NEWS FROM SCOTLAND
Reports by Joe Murphy
For the first Scottish National race from Buckingham Margaret and I travelled up to Kevin’s in Arbroath. We had spoken earlier in the morning when we heard the birds were up and we arranged to arrive about 12 noon. When we reversed the car into the drive way Kevin came out and said ‘I’ve timed in’. I did not believe him and said ‘You’ll win the national’. He had clocked ‘Lucky’ his blue hen at 11-52 am flying 322 miles doing a velocity of 1680. We looked on the SNFC new website but did not see any birds reported (we had been looking at the wrong place) then noticed birds being reported from all areas of Scotland. There was drop in entry to 2941 birds from previous years but this would be due to the weather forecast predicted for the weekend of 7th & 8th June. With most fanciers not wishing to have their birds having extra days in the race basket they decided to keep them at home. As anticipated Saturday was a hold over due to heavy thunder showers throughout the line of flight with western areas of Britain the worst affected. I noticed that the entry from the south section was nearly 450 birds so a change of heart from these fanciers which was obviously due to the race point being changed from Billericay to Buckingham as the majority of south members were not going to Billericay as it was too far east for them and this would have taken their pigeons of their direct line of flight home. The convoy were liberated at 06-15am on Sunday 8th June into a south west wind never in a hundred years did we expect a race like the one we had with the winner doing a velocity of 1823.68 and the last bird on the open result in 298th place doing 1584. The national now have a predicament for next year i.e. Do they keep the same race point or go onto Billericay. I personally think the majority of members will stick with this race point as it was as good a race as you could get and the majority of pigeons returned ‘fresh’ from this shorter distance. More importantly was the fact that every section timed in early pigeons to make the open result with 6 of these being in the top 22 open places. Billy Bilsland of Ayton in Berwickshire took the first 2 places in the open and when you add his 1st x 6 places in last year’s young bird national (he also took the 1st x 5 places the previous year young bird national a truly outstanding performance so well done Billy - more about him in a minute. Lofty Grant & son Gordon of Gretna (Loft 2) are 1st section A (1st 6th & 9th south section and 3rd 8th & 16th open) D Cowan of Cowie near Stirling is 1st section D 9th open; a great bird to R Reid from Beath in Ayrshire to win 1st section F 1st west section 12th open; Mr & Mrs Elliot of Newbiggin win 1st Section E 18th open; Dave Baldie of St Andrews wins 1st section C 22nd open with G & C Rae of Aberdeen winning 1st section G 1st north section 78th open flying 361 miles and records a velocity of 1680.
I phoned to congratulate Billy Bilsland on an outstanding performance to have the only 2 pigeons in the race doing 1823 velocities. The winner is a blue chequer hen now named ‘Billy’s Choice’. She has previously won 5th open SNFC young bird national last year. She is one of Billy’s favourite hens in the loft as she is so consistent for example last year as a youngster she won 2nd Tyne & Tweed section in the UNC from Worksop when Billy took the first 2 positions. This year she has had every race (raced on roundabout) and a couple of weeks ago she was Billy’s 1st pigeon again topping the federation and was 2nd Tyne & Tweed section from 5000 birds Billy was also 3rd with a pigeon that he bought at a Hospice sale run by Davy Young and Jim Cullan from Uddingston that was bred by Brian Chalmers from Kennoway. As a matter of interest Billy was beaten for the top prize by a fancier flying 60 miles shorter. ‘Billy’s Choice’ topped the federation from Melton Mowbray a distance of 220 miles and has flown Huntingdon prior to going to the Buckingham race and Billy knew that she was right for the national and he made her is nominated pigeon from the 39 birds he sent. So when he noticed 2 pigeons away up in the clouds like ‘Dot’s in the sky’ he gave a whistle and they dropped like stones and ‘Billy’s Choice’ was his first bird into the loft. This shows the quality of fancier Billy Bilsland is to win the national with his 1st choice pigeon from his entries is a great accomplishment that I rate very highly. The breeding of ‘Billy’s Choice’ is a Vandenabeele bred by David Reed of Chainbridge Lofts who has been a great friend to Billy since his move to Ayton from Lenzie near Kirkintilloch north of Glasgow. Billy is a very intelligent fancier and leaves nothing to chance and he has been studding the velocities of the birds racing in the UNC and informed me they average between 1400/1500 ypm on a weekly basis. This is a good racing velocity and it does not take too much