SCOTTISH NATIONAL FLYING CLUB
Report by Joe Murphy
LEICESTER YB RACE
For the last race of the 2007 season from 354 members sending a total of 2,492 birds were entered into the Leicester Young Bird National. The breakdown of birdage is as follows: Section A 208; Section B 681; Section C 502; Section D 291; Section E 506; Section F 90 and Section G 208 birds.
Colin Gray and Jim Hannah were with the birds and Jim reported back to me that he felt that 26 birds was too much in the baskets as he spent a lot of time in the back of the transporter and observed that quite a number of youngsters did not obtain a drink. He watched as they fought their way to the drinkers while on the other hand the baskets with 20 or less had no problems and in fact these youngsters where lying resting in the shavings. I have preached this for more years than I care to remember and maybe now someone will put in a motion to the annual general meeting and let the members decide on this crucial situation. We pride ourselves in having the best pigeons in the world and it is time that the birds come first and their welfare is paramount as far as I’m concerned. Jim has highlighted a problem and we the membership MUST fix this for next year. The convoy were liberated at 07.45am with no wind at the liberation site however it was to be a light 7 mile per hour North West wind turning to westerly as the youngsters reached the Scottish Borders. The forecast was sunshine all the way home and we anticipated a good steady race, my good friend Andy Miller phoned me when he timed in from Northallerton with the Pentland Federation and the early birds were doing in it on 1130 velocity so I worked out the times for the Eyemouth lads and these were right on time with the earliest arrivals timed between 13.30 and 13.40 hours.
Now for some details on the winners:
First Section B is Ronnie & Anne Miller of Ayton who timed in a blue hen flying to the perch she had Thirsk 115 miles Thirsk 115 miles Worksop 179 miles Melton Mowbray 220 miles she was then stopped and given short tosses from Wooler a distance of 20 miles every day then 2 days before basketing she was given a toss from Alnwick a distance of 40 miles then into the young bird national. She was a gift from Ashley Fiddies of Wooler and is from Busschaert bloodlines down from Blue Boy one of Ashley’s top birds whose pedigree goes back to Busschaerts originally obtained by someone in the west from Dale Newcombe. Two years ago Ronnie had some problems with his youngster and had to dispose of them, when the Wooler members found out they asked him for some rings and 10 members of the club bred Ronnie a team of pigeons to race. This year some of them again bred him a pair and this is where the probable national winners comes from. As a matter of interest Colin Crees of Coldingham who won 2nd open Eastbourne and should be well up in this race won the breeder/buyer prize with Ashley’s birds so his birds are doing well in the Scottish Borders. Lastly I have just spoken to Dale Newcombe of Macmerry who is going into hospital tomorrow for a week’s assessment on a Liver transplant. I thought what better tonic can you get than to be associated with another SNFC winner and I know many fanciers will wish Dale all the very best Karen will keep me updated on his progress by the way he is not as bad as what some people are making out (Dale’s words not mine). Our congratulations to Anne and Ronnie on winning the section and probable first open they now join the ranks of other Eye Valley members to win the SNFC with 2 other members winning a SNFC race already this year my thanks to Ronnie for supplying his details.
Ronnie Miller, 1st open SNFC.
Young Bird National winner.
2nd & 3rd section B 2nd & 3rd open is Mel Bell Junior of Coldingham who timed in 12 pigeons with the earliest at 13.49;13.42;13.44;13.45;13.46;13.49.13.50; 13.51 these plus the others will all do well on the result. All Mel’s youngsters are on the darkness and have good body and feathering with full wings and were all flying to the perch. Their first race was from Thirsk 118 miles (Mel was 2.3 & 8th club) Thirsk 118 miles (Mel was 1st 2 & 6th club) Worksop 182 miles (Mel was 2.4 & 5th club) Melton Mowbray 223 miles (Mel was 2.3, 6th 7th & 8th club) Huntington 268 miles (Mel was 2.4, 5 & 6th club). The young bird team were then locked up for 3 days and had one toss on the Wednesday from 30 miles once home they were then left alone until basketed the next day for the young bird national. From this race from Leicester 230 miles he has won 2, 3, 4, 6 & 7th club and as I say he will be well up in the open result to view this log onto www.snfc.co.uk results file. Now for details on Mel’s winners the 2nd open is a chequer hen bred from a Ko Nipius crossed Van der Esp. cock while the dam was bred by Harry Sloan of Airdrie from direct Mel Bell pigeons.
