Ian McKay Posted March 31, 2016 Report Posted March 31, 2016 The Joe Murphy Column A few years ago my son Kevin was going to do a ‘tracking’ experiment on Racing Pigeons at Dundee and Angus College where he is Director of Curriculum FE & Skills. He contacted various companies throughout the world regarding making a tracker small enough to fit into a pigeon ring (just like the ETS has now) This would allow fanciers to track their youngsters from training flights and see if they had learnt from the experience of the training. This could then be continue with old birds and for example could tell if the pigeon was away of line or in the event of a disaster of a race the information obtained could tell if the pigeons had stopped at certain point (assumed) dead. He tried to obtain financial backing for this project but this did not materialize and it was shelfed. However he had put an article on the World Wide Web and this week he received 3 emails from fanciers from Australia and Dubai and Sri Lanka. These are as follows; 'Hi Kevin; Just read your article and wrote to thank you. Our club has gone from 90 to 60 in a matter of years simply due to increased losses. 90% of our club live within a 5nm channel and flyers talk of moving 500 meters to be within the direct channel. I see this generation of the technology as research and development asking more questions than it answers. I see the next generation as size & cost decrease and battery life increases feature in novelty racing and sometime into the future live racing with betting revolutionising the sport. Gone will be the days of on the line of flight and the wind in your favour to win. Anyway thanks again for undertaking this project and good luck from Australia, yours in Sport David Christensen’. The next letter came from Dubai ‘Hello Kevin, my name is Abdull Ali, and I’m from Dubai. I got involve in racing pigeon just recently, and I was thinking about tracking my pigeon during flight and record a video also, and I'm working on that through searching in the internet about suitable gadget. I read your article, which was in 2012, and I thought it's a good idea to know what happened with your project , I will be highly appreciate it if you could share some information, regards Abdulla Ali’. Letter 3 was as follows ‘Dear Kevin My name is Shafrin Azeez and I am a pigeon fancier from Sri Lanka. I read about you on PIPA site. I am really glad to hear your working on a pigeon tracking project. I have been involved with racing Pigeon for last 3 years; I have been going crazy wondering where are my birds. How is your project coming up? Have you already invented a device to track the birds? Is it available for public purchase? Looking forward to hear from you, I don't know how much of a help I would be but you if you need anything please let me know. Best regards Shafrin’. So it shows that the loss of pigeons is WORLD wide and a concern to EVERY fancier. School Visit My grandson Liam (aged 9) informed me that his new reading book was all about a pigeon called ‘Goldie’ who was raced by his grandfather. Unfortunately he took a heart attack and the little boy in the story had to look after his granddad’s pigeons. Liam told his teacher that his granddad kept racing pigeons and one day while I was at the school spoke to the head mistress and said I would be willing to bring some pigeons up and show the class and do a little talk on Racing Pigeons. Miss Tindal wrote to all the parents of the class asking permission for their children’s picture to be taken on my visit. So this week Margaret and I visited primary 5 at St Paul’s school in Glenrothes and we gave an insight into the birds. I took a pair of birds up and also a 10 day old youngster in a nest pan, this was the highlight of the trip as the children could all touch it and we amazed to learn that it would soon be as beautiful as the old birds in the show pen. Miss Tindal is going to get the class to write a short essay on racing pigeons and I have agreed to give a prize to the best story from a boy and girl within the class. My granddaughter told me that Liam can’t win as that would be unfair (Margaret and I had a good laugh at this) Once I have selected the best effort I will include these in my column but as the school shuts down for the Easter holiday’s it will be some time before this happens. However it was a very pleasant hour spent with the children and they were all so very polite and interested. I have included some pictures of them for this week’s article. Telling the class about pigeons during the War Years Liam holding the young bird with his class mates Margaret & Joe Murphy with the children of St Paul's School Breeder/Buyer sale Andy Miller informs me that Pentland Hills Federation are holding a Breeder/Buyer sale on Sunday 27th March in Danderhall Miners Club, 88 Edmonstone Road, Danderhall, EH22 1QU with viewing from 12.00 noon and the auction commencing 13.00 with Prize Money as follows 1st prize £300 to each of the Breeder and Buyer. 2nd Prize £200 to each with the prizes to be determined by the best performance(s) for which each buyer is invited to submit the necessary details, these will be judged by an independent fancier from out with Scotland. There are a great number of quality fanciers donating pigeons to this sale so one not to be missed. Good SNFC Birds This week’s 3 pigeons are birds that excelled within the past 2 years starting with Vic Cooper of Dennyloanhead near Stirling with his red hen SU14AV 762. This hen won 7th section E from Buckingham a distance of 300 miles in 2014 as a youngster. The following year as a yearling she won 49th section E from Portsmouth a distance of 375 miles she was then entered into the Eastbourne race a distance of 402 miles and won 31st section E to achieve her 3rd SNFC certificate so well done to Vic. We now come to J Thomson of Bo’ness with his blue bar cock SU13CA 1811 this cock outshined a lot of birds in 2015 season winning 3 times from 3 inland nationals his performances are as follows; From Billericay a distance of 347 miles he won 7th section D 109th open he was then sent to Portsmouth and won 40th section D 380th open flying 373 miles and his final race was from Eastbourne a distance of 398 miles and he won 22nd section D but no open prize. A very good endeavour from this 2 year old cock and we wait to see how he progresses in 2016. We now come to the husband and wife partnership of Mr & Mrs Elliot of Newbiggin with their mealy cock SU13L 7293 who in 2015 won 2 section positions from over the channel. In 2014 he won 11th section E no open prize from Maidstone a distance of 354 miles, then in 2015 he won 29th section E from Alencon a distance of 525 miles and then from the last national from Clermont he won 16th section E flying 503 miles, once again he did not make the open result but is a good pigeon and now requires one more section prize to win a Silver Award. Joe’s Joke Two nuns were shopping at a Spar store, as they passed by the beer fridge, one nun said to the other, “Wouldn’t a nice cool beer or two tastes wonderful on a hot summer evening?†The second nun answered, “Indeed it would, sister, but I would not feel comfortable buying beer, since I am certain it would cause a scene at the checkout stand.†“I can handle that without a problem,†the other nun replied, and she picked up a six-pack and headed for the checkout. The cashier had a surprised look on his face when the two nuns arrived with a six-pack of beer. “We use beer for washing our hair,†the nun said. “Back at the convent, we call it ‘Catholic shampoo.’ †Without blinking an eye, the cashier reached under the counter, pulled out a package of pretzel sticks, and placed them in the bag with the beer. He then looked the nun straight in the eye, smiled, and said: “The curlers are on the house.†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 who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland. © Compiled by Joe Murphy
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