out of the birds whereas velocities of 1000 or less seem to sap the energy from the pigeon in their effort and many fail to make it home. So returns from the UNC racing is very good with only the odd pigeon lost whereas Billy has lost more pigeons this year in private training than when racing with the Up North Combine. This to me is where Billy and the Eyemouth fanciers have the advantage over the rest of the Scotland pigeon fraternity as their birds are fitter and have had more time on the wing prior to going into the Scottish National races. For example the birds were racing from Huntington a distance of 240 miles in APRIL when the majority of Scottish federation did not start racing till the 19th or 26th of April. The Buckingham winner ‘Billy’s Choice’ has already raced from Newark 200 miles and Huntingdon 240 miles prior to going to this first national from Buckingham a distance of 270 miles to Ayton. Whereas the majority of birds sent have not been over 240 miles. Billy Bilsland will not be far away in the future SNFC races this year as his long distance candidates have already been to Eastbourne TWICE, Lillers 2 weeks ago (velocities of 1383) he sent 10 birds to the race had 6 on the day and 2 the next day and dropped 2. They have then gone onto race from Melton Mowbray and this coming week end 14 June will go to Peterborough a distance of 240 miles prior to the Alencon and Ancenis races. Billy’s second pigeon Buckingham was bred by past SHU President John Barlow of Muirhead in Glasgow a close friend of Billy’s and there will not be a happier person in Scotland than John. As a matter of interest one of John’s pigeons won 13th open in last year’s young bird national for Billy. Congratulations to Billy Bilsland on this wonderful achievement and if he continues to achieve these types of performances throughout the 2014 season then I will have to take a trip down to Ayton for a loft report.
Billy Bilsland - 1st & 2nd SNFC Buckingham
As a matter of interest Kevin’s blue hen ‘Lucky’ made the SNFC result being 79th open so another national diploma to add to her 31st open Maidstone win from last year she has also won 5 x 1st prizes and is a very good pigeon. Kevin ended up with 14 home from his entry of 15 pigeons at the national and had 12 from 14 home from Leicester which was flown the day before on the Saturday when we experienced all the heavy showers so he has been fortunate to have a good team to work with for the distance events coming up.
Dave Baldie - 1st section C SNFC Buckingham
NFC Cholet
Received an email from John Tyerman informing me that he timed in my blue chequer cock 2459 his first arrival from 8 birds sent to the NFC Cholet today. Currently he was showing as 23rd Section 'A' but with the south east wind the winning birds were over the west side of the country and they were going faster the further north they went as you will see on the NFC website. John said ‘Last week he was my first bird from BICC Tours and he has flown, Falaise, Alencon, Tours and now Cholet in recent weeks and he may go to the NFC Tarbes race in a few weeks’ time. I now have 6 out of 8 home and it has been a warm day with temperatures in the 70'S so very pleasant sitting in the garden. I have just had a look at the SNFC website to see how the Buckingham race was going and I see Kevin timed in 6 so well done. I just wish everybody would put in the velocities/times to see a proper provisional result as at present if you don’t have a knowledge of geography of Scotland then you don’t know where fanciers are situated. As it just gives a name, town and time of bird. Will speak to you later John’.
Fougeres
News from Mark Gower who wrote: ‘Hi Joe as promised I am letting you know how the race finished, I ended up being 1st & 3rd federation from an entry of 666 birds and the winner was the highest velocity of the whole convoy of approximately 4,000 birds which included the Wilts Federation who were convoyed by the West of England combine (therefore not part of their result but ALL birds were liberated together) and the Welsh National Flying Club. Your pigeon 2229 (bred from a son of Rocket 7 times SNFC winner, Dam bred by my good friends Crammond & Langstaff NFC winners) would have been 5th overall (although the Welsh report in the BHW doesn’t show all their velocities). Considering the race was into a light North East wind and our club being one of the furthest East of the convoy I thought it was a good performance by these birds (even though I am biased). Your birds will now go to Messac a distance of 216 miles with the West of England and I will let you know how they perform. Good luck to you and Kevin in the Scottish Nationals yours Mark’.
NIPA
Good to see my friend Malachy Maguire and his son Mark from Newry & District doing so well with their birds at the moment. They have won 1st section G from Bude and 1st section G from Clonmel well done Malachy and Mark.
