w.n.r.fed@swindon

[Guest spin cycle]

what does W.N.R  stand for ?

[rasbull]

welsh north road

[Guest spin cycle]

welsh north road

 

thats what i thought...but swindon isn't really north of wales surely its more east

[Guest strapper]

what does W.N.R  stand for ?

 

it might say north road but we changed route a few years a go..its really the south east fed .

[rasbull]

The name is Welsh North Road Fed, but we actually fly south east route!

[Guest spin cycle]

The name is Welsh North Road Fed, but we actually fly south east route!

 

OHH...thanks

[Guest Owen]

As I have not heard anything to explain the way things worked out last Saturday and the Saturday before from Swindon. I will seek some information tomorrow from Terry Tremeer, The Fed President/Race Controller.

Regardless of what he says, if anything or nothing, I will make his remarks available on this Forum. I think we have a right to know.

Next Saturday, as I understand it, there are at least 7 Feds at Bath. And I have yet to hear about liberations that could be planned for sites all around the area. So it could be a case of us having to brace ourselves for another ruinous event.

I hope we can find a way of organising these young bird races so that they are free from the problems we have been having.

And I hope we can do it without any shouting and accusations.  

[holmsidelofts]

I fly with the RV Fed myself and we have experienced good YB racing so far this year, so it can't all be down to the route.

 

We have all been flying this route long enough to know if you can't get them up before 9 in the morning then you need to hold them until 3ish in the afternoon to ensure that any birds have definately cleared the area..  9 times out of 10 when any Welsh Fed has liberated around mid day it turns out to be a disasterous race..

 

I agree that we are crossing a lot of feds and its a nightmare for the race controlers but I feel that this route is the farest flying route into Wales everyone has the chance of winning unlike on the North or South, where a prevailing West wind means that the boys in the valleys don't really have a chance....

 

Clashing is clearley the issue and I feel all the Welsh Feds should be liberating together so we are a force to be reakoned with and any Fed on our line of flight would not want to be in our way, also I feel we should be racing on a Sunday weather permitting which should resolve the issue as long as the weather is good on the Saturday for all the English feds to go.

 

What does everyone else think?

 

Finally someone with a bit of sense, hopefully the race controllers are reading this, up BEFORE 9 or AFTER 3pm, if we would have followed that advice im sure there would have been more birds home.

 

 

[Guest strapper]

As I have not heard anything to explain the way things worked out last Saturday and the Saturday before from Swindon. I will seek some information tomorrow from Terry Tremeer, The Fed President/Race Controller.

Regardless of what he says, if anything or nothing, I will make his remarks available on this Forum. I think we have a right to know.

Next Saturday, as I understand it, there are at least 7 Feds at Bath. And I have yet to hear about liberations that could be planned for sites all around the area. So it could be a case of us having to brace ourselves for another ruinous event.

I hope we can find a way of organising these young bird races so that they are free from the problems we have been having.

And I hope we can do it without any shouting and accusations.  

 

waiting on your report owen m8

 

by the way what section has this thread been put into?

 

[Guest Owen]

I telephoned Terry Tremeer, the Welsh North Road President and Race Controller, as I promised I would, and here is a summary of what he told me.

As far as Terry is concerned, he had done eveything that could be done to ensure that the Swindon young birds had a good race.

He had checked the weather with Stev Appleby to have an overall opinion as to the weather conditions over the line of flight. As it turned out there was fog in some parts on the home end. That was why the birds were held until after mid-day. Terry was then in contact with the Feds at Bath and although the area was clear at 12:00 he decided to play safe and hold the liberation until 12:15.

In Terry's opinion when the birds were released he could see no reason why they should not have enjoyed a good flight home.

I then asked him if he accepted as a fact that unacceptable losses had occured. He agreed that they had. I then asked him to give me his informed opinion as to why this had happened on two consecutive weeks. He said that the problem is two fold. People are putting young birds in that have not received proper training and in some cases no training at all. These birds are paniced by the experience and are dehydrated because they will not have found the water. In addition there are a lot of pigeons entered that have Young Bird Sickness.

The result of all this is that there is a traffic jam because the birds will not clear for home properly. He said that they often go for several miles but eventually they will mill arround. A lot are exhausted and just can not go any further. Then there will be several Feds all piling up before they eventually go off following other birds in desperation. I then stated that I am sure that my birds were not suffering with illness and they had receive more than 30 tosses before last Saturday which was their first race. Terry thought that when a traffic jam like that takes place all birds are affected regardless of whether they are ill, inexperienced or not. He then went on to explain that it is not just our Fed that causes the problems, just about all Feds are involved. Terry then refered to his own Club at Torfaen. He said that if anyone took a pigeon to the Club to enter it in a race with food in it's crop it would be turned back. He said that he feels strongly that all Clubs should adopt this policy so that the number of sick birds in the race panniers could be reduced, if not eliminated. He also thought that Club Members should try to encourage everyone in their Club to train properly. In conclusion, he said that he expected that over the last two weeks many of the sick and inexperienced birds will have been lost and there should be truer races from here on.

