water on both sides of the transporter enough room for 8 birds to go to each drinker. So why can’t we do the same it seems that in Scotland it is all about making MONEY – Cheaper transporter; more birds in the baskets; etc. and in the end who is the winner NOT ANYONE because if the pigeons are lost then they cannot go back into another race again. Whereas if they all returned home safe and sound they could go to either Ypres or Falaise. This is not the first or will be the last BAD RACE the SNFC will have as it has happened for YEARS. Many people have been saying the same old thing about the welfare of the SNFC birds for years and years but it falls on deaf ears and they continue with the same format year in year out. The mentality of either the officials or management committee need to change if not more and more fanciers will just give up on the national and go and join the SNRPC who have Geraldy transporter; have stuck to the same race points since its introduction (with a shorter channel crossing) and have had good races. I have always been a SNFC man but have to give credit where it is due and just listening to the amount of disheartened fanciers who have stated the above – however the main belief is that the management committee are not listening to the members. On Sunday afternoon I received a phone call from Herbie, a fancier in Prestatyn in North Wales he had 4 Scottish pigeons come into him on the Saturday SU15P 7082; SU16P 4173; SU16P 2720 and SU16NL 108 the latter was a chequer white flight who was slightly hurt and had some tail feathers missing. Herbie asked if I knew the area these birds came from and would it be alright if he released them at Scarborough the following day as he was going up that way. I took his phone number and told him I would come back to him as soon as possible. The P registered birds came from Pentland Hills Federation so I contacted Andy Miller the press officer who unfortunately was out. So then I contacted Barry Kinnear and told him the above and he said, ‘Give me Herbie’s number and I will phone him as I’m going down near Scarborough tomorrow with my work and I will meet up with him and bring the pigeons back up the road’. How was that for a coincidence and well done to Herbie and Barry on helping get these birds back to their owners? Andy did phone me back and would you believe it one of them was one of his hens. I have also heard that pigeons have been reported in Northern Ireland this week from the Scottish national race. The sad thing is from this wonderful entry of 6065 birds and all the birds that have been lost the knock on effect will be a drop in birdage for the Ypres and Falaise races still to come. I was a member of the SNFC for years and served on the management committee and during this time they have held young bird and late bred sales with all these proceeds going into the club funds. We were going to buy a transporter and even hired the Central Southern Classic transporter at one time. There is and has been enough money in the funds to buy 2 Geraldy transporters over the years and make sure that the Scottish national member’s birds receive the best of attention. But this is not happening we are still using Federation transporter to take the cream of the member’s birds to race points and when we have races like this with so many losses as I already said it has a knock on effect to the future races still to be flown this year. I know I have gone on about the losses above but as is normal in any pigeon race there are quality pigeons that show their superiority and this race is no exception. The winner of 1st section B 1st open is Andrew Agnew & son of Kelso who timed a yearling blue cock to win the open by 40 ypm. Andrew won the Newbury national in 2005 so this makes it a double SNFC win for this fine fancier. People who read my Good SNFC Birds feature will have noticed the name of Agnew & son a number of times as their birds have been highlighted in this feature proving they have some very good quality pigeons about their loft, well done to you both on your 2nd national win. I also noticed on the probable result that Ian Hynd and his father Jock won 1st section C 2nd open so a hearty congratulations to you both. 1st section A 8th open is J & Mike Currie of Moffett well done; 1st section E 12th open is W Millen of Rutherglen with Andrew Eadie of the Eadie & Kelly partnership who send in their weekly result to me are 2nd section E 13th open well done mate. P Keogh of Broxburn is 1st section D 14th open with Alex R Rae of Aberdeen winning 1st section G 1st North section and 16th open flying 439 miles. As I previously said ‘Quality Pigeons’ and this is proven when there is 6 of the 7 section winners within the first 16 in the open from a race with over 6000 birds competing. The other section winner is R Donegan of Newmilns in the very west of Scotland who won 1st section F 197th open well done to all the above mentioned winners. Kevin won 4th Angus federation 