Results
Angus Federation
The federation were at Leicester on Saturday the 7th June 2014 liberated at 06.00 hours in a light south wind 27 members sent 341 birds. David Liddle of Forfar is 1st 4th 5th 7th west section and federation. With Ian Scott of Forfar is 2nd 3rd 6th 8th 9th west section and federation with another Forfar member Mike Leggett taking the 10th spot in both section and federation? Charlie Cameron of Arbroath is 1st 3rd 4th 6th 7th & 8th east section with his first 4 making the top 20 in the federation being 14th, 15th 19th & 20th well done Charlie. Les McKay of Inchcape is 5th east section with Graham Scott of Montrose in 9th & 10th east section positions.
Club winners
Charlie Cameron wins Arbroath: D J Liddle wins Forfar: D & D Hay wins Gourdon:
J Anderson & Son wins Letham: G Scott wins Montrose and L McKay wins Inchcape.
Points League: D J Liddle 130 points and D Glen 103points.
Arbroath RPC news from Kevin who informs me 5 members sent 73 birds to Leicester liberated at 06:00 into a south east wind taking the first 3 places is the loft in form at the present time Charlie Cameron First bird. Blue Bar Yearling cock bred from a pair of Leon Messiaen stock birds that Charlie introduced last year. Leon is a Belgium fancier that concentrates on the long distance national races, especially Barcelona. The 2nd bird is a black two year old cock bred from a son of Snowcap (1st section C 4th open SNFC Reims) when mated to a black hen that has 5 SNFC diplomas including 3 in the first 20. The 3rd bird is a blue bar yearling cock his sire is also a Leon Messiaen bred stock bird and his dam is Little Dorrie that won 2nd section C 3rd open SNFC Reims well done Charlie. He also timed in from the SNFC Buckingham race to win 1st club 1st Angus federation 7th section C 43rd open so a loft in form well done.
Ayrshire
News from Mark Finlay who forwarded the following ‘Hi Joe, on the 31st May Ayrshire federation liberated 1,106 birds from Uttoexter at 10.45 into a light north west wind. Topping the federation on a velocity of 1119 is past Ayrshire champion Robert Reid of Beith.
Roberts yearling grizzle hen is mostly his own bloodlines crossed with the last of the Roland Janssen stock he acquired a number of years ago. This keen hen has nested under the main boxes in the loft and Robert noticed there was some rivalry going on between her and other birds thus giving it the motivation to win. She has had every race this year so was fitter than any other bird in the loft. It's worth mentioning that Robert Reid has now won the William Anderson Memorial Shield no less than 9 times. This shield is the most coveted trophy in the federation and is decided over the 5 federation race average when won you are referred to as the "Ayrshire Champion", congratulations once again Robert Reid on another fine performance. (Robert won 1st section F 12th open SNFC Buckingham this week end an outstanding performance well done Joe M). 2nd federation goes to Davie Armstrong of Dalry HS who timed a good yearling sitting 6 day old young birds he was doing 1074. The sire of Davies chequer white flight hen is down from gift birds from good friend and club mate Ricky Findlay of West Kilbride and the dam is from 2013 Ayrshire's very own Newbury National winner Ricky Young of Moscow. In 3rd place on 1044 is club mate Tom Smith of West Kilbride who is having a great season with only 5 races flown Tom has now achieved 1 x 2nd : 2 x 3rd and 1 x 4th federation positions great flying well done Tom. Well that's us for another week Joe however I would like to wish all the Ayrshire guys all the very best in the up and coming nationals let’s hope we can bang in a few more great results as we have in the past few years.
