snfc maidstone

[THE FIFER]

EAST WEST the hawks are there I live on the East coast and they are here, and all over, any place that does not have them the RSPB will make sure they get them,

[Guest TAMMY_1]

there are loads of hawks/falcons down the east i could take you to 14 nest sites within 45 min drive from my loft

 

exactly, does not matter where u fly hawks are there in force

[Guest]

Not true Tammy, I lived in Yorkshire for 17 years until 2003, very very few percys, in fact the east of England is extremley lucky, there are of course sparrow hawks but its like comparing mice to rats.

[kelly tom]

I live 45 miles from the east coast why the scottish feds want to race this route is beyond me apart for clashing with the north roaders where exactly do you think your birds go west they certainly dont cross the pennines i was up in Tow Law last week aqnd why anybody would use there as a lib site is a joke

[frank-123]

Birdage breakdown for the Maidstone race is as follows

Section A = 264

Section B = 1433

Section C = 1045

Section D = 752

Section E = 481

Section F = 114

Section G = 94

Total = 4183

East Region = 3230, North Region = 94, South Region = 264, West Region = 595

 

We estimate approximately 1200 Federation birds are convoyed with the club therefore the total convoy is in the region of 5,500 birds.

 

 

 

 

[frank-123]

anyone know the birdage for lanarkshire fed from maidstone?

[jimmy white]

EAST WEST the hawks are there I live on the East coast and they are here, and all over, any place that does not have them the RSPB will make sure they get them,

 

east side racing,, west side racing , the hawks are certainly plentyfull ,,,, round about from longtown to preston its loaded these race points are only 40 ,,50  miles from the east  side race points  [which there are also plenty hawks[ but a perigrine would travel this ,very very easy ,especialy for a picnic :-/ quite simply, their all over ,, and as the fifer says ,if theres a nice quiet power station or cathedral etc ,the rspb ,no matter where,,,,,the rspb would make sure it was ,nest boxed and a pair of perigrines to   occupy it.

[jimmy white]

this weather is diabolical up here for the middle -end of june , lets hope it improves  ,,, good luck to all at maidstone wheather it be nat, or fed  

[Guest]

Can't find the figures but they're out there somewhere and show peregrine concentrations are far higher on the west, and along the full route.

 

I think a lot of people have very short memories. Here's one reminder:-

 

SILVERWINGS

THE LANARKSHIRE FED USED THE M6 FLYING THE SOUTH ROUTE TWO SEASONS AGO

THERE WAS MASSIVE LOSSES MOST FANCIERS UNABLE TO COMPLETE THE RACE PROGRAMME THIS I THINK WAS DUE TO THE HAWKS IN CUMBRIA & THE SOTHERN UPLANDS OF SCOTLAND

THE FOLLOWING SEASON THEY CHANGED BACK TO THE A1 ROUTE(EAST)

A LOT HAS CHANGED FROM 1970

 

 

And similar to above, people with short memories forced a change back to west route for our fed too - it lasted for half of one OB season when losses and numbers home injured were horrendous, so much so that YB programme reverted to east route, otherwise there would have been very few sending YB racing that year.

[billymac]

your the one with the short memory mr brown.get your facts right!

the year you are referring to the programme started with a centre to west route  swinging over at uttoxeter and gradually ending up on the centre to east side for the old bird programme.

let me ask you as you think the present route is so much better than centre to west route:- how many young birds ended up at the north west fed young bird open races over the last 2 years,when approx 10,000 rings were issued in the fed???

if you asked for a poll of fed members as to how many old birds they had lost over the last 5 years or so down the east route,the figure would be frightening.

i"m not saying that hawks aren"t part of the problem, but i dont honestly believe that there are any less down. the east as down the west.

another question,how many birds does the north west fed have at maidstone?

[frank-123]

Can't find the figures but they're out there somewhere and show peregrine concentrations are far higher on the west, and along the full route.