9th section C 26th open with his first bird she 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 I named her after Adrian’s late wife. She was our 2nd bird from Buckingham a couple of weeks ago and won 70th section C 201st open from 4169 birds she had previously won 25th section C 63rd open from Ypres last year so now has 3 national certificates to her name. Her sire was a direct Leo Van Rijn cock I purchased from Holland with the help of Adrian. Our 2nd bird a chequer cock was trained as a young bird and had one race as a yearling from Ridsdale returning with a broken foot and was stopped for the season. This year he won 3rd club 4th section from Leicester and is now 55th section C 194th open Bedhampton flying 400 miles. His sire was bred by my good mate Guy Reed of Isle of Wight being a son of the famous Wingdown of Alwyn Hill winner of 2nd 4th & 7th Tarbes. His dam is our ‘My Little Rachel’ winner of 171st open Maidstone and 4th open SNFC Alencon flying 574 miles she in turn is a granddaughter of Robbie’s Boy winner of 1st SNFC Falaise for Gilmour Brothers of Leven. Our 3rd bird winning 75th section C 277th open was a blue cock who won prizes as a young bird. His sire was a direct son of Bernard Deweerdts famous racer and stock cock ‘Gilbert’ while his dam was bred by my good friends Ian Crammond & Nigel Langstaff of Fontwell being from their Brockamp Euro Diamond bloodlines. Our 4th bird to make the open result in 117th section C 482nd open has been a steady bird without setting the heather on fire. Sire is Brian a Brian Johnstone of Pencaitland cock a direct son of Deanview Blue Star who won both a Silver and Gold Award with the Scottish National. The dam of our winner is Brigid a hen I purchased from John McGee from the Barcelona One Loft. Sire is a full brother to Pennine Height’s winner of 1st NFC Tarbes flying 740 miles while her dam was bred by David Coward-Talbott from a son of De Narbonne when mated to a daughter of De Narbonne. While having a quick look at the national result I noticed the name of Dave Glen of Forfar who timed in his blue bar cock SU12AF 746 named ‘Lowson Lad’ who has now 10 wins in the Scottish National to his reputation. He won a SNFC Meritorious Inland Bronze Award this year for gaining 5 wins from inland national races as an old bird. As a yearling in 2013 he won 4th section C 25th open from Maidstone a distance of 401 miles that same year he competed from Ypres and won 114th open flying 465 miles although he did not win a section prize. In 2014 he again contested from the same 2 race points and won 5th section C 26th open from Maidstone and then gained 3rd section C 15th open from Ypres. The following year 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 3 national diplomas being 27th section C 137th open Buckingham flying 330 miles thus accomplishing winning his SNFC Meritorious Inland Bronze Award. Nevertheless Dave then entered him into the Littlehampton race and he succeeded in gaining 22nd section C 56th open flying 415 miles he was then set up for the Ypres event and triumphed by winning 6th section C 15th open. This year 2017 he was entered into the Buckingham race flying 407 miles and won 33rd section C 100 open from an entry of 6065 birds and (not that it matters but is what make me check out the ring number) he won over £1600 in this race. He requires ONE more win from the channel to achieve a SNFC Silver Award and we wish Dave all the best with ‘Lowson Lad’s’ and hope he can achieve this goal. I think fanciers will agree he is a truly outstanding pigeon and raced by a very accomplished fancier whom we congratulate on another Scottish success well done Dave. SNFC Alencon Gold Cup race is the main event for the majority of members and is flown this Friday 30th June or Saturday 1st July weather permitting. It is every member’s dream of winning this race as your name and your pigeon go down in the annuals of the clubs history. I have been captivated with this race since I was 10 years old (which is now 60 years ago) when my late father sent his pigeons. If I was honest he did not have a hope in hell of winning (as the pigeons he kept were not good enough) but this is what kept him in the sport. If he got a pigeon home it was his Rennes cock or hen and if it was the only bird in the club then all the members would visit the loft just to see and handle it. This history is engrained in me and this race will always be THE ONE. I have been lucky enough to win the Scottish national from Sartilly and had many other good positions over the years but to win the Blue Riband race in Scotland is what dreams are made of. May I wish everyone taking part all the very best and let us hope were have a good race with plenty of returns as this is where fanciers send the cream of their lofts. Good Luck. Results Arbroath RPC for the 8th old bird race from Bedhampton 3 members sent 62 birds these were liberated at 06-00 into a North West wind. Taking 1st 3rd & 4th club is Glen