The Joe Murphy Column

[Ian McKay]

The Joe Murphy Column

 

As I write this column the last week of May I’ve started to close the nest boxes for the year as I split the birds up, I still have a couple of late breds that should be moved within the next few weeks and then my season is over as far as the stock pigeons are concerned. A few of my friends are going to race some of my youngsters for me this year and I wish them all the best, but to be honest it will be at least next year before I find out if there are any ‘champions’ amongst them. However I still have too many cocks and these will have to be cut down so that I have the correct number of pairs for next year. I might wait until October before advertising them but I have made my mind up to get down to a more manageable team. I had one of my mates tell me that some of his club mates remarked that I’m always going on about the Deweerdt pigeons in my column. Blinking hell, if these are the birds that are winning for Kevin and I why would I write about something else. You will also read that we have won with this family crossed with Crammond & Langstaff so why not give this partnership some publicity as a THANK YOU. I was brought up to be honest and one thing for sure is I will not say a pigeon is bred from this or that if it is NOT, just because it has a ‘fantastic pedigree’. You are only kidding yourself if you tell lies and one day you will be caught out. I have always been a great believer in keeping records of my birds and they are now on the computer, so when a bird is sold the pedigree goes with it. I was always told ‘If you cannot trust the man you are obtaining pigeons from then there is no point in purchasing them’ and that is as good today as it was when first spoken. I have now started to concentrate on my garden and will collect my plants for my hanging baskets at the end of this week 3rd June.

 

Helpful Fanciers

 

I have received a few phone calls from none fanciers or fanciers who require some help in getting one of their birds collected. One of these was Liam Paisley a pigeon fancier from Dublin who got a pigeon reported from the Isle of Arran by a non-fancier. He was having trouble trying to get the pigeon picked up by a courier and wondered if there was any chance I would be able to help him out. The person who had the pigeon was willing to bring the pigeon to Caledonian MacBrayne Ferry terminal at Ardrossan on the mainland. I spoke to SHU president Ian Noble who is about 20 minutes away from Ardrossan and he was going to collect the bird once contact had been made with the people on Arran. At the present time this is still ongoing as I’m awaiting Liam to come back to me however I will keep you informed of the progress of Liam’s pigeon. Wattie Sharp also helped me out by contacting a lady Diane (none fancier) who had reported a ‘stray’ pigeon sitting on the house roof across from her home. The bird came down to the bird table for some food and drink but Diane could not catch it. She wonders if someone could come and assist her in capturing the bird. As luck would have it Wattie phoned me to report that he saw a hawk attack a pigeon while he was taking items to the local recycle centre and when he got over to assist the bird it was dead. He took the ring from its leg SU14NE 7387 and also the ETS ring and if the owner of this bird wishes these back they can contact Wattie on 07875737486. To get back to the stray when Wattie contacted the lady in Kinross the bird had not been seen for the past 2 days. My thanks to Wattie and Ian Noble for all their efforts in assisting the above fancier’s this is what ‘Sportsmen’ are all about.

 

Results

 

Angus Federation

The federation members held their 6th race from Newark on the 28th May with the convoy of 508 birds were liberated at 07- 15 with No wind at the race point. Forfar members take the first 20 places with Ian Scott in 1st 5th 8th 15th 16th & 18th places. Davie Glen is 2nd 6th 11th 12th 13th & 20th with Macaulay Fergusson & Curran in 3rd 4th 7th & 9th places. Bob Baldie is 10th & 19th with David J Liddle winning 14th & 17th positions.

The East Section winners from the Newark race are as follows: Charlie Cameron of Arbroath is 1st 2nd & 4th section with Chic & Ann Carrie of Inchcape in 3rd place. J & J Leven of Montrose are 5th with their club mate G Campbell in 6th place. Kevin J Murphy of Arbroath is 7th with D & D Hay of Gourdon in 8th & 10th places. Les McKay of Inchcape is 9th section. There is a change to last week’s result as follows: The East section winners from the amended Wakefield result are now; 1st Charlie Cameron of Arbroath, 2nd 3rd & 4th D & D Hay of Gourdon. Inchcape members take the rest of the top ten places with W Hamilton in 5th place Chic & Ann Carrie are 6th Les McKay is 7th 8th & 10th with K Gourley in 9th spot.

Club Winners are as follows: Forfar 303 birds I Scott; Montrose 31 birds J & J Leven; Gourdon 26 birds D & D Hay; Arbroath 85 birds Charlie Cameron; Inchcape 63 birds C & A Carrie.

Arbroath RPS from Newark on the 28th May 5 members sent birds with the Angus federation liberated at 07- 15 with No wind at the race point.

