Les J Parkinson 12th June
As you know I have compiled a few Paper Panel articles for the BHW which I have had a good response too from readers. However, as always in such cases I was surprised at how few completed the questionnaire and returned them to me. I had a couple of emails from one fancier on the subject of not giving him credit for the excellent results that he has achieved over the years. I have to say he has had many excellent results but as any scribe will tell you, we need the information coming our way to put the articles together in the first place. We do not want fanciers to send page after page of results. What scribes need are the main points to work on so that we are able to put the articles together in the first place. After having what I consider is a poor response considering the number of questionnaires that I have sent out I am wondering if more have the same view. Putting articles together on a weekly basis can be time consuming especially when we are continually having to keep chasing information. So, when racing, remember the scribes can only give credit to anyone in the sport no matter what they may be doing, if they receive the information in the first place.
Plenty about.
From what I was hearing in Mid-May there were plenty of fit pigeons around the country, probably because they are not mixing with others, I wonder if they are the same now. There were lots of people saying how well their pigeons look, but if they were doing nothing other than a few laps around home, they should look good. Mel Bratt was saying that he should have had his better half (and she is) Yvonne as a partner years ago. She is doing a cracking job with the young birds while he is going through a bad patch with health issues. Word is the young birds have never been under so much control. They are let out for their daily exercise at the same time every afternoon. After their allotted time Yvonne calls them in and feeds them a set amount. When she told Mel, they were in and fed he asked about those still out. “If they can’t come in with the rest they will have to wait until tomorrow when they are fed again” No Wonder they are under so much control. I don’t know if Yvonne knows he took the photo of her and whether he has sent it to me, what a Gem she is. With having empty sections Dave Pritchard has some of Mel’s pigeons at his house which are settling in. Dave has been sending a video diary for him to watch, via WhatsApp. Yvonne was saying that Mel can’t wait for them and it keeps him upbeat after his dialysis. Dave and Phil Buckton have been helping Mel through the problems so let’s hope the racing commences and they can all get some satisfaction out of racing for the good work they are putting in. I had a discussion a few weeks ago about how many birds fanciers have in their lofts. They are going to be there while we are not training and racing and not just from the point of view of them racing. There has not been the training going on as normal therefore there are not the batches crossing the sky. These batches often collect teams of young birds flying around their own area, then by the time they realise they are out of their comfort zone they are lost. When training and racing were given the go-ahead there were an awful lot of pigeons in the sky, I wonder how many birds will go missing over the first few weeks. Getting back to Mel and his good buddy Mike O’Grady are both been under the weather, I think they have been missing their weekly drinks at the club.
Yvonne Bratt Mel couldn't do without her
Mites.
From time to time I get the odd question sent my way and if possible, I get an answer from the best direct source that I have. “Hi les. My dad asked me to email yourself, he’s wondering if you could put a question in the British homing world next week to ask people if they know how to cure deplume mites (I’m pretty sure that’s not spelt right so I’m hoping you know what it is!) Thanks very much. PC” As with such questions I send them to Vet Ferdy Vandersanden and he is generally prompt with his reply’s. I send them to Ferdy because he is a personal friend of mine, there are other good sources for such information. This is the reply I received. “Hello, I know deplumation caused by mites. Deplumation could be caused by mites, could be caused by dematitis (bactererial or mycosal). Some mites like red blood mite (dermanyssus) give a strong irritation of the skin because the mite sucks blood during the night. While they suck blood the can bring over a lot of viral, bacterial or mycosal infections. These mites you can see very well in the evening when it’s dark. When the skin is infected your vet can search out what kind of infection you pigeon have. Against mite you can treat with ivermectine. A bacterial dermatitis needs antibiotics. A mycosal dermatitis needs imaverol or nystatine. Greetings, Ferdy” It’s always handy having such a good connection when it comes to medical advice for pigeon fanciers. I have known Ferdy for many years, in fact I first met him in the 90’s which is when I first found out about the products, he does that I used for all those years. This is where I got hold of Vior and stuck by it for so many years as my number one product to use all the year round. What I do believe is the Vets in the UK are more geared up for pigeons than they were when I first started racing. The Belgium vets have been into pigeons far longer and they have many years’ experience. It’s always handy to have such a knowledgeable Vet on hand.
