The Joe Murphy Column

[Ian McKay]

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