Cameron who also did very well in the SNFC winning 24th 68th 165th 230th 273rd & 359th open. His winner was a yearling blue bar cock; sire is Prada winner of 1st & 2nd north section (beaten by a loft mate) for Glen when he was racing in Aberdeen. Prada is a grandson of the Castres of Leon Messiaen and also contains Leon’s other base pigeon the Perpignan; while his sire contains the lines of the Tutsi of Martin Ravelingien. The dam is ‘Little Dorrie’ winner of 3rd open SNFC Reims; last year her granddaughter won 7th open SNFC Reims for Bill Dorward. Glen’s 2nd bird was also a yearling this time a blue bar hen, same breeding as above. Glen had 4 from Prada and Little Dorrie away to the national and they were the first 3 timers with the 4th of this family also home on the night. Angus Federation had 282 birds at the Bedhampton race in conjunction with the SNFCC. Topping the federation is Bob Baldie of Forfar who win 2nd section C 3rd open in the SNFC result. 2nd federation 7th section C 23rd open is Eric Galloway of the same club. 3rd federation 5th 12th 13th 17th & 18th is Glen Cameron of Arbroath with club mate Kevin Murphy winning 4th 14th & 19th open. Ian Scott of Forfar is 6th 7th 10th 11th 16th & 20th open with Macaulay Ferguson & Curran of the same club in 8th place. Davie Glen whom I have mentioned above is 9th with David J Liddle taking the 15th open spot. The East Section is dominated by Glen Cameron and Kevin Murphy with Glen winning 1st 3rd 4th 5th 7th & 8th positions with Kevin winning 2nd 6th & 9th and the remaining 10th place going to M Wallace of Montrose club. Club winners area as follows; Forfar 155 birds winner R Baldie; Arbroath 62 birds Glen Cameron; Montrose 27 birds W Wallace & son. Gourdon 14 birds D & D Hay; Inchcape 24 birds Glen Cameron. East of Scotland Federation News from John Baillie who writes ‘Well what can we say; it must be one of the worst races ever from the coast with the SNFC. I see Kevin had an early one on Saturday so well done to you both. The members of the East of Scotland federation duplicated their birds from the national to fly in our 2nd open race of the season. Taking top position is Jim McNeil from Tranent with another bird in 9th position. John Bird of Prestonpans follows next in 2nd and is also 8th open with the consistent loft of Graham Wardhaugh of Dirleton in 3rd and 7th positions. Yours truly John Baillie of Tranent takes 4th and 5th open with Tucker Watt of Macmerry in 6th place. Tam Davidson of Davidson Partners from Prestonpans fills in the 10th open position. Prestonpans HC - winning the club we have John Bird with a yearling red cock that has scored previously this year and is bred from a Jos Thone bird bought at Blackpool crossed with a Jan Aarden from Andrew Bishop of East Linton. In 2nd & 3rd positions is John Baillie with my first bird a Van Lint that lay out 7 days from Littlehampton last year as a yearling. My 2nd bird was a yearling blue cock and is a Van Lint crossed Vandenabeele. No racing this weekend and then on to the Gold Cup, that birdage should be safe as the majority of fanciers would not have taken the chance of sending them to Bedhampton , but with the amount of losses this will have definitely hurt the following 3 channel races. Thanks again Joe yours in sport John B’. Fife Federation Glenrothes & Leslie Pigeon Club news from Rosie Armit who informs us that 5 members sent 104 birds to the comeback Alnwick race point. 1st was Turpie & McCord with a velocity of 1509 with a 3 year old blue cock sent feeding a 3 day old young bird. His sire is a son of Charlie Cameron's Belgian stray Jos Claes winner of 21 x 1st prizes. His dam is bred by Robert O Jones of Wales and has won many other club and fed positions. 2nd was Brian Kinnear on 1506 with a blue bar 2 year old cock sitting 8 days; his sire was killed by a Sparrow hawk at the loft and his dam won 89th open Alencon returning home with a damaged wing and she is now in the stock loft. 3rd club was M McMurchie on 1463. Lanarkshire Federation Cambusnethan & Morningside club news from Andrew Eadie who writes ‘Hi Joe from our 9th race of the season we were at Bedhampton with the SNFC and duplicating back into the Federation and club. Liberated at 06-00am into a North West wind the convoy of approximately 1000 birds in the federation and over 6000 in the Scottish National. The club had 17 members sending 163 birds and taking top spot this week and their 5th win of the season is the Eadie & Kelly partnership. Who win in the federation 3rd section 3rd open and to top a fantastic run of performances win 2nd section E 13th open in the SNFC. The winning pigeon is a 2 year old raced on roundabout and is down from our ‘Z Line’ of Vandenabeele’s and is a direct son of our Silver Z Queen hen. She is dam/grand dam of our loft and won her Silver Award for meritorious performances in the SNFC in 2012 for winning 28th 101st & 109th open Ypres. 