President: Nigel Rigiani Chairman: Mike Shepherd Patron: Mark Gilbert BRITISH BARCELONA CLUB’S 50 ANNIVERSARY (Part 18) John Ellis of Wellbank. I was very happy when my good friend, the late Ian Gray, told me he had arranged a loft visit to the great John Ellis, as John is a fancier I have admired since I started up 45 years ago. Back in the 1960s, when I was learning the 'trade', I read about John's long-distance performances and his champions, ‘Endurance’,â¦
Source: British Barcelona Club
President: Nigel Rigiani Chairman: Mike Shepherd
Patron: Mark Gilbert
BRITISH BARCELONA CLUB’S 50
ANNIVERSARY (Part 18)
John Ellis of Wellbank.
I was very happy when my good friend, the late Ian Gray, told me he had arranged a loft visit to the
great John Ellis, as John is a fancier I have admired since I started up 45 years ago. Back in the
1960s, when I was learning the 'trade', I read about John's long-distance performances and his
champions, ‘Endurance’, winner of 1
, 2
section, 27
, 82
open British Barcelona Club Palamos
(1,044 mile) and ‘Wellbank Pride’, winner of 1
section, 8
open Rennes in the Scottish National
Flying Club, flying 583 miles and so on.
John started in the sport in 1958, with only long-distance racing in mind. His loft has won countless
positions in the first ten of the Scottish National Flying Club Open results over the years and
recorded 1
and 2
section, 27
and 28
open BBC Palamos (1,044 miles) in the 1970s. If a pigeon
wins from 400 miles he is looking for it to win from 600 miles. John has been in the Scottish
National Flying Club results every year since 1962, apart from the season when his father died. One
of his most recent champions is the blue chequer hen, 'Wellbank Reliable' who won the Gold
Award in the Scottish National Flying Club; by the time she was three years old, winning five times
from 540 miles or over. Her best position was 8
open Sartilly Scottish National Flying Club, 540
miles and she likes to be sent sitting week-old eggs or feeding a small youngster. At the start John
obtained birds from several top long-distance fanciers in the north and blended his own family.
Crosses are brought in from time to time and he says Stichelbauts obtained from his late friend,
Bernard Miles, have produced outstanding birds when put into his own pigeons. He has a grandson
of the 'Tee' and a Pol Bostyn hen which are breeding well at the present time. Some more of John’s
great racers are: ‘Endurance’, 1
, 2
section E. 27
, 82
open B.B.C. Palamos (1,044 miles):
‘Star’, 2
section, 5
open Nantes: ‘Paris Cock’, 11
open Nantes, 30
open Paris (smash):
‘Faithful’, Gold Award winner: ‘The Mealy Pied Hen’, 21
open Nantes (643 miles on the day):
‘Patricia’, 9
open Beauvais.
John has a very smart 40-foot loft with landing board and drop hole trapping and the old birds are
raced on the natural system. John's 30 pairs of old birds are paired up the first week in March and are
given about three 250-mile races in the local Dundee and District Club before being entered in the
National events. The best racers are consistently paired to stock birds, so their mates are always there
in the box on their return from the races. Old birds may be asked to fly in two or three long distance
races in one season. John feeds a first-class mixture, based on beans and maize and says he is a very
heavy feeder. Because of the extremely bad hawk problem around John’s Wellbank home, he breeds
a good team of about 50 or 60 young birds each season. He says they are not raced heavily, but he
likes them to have a few races to set them up for later life. His local Federation is very slow getting
the birds down to the distance, so John has to jump his youngsters 200 miles into the Young Bird
National. They are fed on first class mixtures and get plenty of it. We had a great day out at John’s
loft and handled some of the best long distance ‘doos’ in Scotland.