 

I think a lot of people have very short memories. Here's one reminder:-

 

 

 

 

And similar to above, people with short memories forced a change back to west route for our fed too - it lasted for half of one OB season when losses and numbers home injured were horrendous, so much so that YB programme reverted to east route, otherwise there would have been very few sending YB racing that year.

 

i dont have a short memory i never said go the west route

 

 

[Guest TAMMY_1]

anyone know the birdage for lanarkshire fed from maidstone?

 

Just over 2,000

[Ian McKay]

Hope that convoyer is looking after your birds Tammy I bet on you to win. ;D ;D ;D ;D

Did you have a word with him before he left :B :B :B :B

[Guest]

 

i dont have a short memory i never said go the west route

 

 

 

I didn't say you did Bart.    Info is on the forum somewhere, but yours was the only post I could find. Its relevant because your post was on Lanarkshire's experience on the west route a few years back, at about the same time North West switched west. North West had a similar experience too..

[Guest]

your the one with the short memory mr brown.get your facts right!

the year you are referring to the programme started with a centre to west route  swinging over at uttoxeter and gradually ending up on the centre to east side for the old bird programme.

let me ask you as you think the present route is so much better than centre to west route:- how many young birds ended up at the north west fed young bird open races over the last 2 years,when approx 10,000 rings were issued in the fed???

if you asked for a poll of fed members as to how many old birds they had lost over the last 5 years or so down the east route,the figure would be frightening.

i"m not saying that hawks aren"t part of the problem, but i dont honestly believe that there are any less down. the east as down the west.

another question,how many birds does the north west fed have at maidstone?

 

One thing I do try to do is get my facts right. There is no such thing as the centre route, the route is determined by the Pennines, and the birds can only fly either east or west of them. Try getting a map and looking at where Lockerbie, Appleby, Lancaster, Garstang, and Leyland lie in relation to the Pennines and the M74/ M6..  then have a skim of the following extract, and note especially what Phil Lynch’s experience on the west route was that year and what the RSPB say about us at the end. Perhaps its others that need to get their facts right and stop playing into the RSPB's hands.

 

Appleby also featured in BHW that year ... 3 peregrines targetted a fed transporter there and attacked the birds as soon as they were liberated.

 

extract

 

Scotsman

Tue 30 Aug 2005

 

Birds of prey 'will kill off pigeon racing'  by Angie Brown

 

Pigeon fancier Gill Reilly used to have 40 birds but has lost 'some real beauties' and now has only 15 left.

 

PIGEON racing will die out in Scotland within 20 years if the number of birds of prey continues to soar at recent record levels, experts warned yesterday.

 

The number of sparrowhawks and peregrine falcons, which feed on pigeons, have hit unprecedented levels, and an estimated 120,000 racing birds are being killed in Scotland every year.

 

The problem is so bad that the Royal Pigeon Racing Association has lost 2,000 members and the Scottish Homing Union 300 since the start of the year.

 

There are now 4,200 peregrine falcons and 120,000 sparrowhawks living in the UK, with each eating between two and three birds a day.

 

Dr Philip Lynch, chairman of the Scottish Homing Union's Save Our Sport from Raptors group, called for a change in the law to allow them to be killed.

 

Dr Lynch, 65, who has been racing pigeons since the age of seven from his home town of Larbert, Stirlingshire, said he had lost 65 pigeons - half his flock - this year.

 

Duncan Orr-Ewing, a raptor specialist with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said independent research showed fanciers had failed to take precautions against raptor attacks.

 

"Peregrines are being made a scapegoat here and the fanciers' reaction is just to go kill something to solve the problem," he said. "If they were to kill a raptor, then it would just be replaced a few days later by another one.

 

"They have been given advice, such as to not use race routes along the M74 corridor where there are a lot of peregrines, keep their lofts away from woodland cover, put model owls on their roofs and use pigeons with a white rump because research shows they are less likely to be attacked, but our experience is that fanciers aren't doing this."