Taking the first 3 places in the club is Charlie Cameron with his first bird a blue bar Jos Claes cock, bred from a full brother of another Claes cock who was 1st & 2nd section C in the SNFC. The 2nd bird is also a blue bar cock bred from a Leon Messiaen stock cock when mated to a black hen who won 5 SNFC positions including 3 in the first 20 in the nationals. The 3rd bird is a black cock bred from a son of ‘Snowcap’ winner of 4th open SNFC Reims when he was mated to the black hen - the dam of the second bird mentioned above.

Ayrshire South Road Federation

News from Mark Findley who writes; ‘Hi Joe, on Saturday 14th May we sent 907 birds to Wetherby flying approximately 170 miles to the centre of the federation. The birds were liberated at 08-30 am into a north wind and topping the fed on a velocity of 1172 is Alan Connelly of Irvine Newtown HS. Alan timed his 2 year old chequer white flight cock to take first place, this cracking cock was a gift from his good friends Mr & Mrs J Ramsay of Dalry HS. It is worth mentioning Joe this is Alan's first old bird season and he has already won 3 races in Irvine HS. I'm sure anyone who knows Alan well enough can see many more great performances coming up from him. Congratulations Alan on your very first federation topper. On Sunday 22nd May due to our diminishing birdage it made sense for us to go with Lanarkshire federation who had made the decision due to the poor weather further south to go to Wetherby. So with 491 Ayrshire birds being liberated with over 6000 Lanarkshire birds at 07-00am, into a light south west wind the race was on. First up with a velocity of 1274 is Rab Donegan of Darvel HS. Rab timing a blue late bred yearling cock. This good cock being raced celibate has the top winning genes as his sire being the same as ‘The Bolt’". This cock has won over £1000 for Rab and good friend John Simpson of Ardeer HS at Ayrshire breeder buyer in 2014 so well done Rab. It is also worth mentioning many Ayrshire fanciers reported their best returns of the season so far from this race. On the 28th May again we went with Lanarkshire federation this time to Melton Mowbray with Ayrshire liberating 410 in a total convoy of over 4600 birds. The strings were cut at 07-15am into a light north east wind and topping the federation fresh from being 2nd fed the previous week is Hugh Wallace of Darvel HS. Hughie’s yearling blue hen was raced celibate and is of Etienne Meirlaen bloodlines. (Extreme long distance) this was indeed fantastic racing from Hugh Wallace. On behalf of Ayrshire federation I would like to thank the Lanarkshire officials for transporting our convoy for the last two weeks, and we look forward to working with this organisation again perhaps somewhere in the young bird programme. And to round up I would also like to wish everybody all the very best in the up and coming Scottish National Flying Club races ‘Good luck to all’. Thanks once again for adding us to your column Joe yours Mark Findlay’.

 

Ayrshire North Road Federation

From the Arbroath race flown on 22nd May there were 38 members sending 593 pigeons liberated at 07-00 with No Wind at the race point. Reports inform us that the pigeons split into 2 batches with one batch of around 100 pigeons left right away, the other batch circled for a time before departing. This turned out quite a sticky race with the early pigeons making good time, but many were delayed and reports of ‘birds of prey’ attacks and birds returning injured indicating the 2nd batch was attacked, which would explain the gaps in returning pigeons later on. Overall returns were good at around 66% on the day rising to 75% or more during the following days.

Cumnock Club winner and 1st federation on a winning velocity of 1305 is J Auld with his pigeon is a yearling blue white flight hen. She has previously won 1st club from Thornton as a young bird in 2015, as well as winning 3rd club 3rd federation from Arbroath as young bird and now wins 1st club, 1st federation from Arbroath in 2016. As a matter of interest she was bred by J L Dumigan.

Valley North Club winner and 3rd federation is W McCann and A Brown with a yearling blue cock sired by a James McCann pigeon from Vandenabeele lines. The dam is from a Rod Wilson pigeon from ‘Tyson lines’. His winning velocity was 1293ypm.

Mauchline Club winner on 1203 is owned and raced by Kory Galloway with his pigeon a 2 yearling red cock whose sire is a Frank Bristow pigeon, from Frank's ‘Lerwick’ lines. His dam is a Starview Busschaert from I Morrison. This pair has bred a pigeon that flew Lerwick for Kory.

Carrick Club winner is raced by the partnership of Jamieson and Cameron with a velocity of 1078; she is a yearling chequer hen and was bred by Paul Swindel. She was un-flown as a young bird, but lightly trained.