Rooftop pair.
It was a sunny afternoon and we were sitting in the garden under lockdown with a glass of wine and heard such a scrap going on between birds. At first, we thought it was the woodies having a go but when I got up to have a look it was the two cocks who have decided to take up residence under our solar panels. They have all that roof space so why they were having a go I can never understand, yes, I suppose one has to be dominant in the area. It did me a favour, that was one pigeon less taking building material under the panels. I have not seen the other cock since but there are still three homing into the solar panels. The woodies in the front garden conifer have two young in the nest nearing time to go, the neighbour is not happy because they keep landing on her sons car and making a mess. I can understand because if it is not cleaned off it can make a mess of the paint on the car. The pair in the holly tree in the back garden are about due to chip out again. One of their first nest has always looked under the weather so if it will make it when it leaves the area is another matter. Going back to the pigeons under the solar panels, until they appeared on our roof, I had never noticed pigeons going under panels on any other rooftop. But this morning I was taking the dog for a walk and as I got to the corner of Algleave Close I heard pigeons calling so I started looking on the rooftops. Yes, our house is not the only one that has pigeons nesting under solar panels, there were a pair there looking to go to nest. Lizzie also told me that there are a pair under the panels on Chris’s house. So, from what I am now seeing this is nothing new. It’s surprising how these things draw your attention when you are sitting round not able to do much.
Joe Glover
I was taking to Joe, gathering information for the Paper Panel and he was telling me how much he used to enjoy racing his pigeons against the fanciers in the Mid Cheshire area. There was always top competition with the likes of George “Stubby” Stubbs, Jack Bate, Denis Gleave, Albert Lever Snr, Beardmore Bros, George Price etc. There were so many winning fanciers whose clocks you were always looking for on race nights. He went on to say that he made many friends in the pigeon world, still does but not so many, the numbers are greatly depleted. Plus, it was a pleasure to compete in the local specialist races where you could win more than in the Nationals, competing against the best if Cheshire. I know what he means because when I first started racing in Middlewich there were a lot of good fanciers in the Mid Cheshire area, still are, but we are talking 3/4/5 times as many as there are now. Hang on a minute, do numbers really count when it comes to quality fanciers or birds entered. I have probably mentioned this before but some will say that numbers make competition. Yes, they do but you can have a handful of fanciers or birds that have the same high quality of birds that the members of the past had to send or compete with. You do not have to have a lot of pigeons to have a good team, you need confidence in what you have in the loft and need to know how to work them. Having said that when there were more fanciers about their were more fanciers enjoying the sport, bit sparse nowadays.
Mid May.
Saw a change with restrictions lifted, it did not take long for pigeon fanciers to get into gear, that is the winners. I say winners because within 3-days I spoke to several fanciers and there were three who left the starting blocks as soon as the restrictions were lifted. On the other hand, there were a few who are what I call “Content Pigeon Fanciers” the ones who are happy to have their pigeons and enjoy them whether they win or lose. To me this told me why they are winners, they are thinking pigeons and always ready to jump into action. A case of they do not let grass grow under their feet, and there are a lot who do. No matter what we do in life those who are successful are thinking about what they are doing 24hrs a day. I have a pen and pad by the side of the bed and I often wake up and start making notes in the night, sometimes I get that look when Elizabeth turns over and goes back to sleep, that’s pigeons for you.
