Jm301014

NEWS FROM SCOTLAND

Reports by Joe Murphy

This weekend is the BICC ‘Moot’ as well as the Epsom Show and Kevin and I are flying down for the weekend. Our friend John Tyerman the president of the BICC has made arrangements for collecting and returning us both to the airport. On the Friday we will have some time to spare so John has arranged a ‘wee tour’ around Surrey and maybe a short loft visit to Alasdair Muir (originally from Carluke) who is quite happy for us to visit him to see his birds and then maybe have a pub snack/lunch somewhere prior to going to the hotel mid-afternoon. John informs me that Russell Bradford has sold over 185 tickets so far for the ‘Moot’ and hopefully the last 15 tickets will be snapped up by ‘kick-off’. John is helping out on the BICC stand and with the club’s auction on the Saturday afternoon assisting auctioneer Tony Cowan. Needless to say he will introduce us to quite a few of the top fliers who compete in the BICC and hopefully we will find time to wander around the various stands at the show on the Saturday. This Epsom weekend will be a nice break for both of us and Kevin is very keen to meet up with Bernard Deweerdt and my very good friend Guy Reed who arranged my visit to Bernard’s home 2 years ago.

While on about Bernard I have a photo of one of his up and coming stars ‘Picabo’ Belge12 3154431 (see photo). As a youngster she won 9th club (54 birds) La Souterraine 545 kilometres 388 miles;  then 6th club (71 birds) Gueret 545 kilometres 388 miles;  As a yearling she won 2nd club (86 yearlings) 9th Provincial  662 yearlings; 92nd national 3942 yearlings; 151st international 7859 yearlings and 73rd international hens 4637 birds from Narbonne a distance of 876 kilometres 544 miles;  This year 2014 she won 5th club from 216 birds; 9th Provincial  1119 old birds; 36th national 6248 birds; 8th international hens 3876 birds and 66th international 17.971 birds from Perpignan flying 936 kilometres 581miles. So I think you will agree she is a very special hen. My good mate Guy has been helping me go over her pedigree and this makes some very interesting reading for those interested in breeding. One of the first things that comes to mind is she was bred from an 2010 cock and an 2008 hen which are young birds for this loft. Her sire is a grandson to the older ‘Picabo Sr’  who in 2014 won 1st Provincial 28th national 12.245 old birds, 7th national hens 3.012 birds & 91st International  Barcelona 24.913 birds recording a velocity of 1060.38 mpm (1159.30 ypm). The dam of Picabo is from a full brother to ‘Nietje’ a daughter of ‘Boris’ who won 38th International Perpignan 16.025 birds when paired to a daughter of ‘Bartali’ winner of 38th national 78th International Barcelona. ‘Boris’ was a grandson of ‘Emiel’ who won 1st International Bordeaux and ‘Kouros’ winner of 4th & 59th International Perpignan against 11.614 birds. ‘Nietje’ won 11th International hens from an entry of 3.841 birds and also won 61st International Perpignan in 09 from an entry of 18.354 birds. She also won 187th International Perpignan & 1309th International Perpignan and 238th International St Vincent. A half-brother to ‘Deca’ is the paternal grandsire to ‘Picabo’ and scored 1st club 3rd West Flanders, 47th National, 181st International Perpignan from 15.192 birds. The Paul Lemahieu hen is 50% Deweerdt but I have no details on her breeding however it is suffice to say they are very good friends and Lemahieu birds were often reintroduced after Paul had won with them. You will see with ‘Picabo’ there is a typical generation gap between the champions as in the great grandparents you will notice ‘Picabo Sr’ a Barcelona winner, ‘Boom’ from the old lines of ‘Korneel’ another champion Barcelona winner. Then we have son of Boris who bred the sire to many of Geoff & Catherine Cooper’s winners, a granddaughter of Raldo top International winner and in 2 places we see the genes of the great ‘Iban’ one of Bernard’s best crosses with the blend of the famous ‘Tee’ of Emiel Denys that was paired to the equally famous lines of ‘Spiritus’ the base cock of the Deweerdt family.

The point I’m trying to make is despite the sire & dam of ‘Picabo’ not showing any performances their breeding is littered with quality genes all tested from the long distances races of Narbonne, Perpignan and Barcelona etc. As a further testimony to this Guy has sent me a picture of Royston one of his racers now at stock he is from a half-brother of ‘Iban’ and has kindly forwarded a picture of ‘Iban’ and his brothers all racers all prize winners from Barcelona or Perpignan (see photo).