2nd club 4th section 5th open Lanarkshire federation and 4th section E 55th open is J K Millar with a 2 year old Lindelauf crossed Van Lint also raced on the roundabout with its health being maintained with Wee Jackie’s Tonic wine. 3rd club 6th section 84th open SNFC and a pooch of money is W Smart with a 2 year old cock his breeding and system unknown as wee Wullie would not show you a birds nest. 4th club are J & K Gillon, 5th club T McSorley; 6th club Tam Richardson. Lastly I would like to congratulate Andrew Agnew & Son on their Scottish National win also to Chalmers Baird on topping the Lanarkshire federation and well done to all who took some fantastic positions in their respective clubs; federation and National. I have included some photographs to go with this write up Joe, and can you insert J.K MILLAR as it was the wrong photo in last week’s BHW ‘Z Queen’; SNFC Silver Award winner dam of the loft. ‘Z Flash’ winner of 2nd section 13th open SNFC Bedhampton for Eddie & Kelly, in finishing well done to both you and Kevin on your results, yours Andy Eadie’ 2nd section E 13th open SNFC for Eadie & Kelly Mother of 13 open winner J & K Millar North of Scotland Federation News from George Duthie regarding the Ripon 2 old bird race flown on 17th June were 54 members sent 646 birds liberated into a light south west wind. Topping the federation and taking 1st 2nd 5th 6th east section (25 members sending 394 birds) and open is G Findlay of Peterhead & District club. R Higgins of Fraserburgh West End club is 3rd & 4th section and open with Stuart Maskame of Peterhead club winning 7th east section and federation. A Wilson of Devern Valley club wins 1st west section (29 members sending 252 birds) 8th open he is also 7th west section 27th open and is followed by Jim & Anne Donaldson of Peterhead & District in 8th section 9th open. J S Robertson of Inverurie is 9th east section 10th open wit R Wilson of Keith club in 2nd 3rd 8th & 9th west section 11th 12th 34th & 36th open. C McRae of Fraserburgh & District is 10th & 11th section 13th & 14th open. Fulton & Ritchie of Devern Valley are 4th west section 17th open with A Mair (John) of Devern Valley is 5th west section 20th open followed by club mate A Milne who is 6th west section 25th open and G R Duncan of Keith club is 10th west section 37th open. Clubs First Bird G Findlay of Peterhead & District; R Higgins of Fraserburgh West End; A Wilson of Devern Valley; J S Robertson of Inverurie; R Wilson of Keith; C McRae of Fraserburgh & District; H Broadley of Buckie & District; G Geddes of Elgin & District. Well done to Gordon Findlay on topping the federation and also well done to Andy Wilson on winning the west section. Cheers once again Joe and good luck for the nationals to you and Kevin yours George D’. Pentland Hills Federation and New Lothian News from Andy Miller who writes ‘Hi Joe the Pentland Hills federation held their final OB race of the season from Bedhampton in conjunction with the SNFC which turned out a real tough one for most, even bordering on disaster. The convoy were liberated at 06-00 am into a light North West wind with 76 Pentland members sending 765 birds with the SNFC. There always has to be a winner and this week is John Smith from Bonnyrigg who timed an old timer, a 2011 cock flying roundabout of Pouw Brothers Janssen origin and is a winner of many prizes over the years. The brother to the sire of his winner won 4th open SNFC previously from Maidstone. 2nd is E Stark of Bonnyrigg with Willie Kinnear & son of Danderhall in 3rd place. A W Robertson of Danderhall is 4th with is pooled pigeon and lifts over £400 for his efforts. Willie Pryde & son John of Easthouses are 5th 8th & 10th with S Gilchrist of Edinburgh Premier is 6th place. J Dewar of Bonnyrigg is 7th with M Bennett of Danderhall in 9th spot. That’s it for this week Joe well done to you and Kevin on a very good pigeon from the national yours Andy’. John Baillie with his 8th open SNFC Buckingham winner Joe’s Joke I was standing at the bar one night minding my own business. This overweight ugly chick came up and grabbed my behind and said, ‘You’re kind of cute. You got a phone number?’ I said, ‘Yeah, you got a pen?’ She said, ‘Yeah, I got a pen’. I said, ‘You better get back in it before the farmer misses you’; Cost me 6 stitches…but, when you’re over seventy……………who cares? 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

Sent you a PM with his number Ian

They don't mark in the morning Robbie :emoticon-0179-headbang:

Would like to thank Eastcoster (Colin Greive) for his donation of eggs to a site member who has donated £50 to the PB Charity Fund THANKS to you BOTH Ian

Silver City R P C Ripon Race 24/06/2017 4 members sent 46 pigeons Liberated at 08.00hrs into a LSW wind getting stronger on route and gusting 1st I Ellis 1248.458 2nd M Main 1228.091 3rd M Mooney 1228.047 4th M Mooney 1227.842 5th M Main 1206.156 6th M Mooney 1178.125 7th A Baxter 1151.201 8th A Baxter 948 587 A Baxter wins food nomination Well done I Ellis on a very hard day