 

[d mac]

any news of the doo s at maidstone yet

[Guest TAMMY_1]

Hope that convoyer is looking after your birds Tammy I bet on you to win. ;D ;D ;D ;D

Did you have a word with him before he left :B :B :B :B

 

HOPE SO IAN,

AYE HE WAS TOLD TO TOSS MINE TWO HOURS AFORE THE REST ;D

[Guest]

any news of the doo s at maidstone yet

 

never herd

[Guest TAMMY_1]

any news of the doo s at maidstone yet

 

AYE THEY ARE STILL THERE

[billymac]

 

One thing I do try to do is get my facts right. There is no such thing as the centre route, the route is determined by the Pennines, and the birds can only fly either east or west of them. Try getting a map and looking at where Lockerbie, Appleby, Lancaster, Garstang, and Leyland lie in relation to the Pennines and the M74/ M6..  then have a skim of the following extract, and note especially what Phil Lynch’s experience on the west route was that year and what the RSPB say about us at the end. Perhaps its others that need to get their facts right and stop playing into the RSPB's hands.

 

Appleby also featured in BHW that year ... 3 peregrines targetted a fed transporter there and attacked the birds as soon as they were liberated.

 

extract

 

Scotsman

Tue 30 Aug 2005

 

Birds of prey 'will kill off pigeon racing'  by Angie Brown

 

Pigeon fancier Gill Reilly used to have 40 birds but has lost 'some real beauties' and now has only 15 left.

 

PIGEON racing will die out in Scotland within 20 years if the number of birds of prey continues to soar at recent record levels, experts warned yesterday.

 

The number of sparrowhawks and peregrine falcons, which feed on pigeons, have hit unprecedented levels, and an estimated 120,000 racing birds are being killed in Scotland every year.

 

The problem is so bad that the Royal Pigeon Racing Association has lost 2,000 members and the Scottish Homing Union 300 since the start of the year.

 

There are now 4,200 peregrine falcons and 120,000 sparrowhawks living in the UK, with each eating between two and three birds a day.

 

Dr Philip Lynch, chairman of the Scottish Homing Union's Save Our Sport from Raptors group, called for a change in the law to allow them to be killed.

 

Dr Lynch, 65, who has been racing pigeons since the age of seven from his home town of Larbert, Stirlingshire, said he had lost 65 pigeons - half his flock - this year.

 

Duncan Orr-Ewing, a raptor specialist with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said independent research showed fanciers had failed to take precautions against raptor attacks.

 

"Peregrines are being made a scapegoat here and the fanciers' reaction is just to go kill something to solve the problem," he said. "If they were to kill a raptor, then it would just be replaced a few days later by another one.

 

"They have been given advice, such as to not use race routes along the M74 corridor where there are a lot of peregrines, keep their lofts away from woodland cover, put model owls on their roofs and use pigeons with a white rump because research shows they are less likely to be attacked, but our experience is that fanciers aren't doing this."

 

you have not answered  the questions i posed to you re: numbers of young birds sent to north west fed young bird opens over the last 2 seasons on the east route! & i did not use the term centre route, i clearly used the terms centre to west & centre to east. a genuine east route would follow the coastline.

as i said get your facts right,no wonder your club members cant be bothered listening to you!!

[doos r us]

correct on lancaster lib site cattle market doos were flying into sheds one side and a brick wall the other the ones up top got up and were hit by percy and that was 1997 dont matter east or west the doos still have to cross the narrow bit in the borders thats the killer cumbria /kelso /tweed valley

[maverick]

 

HOPE SO IAN,

AYE HE WAS TOLD TO TOSS MINE TWO HOURS AFORE THE REST ;D

 

YOU WILL NEED MORE OF A START THAN THAT   DAFTY

[Guest TAMMY_1]

 

YOU WILL NEED MORE OF A START THAN THAT   DAFTY

 

and u will need a miracle

[maverick]

IT HAS BEEN ANSWERED LOOK AT THE WIND DAFTY

[Guest TAMMY_1]

IT HAS BEEN ANSWERED LOOK AT THE WIND DAFTY

 

well u need all the help u can get