I have done my best to repeat what Terry has said and I want to thank him for being so frank and co-operative.

My personal conclusion is, that although I think Terry has a point, the whole idea of releasing young pigeons to fly accross the main  flight path is asking for trouble. In future I will not compete in these early races and I am considering changing to a Fed that flies a more logical route.

Owen

[Robert Hyde]

Thank you Owen, This problem of losses has been going on for the last three years with the first couple of races.I think Swindon should be looked at to be changed.I also agree that flying from  east to west will also be prone to clashing.I hope that this weeks Newbury brings more joy.

[Guest strapper]

well done owen m8, exellent report.

 

taking one or two points there what terry had said.....unexperienced and sick birds..account for a majority of lost birds?..not exact words but meaning the same.

did the s/west glamorgan have all good healthy experienced birds? accounting for their good returns?

and did the rhonnda valley fed have the same?

and does this mean that the majority of the wnrf birds are unhealthy and inexperienced?

 

respect has to go to terry for answering your questions.

hopefully we will have a better race this week cant help to think if we dont then we will all be discussing it again next w/end ??).

 

once again well done owen m8

[Guest tom123]

looks like a wet weekend at the moment hope it changes by sat

[Guest strapper]

looks likely tom m8...stretching into next week too m8

[Guest tom123]

yea brothers getting wed sat so may leavem home if itsa all day job

[Novice]

I have followed this thread with interest.

We had a disasterous first race of the season but for the second race we changed route to try to that the birds did not clash. We also reduced the distance to between 30 and 40 miles. The outcome was that we had almost 100% returns from the second race.

I know this is a complex problem but there have been some excellent points raised on this thread and I have found it very informative.  

[distancer]

Was in the lake district last week, Keswick area.The weather was dreadful. I was pitying the racing then, if any libs took place.Not much hope for the near future with the forecast.

[Guest tom123]

I have followed this thread with interest.

We had a disasterous first race of the season but for the second race we changed route to try to that the birds did not clash. We also reduced the distance to between 30 and 40 miles. The outcome was that we had almost 100% returns from the second race.

I know this is a complex problem but there have been some excellent points raised on this thread and I have found it very informative.  

 

yes mate its been a very open minded debate over the past couple of days with a lot of disgruntled fanciers showing their concerns rightlly so i agree! nothing worse than suffering big loses believe me i know few years ago 46 ybs nine mile toss lost the lot havent seen a feather

but no doubt we`ll move on now next week and hopefully put it behind us

[Novice]

 

yes mate its been a very open minded debate over the past couple of days with a lot of disgruntled fanciers showing their concerns rightlly so i agree! nothing worse than suffering big loses believe me i know few years ago 46 ybs nine mile toss lost the lot havent seen a feather

but no doubt we`ll move on now next week and hopefully put it behind us

 

Agreed we all vent our feelings initially then start to see the positives and move on from there.

 

 

[blackdog]

Was in the lake district last week, Keswick area.The weather was dreadful. I was pitying the racing then, if any libs took place.Not much hope for the near future with the forecast.

 

 

hi mate, all 3 cumbria feds had very poor returns last weekend, derwent valley fed (leyland) liberated at 10-40,  west cumbria fed ( leyland) liberated 9-00, and east cumbria fed (garstang)liberated at 12-00,  maybe this weather had a lot to do with east cumbria fed( ie) carlise being the worst hit as one club had only 15 birds back in club out of nearly 300 sent, 1 member only getting 1 out of 60, this is 2 weeks on the trot that we have had huge losses, i myself  lost 15 out of 35 and have thought of throwing the towel in, gives you no heart and you just start to go through the motions, losing interest so i know what the welsh lads and lasses are going through.

 

[Guest tom123]

its interesting to see that its happening else where and not just an isolated area ,i know its not what you want to read but its been a hell of a year for losses nationwide

[distancer]

I agree with that. But I have never witnessed the amount of rain being put down in such a short time. I had to wait ten mins the other day just to get out of the car.The road was flooded like never before in that time.The worst thing is that you can set out for a training toss in fine weather, then just as you get to your release point the weather changes in an instant. I never train with any one else.Being a distance man I single up,takes time.If the weather is bad it is just not worth it. Can take me a long time to single up, but it is well worth it. I only do the channel.

[Guest tom123]

tell me about it we only train 14 mile but everyday for past six weeks and most days they kop a downpour or gale winds coming up the river seven but got to be honest they ve all come through it

there trained hard all weathers and fed well balances out