Mel Bell snr & junior with their 2nd & 3rd open winners.
The 3rd open is a blue hen sire is from a fancier in Ireland is from Soontjen bloodlines while the dam is a Belge stray that has been reported 3 times and the fancier has never even taken the time to contact Mel, she has turned out to be a good stock pigeon and has bred some ‘steady pigeons’. The 4th open is a blue hen from a pair of stock birds John Gray swapped with Mel for a pair of his stock. The Gray birds are from a Robert Cormack cock while the dam is from the Ogilvie loft from Stirling my thanks to Mel for phoning me back with the details on his winners he could not believe my phone was so busy for so long and he had a problem contacting me.
1st Section C is Mike Leggett of Forfar with a blue chequer darkness hen again she had a full wing, she has been paired up for the past 7 to 8 weeks and was sent to the national sitting between 10 to 12 days on eggs. She had 7 races being from Arniston 1 & 2 a distance of 54 miles, Coldstream 74 miles, Otterburn 104 mile Wakefield 214 miles and a come back race from Stowe 60 miles. Mike’s youngsters received 20 tosses out to Kirkcaldy a distance of 30 + miles prior to the racing starting they were never in the training basket again only raced every week. They are fed on the best of Versa Laga and have as much as they can eat as Mike does not believe in cutting the food on youngsters; they also receive Cider Vinegar in the drinker every day. The youngsters are exercised round the loft morning and night for 45minutes and disappear for about 25 to 30 minutes of this time. The sire and dam are from Mike’s own family of Janssen based bloodlines. It is good to see Mike winning the section as he took a heart attack earlier in the year and has just been given the all clear to return to work in the near future which is great news. Mike works at the same university as my son Kevin and they have some good banter between each other however Mike has the last laugh as you are only as good as your last race and as this is the last race of 2007 Mike winning the section is as good as it gets well done Mike and thanks for supplying your details.
Mike Leggett, 1st Section C.
2nd section C is the husband and wife partnership of Wyn & Charlie Cameron of Arbroath who live a stone throw from our son Kevin’s home. The partnership timed in a blue bar cock bred by Jos Claes of Herentals Belgium. He was a gift from their son Glen who introducedbirds fromJos last year and they have already topped the Aberdeen federation a few times for him. The blue cock was on darkness until mid June then received 4 tosses in 5 mile jumps i.e. 5 10 15 20 mile approximately then six tosses from Letham in Fife approx 25 miles all prior to the first young bird race. He missed the first young bird race due to a bad weather forecast but was at every other of the 6 federation races out to Wakefield a distance of 205 miles this was the week before the National. He won 4th federation Witton Castle a distance of 135 mile the week before Wakefield and has had no training prior to the national his only motivation was that along with the other 5 pairson darkness who were separated all week and then allowed together for a few hours before basketing to each race my thanks to Charlie for his email and to Kevin for the photograph to go with this article.
Wyn and Charlie Cameron 2nd section C.
2nd Section C winner for Mr and Mrs Cameron.
3rd Section C is Austin Whittaker of Methil is first Fife federation with a blue bar cock who is bred from a brother and sister mating they are from Austin’s top stock pair who have bred 14 individual 1st prize winners. Including 1st, 2nd 4th & 12th open the stock cock has won 37th section 51st open federation Eastbourne and 210th open SNFC he was purchased from GH Dobbs of Sutton in Ashfield who won the Kings Cup from Lerwick twice in 1981 and 1991. The dam has won 5th section 6th open Maidstone and 7th region and 152nd open SNFC she was purchased from Wolfenden & O’Neil from Manchester my thanks to Austin for dropping in his details into my letter box.