Cunninghame 3 bird club for the race on Sunday 8th June 2014 12 members sent to Dumfries with the birds being liberated at 08.30 into a light south west wind. Winning their first red card in the club on 1426 is the partnership of J & J & C Nicol of Ardeer HS. Team Nicol as I like to call them timed there good 2 year old Nigel Laycock cock a grandson of Nigel's ‘Steady Eddie’. He was injured as a yearling but has a few minor tickets in the club and is one to watch out for in the future, well done lads. In 2nd place on a velocity of 1385 is yours truly Mark Findlay of Clyde Coast HS with a 4 year old chequer pied cock, this cock was sent to Dumfries purely for training for the Maidstone National and he was chasing his hen. Good to see he's showing keenness already but his best performances including 2 SNFC diplomas and several other club and federations cards are when sitting on eggs, so fingers crossed. Third on 1358 are Hutchinson & Tudhope of Ardeer HS they timed a 5 year old cock that has far too many club cards to count and Jim Tudhope tells me this cock has fed the loft on pools on countless occasions, a real steady pigeon. From the Buckingham race flown on Sunday 8th June with the SNFC this proved to be a good day at the races for Clyde Coast HS winning with his good 4 year old grizzle cock on 1605 is John Donald this cock topped Ayrshire federation from Longtown in 2012 but got injured last year and was pulled up. On the road again this year and is back to his winning ways he was sent sitting 12 day eggs (11th section F 241st open SNFC) well done John. In 2nd place on 1594 is Dunwoodie & Steed with their 6 year old grizzle hen (12th section F 266th open SNFC), she was sent sitting 10 day eggs this good grizzle hen was Tam &. Billy's Alencon timer and single entry winning 3rd region F and is from their Carlin crossed Jim Paterson pigeons. 3rd on 1586 is Lyndsay Cowan with his 2 year old chequer white flight hen (14 section F 296th open SNFC). This hen was also 3rd in the 3 Bird Club at Appleby 2 this time she was sitting on a 10 day old youngster. It's worth mentioning that these 3 birds were timed within 4 minutes of each other from 295 miles so well done lads. Thanks again Joe and all the best Mark.
Almond Valley Federation
Balerno HS news from Colin Bain who informs me that he was waiting on info on the winning pigeons which has failed to transpire so sent in what he had. From the Peterborough race flown on Sunday 8th June 6 members sent 64 birds liberated into a south west wind the winners are G & J Fairley with a dark chequer 2 year old hen sitting 10 days on eggs her velocity was 1557. In 2nd place is Colin Bain with a 2 year old blue grizzel hen on a 2 day young bird she was doing 1551 she is a Bob Cormack bred from my stock pair her brother was 2nd federation out of Thirsk. 3rd place is Dougie Bald with a 2 year old blue chequer cock a Davie Reed Vandenabeele looking at his hen he was doing a velocity of 1506, that it once again Joe best wishes Colin’.
Central Federation
Broxburn & Uphall Pigeon Club result from Bernie Britton who writes, ‘Hi Joe bet you and Kevin are happy with your SNFC result from Buckingham well done to you both. From our Peterborough race flown on the same day as the SNFC we had 6 members sending 151 birds’ liberated at 06.00 hours into a light south wind. Taking 1st & 3rd places is John McNeill with his winner a blue bar hen flown on roundabout she is a Gabby bred by D & H Hawkins & Evans. She won 5th section 60th open young bird SNFC in 2013 this year she has been 6th club from Otterburn; 1st club Ripon 2nd federation. 8th club Ripon 2. John’s 2nd bird in 3rd place is a 3 year old blue bar pied on roundabout this is a Hartog out of the stock loft and has won 2nd club 2nd federation Peterborough in 2013. In 2nd place is J Ferguson & son with a yearling chequer hen who only had 1 race from Consett as a young bird. This was her 7th race this year it’s bred from a pair of birds Hamish got from G W & P Macaloney down from their Dream Pair on one side. That’s it for now Joe all the best yours Bernie’.
East of Scotland
News from Tom McEwen who tells us that the federation were at the Wetherby race point on Sunday 8th June liberated at 06-45 hours into a south wind. Topping the federation and also taking 6th federation are Tom & Scott McEwen of Elphinstone. Tom Waddell is there again in 2nd place with Davidson Partners of Gladsmuir coming in with a nice on in 3rd place. Jim McNeil of Tranent finishing well in 4th place and Prestonpans Brian Lavery had an outstanding race being 5th 7th 8th 9th & 10th places.
Prestonpans club is won by Tom & Scott McEwen of Elphinstone with a 2 year old chequer cock on 1664 his breeding is as follows: Sire is a direct from Petite Rose 1st open SNFC Tours and her nest mate. Dam a pure Deweerdt bred by Mark Gilbert. 2nd is Tom Waddell with a yearling chequer hen on 1640 her breeding is from club mate Bobby Dickson bloodlines. Third is Brian Lavery with a 3 year old blue cock on 1638 bred by Tom McLean. Good luck to you and Kevin in the Scottish National races coming up yours Tom’.