Stranraer North Road winner on a velocity of 654 is the Robertson & McCurdy partnership who timed a yearling blue Staff Van Reel crossed Vandenabeele cock. He won 2nd last week from Perth and the Stranraer members had a very sticky race from Arbroath this week.

 

Central Federation

Broxburn Club news from Bernie Britton who writes, ‘At long last the computer is now fixed and I can once again supply you with our results of the club. I’m sorry to all our followers who look forward to our write up’s in your column. Please find the club and federation result for the Leicester race, we had 5 member’s sending 181 birds liberated at 09-30am into a North East wind. Winning 1st club and 3rd federation is John McNeil with a 2 year old cock on roundabout he was a gift from his good friend A McNaughton from Northern Ireland, this pigeon won a prize in the young bird national and also won as a yearling. He was picked up injured by Pathhead fancier Andrew Bertram from the SNFC Portland race. 2nd club and 11th & 14th federation is J Ferguson with 2 cocks that have been unpaired this year and are flying spare they are bred from stock of his good friends George, Willie & Paul Macaloney of Coatbridge. In 3rd club & 12th federation is Gordon MacKenzie with his good Combine winner chequer cock from last year, I hope this is ok Joe all the best to and the family and good luck to Kevin and you for the nationals, yours Bernie’. Good to have Bernie back on board again; computers are fine as long as they are going ok.

 

East of Scotland Federation

News from John Baillie of Tranent who reveals the federation were liberated at Leicester at 07.55 hours into a light east wind. Leading the pack this week is Tam Waddell of Prestonpans with a 3 year old cock. Taking 2nd & 4th open positions is John Bird of the same club. With 3rd position going to Jim McNeil of Tranent and the Elphinstone loft of R & J Combe take 5th, 6th and 9th positions. Mr & Mrs March of Prestonpans club win 7th place. With Tom & Scott McEwen of the Elphinstone in 8th place with their club mate with Brian Lavery filling the top 10th position.

Prestonpans Homing Club, this week’s winner is Tam Waddell with his 3 year old Blue cock bred from his Kevin Lawson stock. The 2nd & 3rd spots are taken by John Bird. The hen in 2nd position is 3 year old with some great performances. She is a granddaughter of John's famous pigeon ‘Bits & Pieces’ a previous winner of the BHW/ Joe Murphy Sporting Challenge. As a youngster she topped the federation from Newark, then as a yearling she won 2nd open Pentland Hills midweek yearling race winning £1650. Then in 2015 she won 4th club 4th federation Ridsdale before returning from Tow Law with a smashed up and broken leg. Took months to recover but with this result I'm sure there is more to follow from this wonderful hen. The 3rd position is taken by a 2 year old cock, many thanks yours John B’.

 

Fife Federation

Dunfermline LRPC news from David Kennedy who writes ‘Hi Joe, the club were at Leicester for their old bird race with 10 members sending 185 birds, first this week is John Skelton with a velocity of 1364 ypm. John timed a 3 year old De Baere hen that lost her mate three weeks ago but continues to sit in her nest box. The other cocks chase her off but when they are sitting she returns to her own nest. A new motivational method there don’t you think Joe? 2nd club are my dad Walker and yours truly David Kennedy from Loft 1 with a velocity of 1317 ypm. We timed a 2 year old widowhood cock he is bred from a ½ brother & sister mating from birds gifted from George Atkinson of Market Weighton in Yorkshire. The bloodlines being Georges old Van Hove birds. Taking 3rd spot is John Robertson with a velocity of 1309 ypm he timed a 2 year old homebred roundabout cock, with his bloodlines being R &M Venner of Street. This week’s club nomination is won by John Skelton, with Eddie McWilliams winning the 2 bird prize, yours David’.

Glenrothes & Leslie PC news from Rosie Armit who tells us that the club sent 106 birds to the open race with the winner M McMurchie on a velocity of 1376 with a 2 year old red cock raced on widowhood. His sire is a Marijke Vink and the dam a daughter of ‘Twirler’ and the ‘Old Dundee Mealy’. 2nd place is won by Turpie & McCord on 1353.875 with a yearling mealy cock, a Hugo Morris crossed Sion gift bird from Alan Wright of Louth. This bird was flown on the jealousy system and won 1st club 1st section 6th federation Wakefield last week. The partners are also 3rd on 1353.810 with a yearling blue cock sent sitting overdue eggs. He won the club young bird of the year trophy in 2015 being 5th club 5th section Ripon, 2nd club 1st section Sedgefield, 7th club 7th section Sedgefield. This year he has already won 2nd club, 2nd section Ripon and 3rd club Wakefield. His sire is a 14 year old Braspenning cock and his dam a Lerman gift bird from Dougie Barnes of Crossgates

 

North of Scotland Federation

Buckie RPC news from Gavin Russell who informs us that 5 members sent 35 birds to Ripon a distance of 251miles to most lofts. Winning 1st club is that man again John Cumming with a velocity of 1131. He timed a yearling blue bar cock

flying roundabout his sire and dam are Wildermeersch from Johnnie Strachan from Fraserburgh. This has been a most consistent bird being there about every week. John wins the pools (More money towards the wedding fund). 2nd club is Stephen Cowie with a velocity of 1107 with a 3 year old blue chequer cock flying natural.