Whites
A few weeks ago, I mentioned Joe Shore of Comberbach who when he was racing was a specialist in the Pau Grand National. Joe did have the whites and gay pied’s that were flying the distance. Anyway, I had the following email. “Hi les I noticed in your column this week you visited joe shore . I had some pure whites through a Dave Pratt who I think originally from hull but was living in Fulham when I knew him. He got them from Fergus Wilson of Kent. Apparently, he had about 400 in a shed in middle of a field. Well I was doing alright with these whites so tried to get some more but it worked out that Fergus killed them all the weekend before. I know it is a long shot but do you know if anybody might still have any. I know a friend the late joe Bradford had his family but not the whites and he flew a particularly good distance pigeon. It would be interesting to find out if someone still has any of these. RD” Years ago there were more whites about and winning but we don’t see as many in the modern days of racing pigeons. Could this be down to the BOP problem where those with more white on them are more recognisable in a batch of pigeons for the BOP to aim at. I have heard of fanciers purposely having the odd white pigeon in their team to protect the majority of the team while in training or just out exercising around home. In the world of wildlife, it is the weakest who are the easiest target, so they are the ones that are targeted. I do not think that is the case with racing pigeons because as many will know to their cost, good pigeons are a target for BOP just like the rest of the team. I suppose looking at it from another angle, do the BOP really know the weakest from a batch of pigeons and they can pick out the weak link which we as pigeon fanciers cannot. Going back to whites winning, I recall Norman Barrett winning with a white, I think called Virgo, Fergus Wilson might have also won a National with a white.
Back to the Paper Panel
We had some good feedback from the first paper panel, varying from those who read it all chapter and verse to those who selected fanciers and just read their contribution. The idea was to give a varied response to questions so that fanciers could make their own mind up. However, those who just looked at certain fanciers have probably missed out on points raised by others. Even reading the views of fanciers who win a limited amount can highlight points that we may not have thought of. Those points may not have been put into the best action plan but they could and probably do work for others. We all have ideas of what we would like to do in pigeon racing but putting them together does not always work. This could happen because of other ideas we have that are within the programme that we have set out for the season. It could also be a case of, it might cause a bit more work that we can do without. Winners don’t look at it like that because if there is something that might help them they do their level best to add it to their system, yes they might need to change the odd thing but if it’s a good idea it is at least worth trying. If you are not going to try new ideas that you come across, then you are never going to do what we all want to do is move forward.
Lush green.
While we have been on Lockdown, we had not been out for 7 weeks and getting bored. We decided to take a break and go for a drive which took us just under the hour mark. What we did notice was how green and lash everywhere was in the countryside. If you are living out there you would probably not notice but we did. Goes to show how much damage we are doing to nature. I have picked up on a few things while we were on lockdown and I have to admit I had not thought about them before. There was a report that the ozone layer was shrinking and as just mention the countryside is more of a lush green than I have seen it for many years. There looks to be more growth wherever you go, yes nature is benefitting from the reduction of transport of all sorts. Just think what we are breathing in and what our pigeons have to contend with on their journey home from the liberation sites.
More whites
When I first moved to Middlewich and started with pigeons one of the lofts that stood out was that of Ken & Ronnie Latham on the Maiden Hills. The lofts stood out as you were heading into Middlewich as they could not be missed by anyone entering the town. Later Ken moved the pigeons into a much smaller loft set up in his back yard where he had to reduce the number of birds considerably. He had some good results and I remember Ken’s son David, who is a top man in the Gun Dog world, training the pigeons for his dad and taking the top 3 in the fed. I think if David had taken pigeons up as his main hobby, he would have been a top fancier, he has what it takes to work with animals and win. The reason Ken came up was because I had an email from daughter Louise who lives the other side Nantwich asking if I knew where she could get 2prs of baby white fantails from so that she could get them used to the dove pen. Do not know how she has gone on with them but as we know getting them settled is not always easy. It looks as if she has the right place for them with plenty of garden space.
Louise Latham
Les J Parkinson. 11 Rushton Drive, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 0NJ. 01606836036 Mobile 07871701585. Email