Pentland Hills Federation and New Lothian RPC
News from Andy Millar who forwarded the result of the 7th old bird race of the season from Wetherby where 49 lofts sent 1202 birds. Liberated 06-45 hours into a light south west wind on Sunday June 8th this being a comeback race for the members as the distance is between 147-159 miles to most members, Taking the red card in the New Lothian and 1st place in the Federation are J & T Young from Danderhall their winning pigeon is a yearling blue cock this being his first time in the prizes. He has been to every race and has been steady rather than good and is a Keith Arnold Staff Van Reet crossed Wildie, he is a grandson of ‘Big Slim’ a multiple federation winner the 1st x 10 in the N/L are the same fanciers in the federation. 2nd place is J Robertson of New Lothian with W Andress & Son of the New Lothian in 3rd place. McCormack & Fraser of Castlebrae is 4th with J & T Young of Danderhall in 5th place. L Mitchell of Castlebrae is 6th & 8th with W Pryde & Son of Woodburn in 7th spot. Sammels & Lunn of Castlebrae are 9th with S Lapinski of Woodburn making the top tenth place.
Dalzell FC news from Joe Boyle who tells us 14 members sent 99 birds to Buckingham with the SNFC the winners are O & J McFadden on a velocity of 1569 the winner is a J Cassidy crossed Ray Lander Busschaert well done to the lads as they are also 9th section E 72nd open SNFC. 2nd is W McDonald on 1560 with a Janssen crossed Jim Cullan and 3rd place goes to O & J McFadden on 1482 with a Ray Lander Busschaert.
I received a phone call from Mrs Whitson of Pencaitland in East Lothian regarding the Pentland Hills Yearling race where I missed out her husband and son’s name in the result as they were 6th open. I can only apologise for this mistake and it was my fault not anyone else’s. The partnership of J & G also had their black cock return with NO identification ring on and its ETS ring had also been removed and a marker ring put on in its place. So whoever did this despicable act intended to keep the pigeon and obviously the bird escaped when the first chance came. I cannot be bothered with people who do things like this they get on my nerves and are not TRUE pigeon fanciers. Another incident that occurred recently is Kevin had one of his birds reported by a fancier from the Stirling area. When he phoned and spoke to the man he informed him that he had lost the bird (bred in 2011) as a baby from a training flight in Dundee. The fancier informed Kevin that the bird had just come into him at the weekend and had a rubber ring on its leg and he thought Kevin had entered it into the weekend’s race. So here is another situation where someone is racing a pigeon that does not belong to them. I wonder what is happening to our sport. Yet I have been informed of NON fanciers trying their hardest to help out stray pigeons, for example Bobby Watson of Thornton (an ex-fancier) was playing golf when he met a lad he used to worked with on the rigs. He informed Bobby that 2 pigeons arrived on the rig which is situated 100 miles east of Scotland in the North Sea in fact it is in line with Norway. The men are feeding the birds and when the lad goes back on the rig he will try and catch the birds and forward the ring numbers onto Bobby and if he can he will get someone to take the birds to the mainland when the helicopter arrives. So here is a contrasting story on how people are trying to help pigeons while others are trying to kill our sport.
Joe’s Joke
Rrriiiiinnnnggg: Rrriiiinnnngg. 'Hello?' - 'Hi honey, this is Daddy, is Mommy near the phone?' 'No, Daddy, she's upstairs in the bedroom with Uncle Bob.' After a brief pause Daddy 'But honey, you haven't got an Uncle Bob.' 'Oh yes I do: and he's upstairs in the bedroom with Mommy, Right now.' Brief Pause 'Uh, okay then, this is what I want you to do. Put the phone down on the table, run upstairs and knock on the bedroom door and shout to Mommy ‘That Daddy's car just pulled into the driveway.' 'Okay, Daddy, just a minute.'
A few minutes later the little girl comes back to the phone.
'I did it, Daddy.' 'And what happened, honey?' 'Well, Mommy got all scared, jumped out of bed with no clothes on and ran around screaming. Then she tripped over the rug, hit her head on the dresser and now she isn't moving at all!' 'Oh my God!! - What about your Uncle Bob?' ‘He jumped out of the bed with no clothes on, too. He was all scared and he jumped out of the back window and into the swimming pool. But I guess he didn't know that you took out the water last week to clean it. He hit the bottom of the pool and I think he's dead.
‘Long Pause - Longer Pause - Even Longer Pause - Then Daddy says, 'Swimming pool?... Is this 486-5731?'
No, I think you have the wrong number...
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;
© Compiled by Joe Murphy
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