This bird was bred from gifted birds from ‘Shotgun Tim’ from Chirnside via Pigeons Basics web site. 3rd club is yours truly Gavin Russell on 1031 with a 2 year old flying natural sire being a Gyselbrechts while the dam is a Janssen from Matt Doran of Broxburn in West Lothian. This turned out a very difficult race with quite a few empty perches on the day, not just for Buckie but at the whole federation level as well

 

Pentland Hill’s Federation

News from Andy Miller who informs us that the above organisations held their 7th race of the season from the substitute race point of Leicester as the planned Peterborough liberation site was unavailable this weekend so the officials decided this to be the best option with 15 clubs sending 2416 birds liberated at 07-55 into a light east wind. Winning 1st New Lothian and 1st federation is the form loft this season of Willie Pryde & son John (aka Bubba). John has forwarded the following details to me for your column. ‘Hi Andy my dear friend, I timed the chequer pied hen now a 4 year old and a winner of 3 x 1st federations plus she has 7 x 1st clubs. As you know the sire is the Staff Van Reet from your great breeder the ‘The Van Allen Cock’, you gave me when my loft was destroyed in the fire in 2009. The dam was bred by Colin Fleming of Southport and this pair has bred many prize winners together over the years’. The federation result is as follows; 1st 2nd & 7th open are Willie Pryde & son of Easthouses with R W Simpson of Easthouses in 3rd place he is followed by A W Robertson from Gilmerton with D & J Allan of Woodburn club in 5th & 6th places. Andy Miller of Sighthill is 8th with the Castlebrae partnership of McCormack & Fraser in 9th place and making up the top 10 are I & I Hunter of Danderhall

 

Club Winners are as follows;

Easthouses 293 birds; 1st & 2nd W Pryde & Son 3rd Simpson

Gilmerton 134 birds; 1st Robertson 2nd & 3rd Bennett

Woodburn 182 birds; 1st 2nd & 3rd Allan

Sighthill 106 birds; 1st 2nd & 3rd Miller

Castlebrae 110 birds; 1st McCormack & Fraser 2nd A Mitchell 3rd Willis

Danderhall 370 birds; 1st Hunter 2nd Nolan 3rd Aitken

Edinburgh Premier 228 birds; 1st Cains 2nd Affleck 3rd Dick

Edinburgh West 76 birds; 1st I Bennett 2nd & 3rd Lamb

Bonnyrigg 149 birds; 1st & 2nd J S Smith 3rd A Dewar

Loanhead 121 birds; 1st Simpson 2nd Murray 3rd Lawrie

Arniston 44 birds; 1st & 3rd Ray 2nd Mercer

Rosewell 54 birds; 1st 2nd & 3rd Cunningham & Ness

Peebles 17 birds;

New Lothian 61 birds;

Traprain 425 birds; 1st & 2nd Thomson 3rd Bosworth

Others 46 birds;

New Lothian RPC had 65 lofts sending 1401 birds to Leicester liberated at 07-55 into a light east wind. Topping the New Lothian winning £448 are Willie Pryde & son of Easthouses they are also 2nd & 7th open lifting another £58. R W Simpson of Easthouses is in 3rd spot followed by Gilmerton club A W Robertson. D & J Allan of Woodburn club are 5th & 6th with federation press officer Andy Miller of Sighthill in 8th spot. The Castlebrae partnership of McCormack & Fraser are in 9th spot and the final place going to I & I Hunter of Danderhall

 

Joe’s Joke

 

A judge goes for a drink with a fellow judge that was retiring from the bar! They have a good drink and he is sick all down the front of his waistcoat. When he gets home he tells his wife that some idiot had been sick all over him but not to worry Darling I had him arrested and he appears in front of me tomorrow. I will give him six months. The next day his wife phones him and says ‘Has that fellow been up in front of you yet’. No said the judge but he is getting six months when he does. She says to him ‘Make it 12 months he SH… in your pants as well’.

 

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