Guy goes on to say ‘With or without crosses the Deweerdt family are a force of strength, stamina, speed, endurance and longevity and in Bernard's case without the aid of any performance products. In fact this family have for over 50 years performed on corn, water grit & minerals, nothing else, which proves they are just exceptional pigeons with impeccable origins. As you know Joe I am pretty friendly with Bernard and I find the more I know him the more obvious it is that, old school he may be, but he must be one of the most sincere fanciers I have ever met. There is no ‘bull shit’ with him at all, he is honest as the day is long, and tells it as it is. I have never heard him try to raise the profile of any bird and he will just give you the facts. He also is a working man in the sport, and has declined the need to become ‘High Profile’ in order to sell more pigeons. His methods may not be to the liking of some of the modern fanciers but Deweerdt birds are all treated equal, and they have to be as tough as old boots! The origins contain far fewer crosses than any other family I know of in Belgium and the integrity of the background has been maintained and still can hold its own in any country. Whilst at the same time Deweerdt tries to introduce something strong enough to make an improvement, so as not to stand still. Pigeon racing for Bernard Deweerdt is a hobby, and one that he wishes to enjoy at all times without it interfering with his private life.’

My thanks to Guy for his comments and his help on some items on Picabo’s pedigree. In closing this section on the Deweerdts one of the pigeons I intend to highlight in the Good SNFC Birds feature contains Deweerdt bloodlines via Mark Gilbert. TMAC’s sire is bred from ‘Ted’ and ‘Magnus’ while his dam was inbred to ‘Emiel’ - see above.

Good SNFC Birds

Firstly can I thank the fanciers who have phoned thanking me for highlighting their pigeon in this piece of the column. Some were quite surprised to see their name and pigeon appearing in this feature and I assured them that they deserved to be honoured and I’m more than happy to bring these good pigeons to the attention of readers out width Scotland. However you can see the difference having a photograph of the pigeon makes to any story as shown by Gareth Watkins’ BICC Merit Award Winners report. I’m trying to do the equivalent by highlighting the super quality pigeons raced by the members of the Scottish National Flying Club. This week I start by highlighting 3 outstanding pigeons in the National: ‘Dave’s Dream’: ‘Marcia’ and ‘TMAC’ and we start with ‘TMAC’ and my thanks to Bobby Dickson for the photograph of this chequer cock.

Tom & Scott McEwen of Elphinstone East Lothian with ‘TMAC’ Dark Checker cock SU10E 1057 who wins his SNFC Silver Award in 2014.

TMAC

Gareth Rankin of Larkhall with Blue Bar Hen SU 09 M 2476 named ‘Marcia’ after his mother. She is a ‘SNFC Silver Award Winner’ and was bred by John Houston of Airdrie.

Dave Glen of Forfar with his 1st open SNFC Ypres 2013 winner ‘Dave’s Dream’. This chequer pied cock SU 10 AF 1830 is also a ‘SNFC Silver Award Winner’ and as you can see was flown in 2014.

Joe’s Joke

On the first day after his divorce, he sadly packed his belongings into boxes, crates and suitcases. On the second day, he had the movers come and collect his things. On the third day, he sat down for the last time at their beautiful dining-room table, by candle-light; he put on  some soft background music, and feasted on a pound of shrimp, a jar of caviar, a bottle of spring-water, 3 cans of sardines. When he'd finished, he went into each and every room and deposited a few half-eaten shrimps dipped in caviar, and some sardines into the hollow centre of the curtain rods. He then cleaned up the kitchen and left. On the fourth day, the wife came back with her new boyfriend, and at first all was bliss. Then, slowly, the house began to smell. They tried everything; cleaning, mopping, and airing-out the place.  Vents were checked for dead rodents, and carpets were steam cleaned. Air fresheners were hung everywhere. Exterminators were brought in to set off gas canisters, during which time the two had to move out for a few days, and in the end they even paid to replace the expensive wool carpeting. Nothing worked! People stopped coming over to visit. Repairmen refused to work in the house...The maid quit. Finally, they couldn't take the stench any longer, and decided they had to move, but a month later - even though they'd cut their price in half - they couldn't find a buyer for such a stinky house. Word got out, and eventually even the local realtors refused to return their calls. Finally, unable to wait any longer for a purchaser, they had to borrow a huge sum of money from the bank to purchase a new place. Then the ex-called the woman and asked how things were going. She told him the saga of the rotting house. He listened politely and said that he missed his old home terribly and would be willing to reduce his divorce settlement in exchange for having the house. Knowing he could have no idea how bad the smell really was, she agreed on a price that was only 1/10th of what the house had been worth ... but only if he would sign the papers that very day. He agreed, and within two hours her lawyers delivered the completed paperwork. A week later the woman and her boyfriend stood smiling as they watched the moving company pack everything to take to their new home and to spite the ex-husband... they even took the curtain rods!  I LOVE A HAPPY ENDING, DON'T YOU?

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 to my NEW EMAIL ADDRESS at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. REMEMBER THE J IN THE MIDDLE.

---