Section D 1st and 2nd places go to John McNeil of Broxburn who has an exceptional record in classic races. John’s first bird is a blue darkness hen who has only thrown her first flight, she had 6 training tosses out to 30 miles prior to the young bird season beginning then she had Coldstream 1 & 2 a distance of 52 miles, Otterburn 1 & 2 (82 miles) Ripon 147 miles then Wakefield 176 miles. The team were then given 2 tosses at 30 miles prior to basketing and then into the national. Sire is a 99 bred Hartog from Alistair Kerr while the dam is a Janssen stock hen from Ton Mullen of Ireland as a matter of interest both parents have bred winners with different mates. John’s second bird is a blue pied hen again a darkness youngster who has not flung a flight yet, she was starting to look at a cock prior to basketing. She had the same preparation as the section winner her sire is a Herman bred by D & J Hawkins of Doncaster while the dam is a Lambrect ?? NOT SURE OF SPELLING bred by Mick Simpson of Tadcaster. John has done well with Mick’s family as a hen won 3rd combine and 3rd federation and 61st open Maidstone SNFC my thanks to John for supplying me these details.
3rd section D is Scott Gibson of Avonbridge phoned with details of his winner this was a black darkness cock flying to the perch he is on his 2nd flight. This year he has been trained from Otterburn Ripon and Wakefield the latter the week before the national, the birds were kept in the loft and let out on Wednesday morning and evening then on the Thursday morning they handled a lot better with plenty of body and after their exercise they were basketed for the national. This black cock is a GB rung pigeon and was bred by Brian Nelson of Ripon whom Scott did a deal with the base of these lines are Dino Donnini of Skipton in North Yorkshire. Scott asked if I would publicly thank Jim Jack for looking after his pigeons while he was in hospital, I noticed that Jimmy had a pigeon in the young bird national as he phoned into Lib Line after timing in.
First Section A is 5 times SNFC winner John Hodgson of Kirkpatrick Fleming who timed in at 12.58 with a chequer hen sent with her 3rd end flight just burst through. She had already been in the prize list in 2 occasions in club racing she was bred by Father Eddie McGhie down from a son of the Maestro 1st section 1st Yearling 4th open Le Ferte Bernard with the bloodlines being mainly Muller Janssen through Louella Pigeon World stud our congratulations to John on his section win and for his short email on his winner.
John Hodgson 1st section A.
2nd section A is Mike Currie of Moffat which is situated on the M74 and when I heard Mike’s phone message on the lib line I thought to myself he is a brave man racing pigeons into that area. Mike tells me that there are 14 pairs of Peregrines in the surrounding Moffat hills. It is so bad that Mike cannot let his youngster out in the morning or he would loose them every day. So this year he put them on the darkness system and lets them have a 3 hour period in the evening before locking them up for the night. Mike timed in a chequer white flight cock as I said flown on darkness his hen laid her 1st egg the day of basketing. He had 3 Shap race a distance of 64 miles this was due to the terrible weather we have experienced at the beginning of the young bird programme. He then had Leyland 126 miles and Stafford 181 miles the week prior to the young bird national. Mike handled his team of youngsters at 06.30 on the day of basketing and he noticed that the chequer white flight cock had thrown his first and second flights in both wings he also handled very well, Mike thought you’re in good order my boy and you’re going and lo and behold he comes up and wins 2nd section. Sire was a stray from the loft of Martin & Fred Russell of Dromore from their Billy Parkes Busschaerts bloodlines who in this weeks paper timed 20 birds in the first 100 open places from and an entry of 28,000 birds they also won 1st open their race on the same day as our young bird national so a loft in form. However you would never believe it the sire has disappeared and could be on his way back to the Emerald Isle. Dam is from one of Wales all time greats John Smaile of Abergavany being bred down from 2 outstanding pigeons namely Gillian who won the WGN & Combine from Thurso winning the Louella Car Nomination and the Queens Cup in 1990. The other side of the breeding was Westra Eddie who won the same race point in 1991 for Fishlock and Harding who gave John a loan of the cock in 1992 and later he purchased this champion pigeon to pair to Gillian. Mike attended the SNFC dinner and presentation last year with his pal Kenny Thomson who won the section in this race now Kenny will have to go to support Mike in his moment of glory my thanks to Mike for the details on his pigeon.
Mike Currie 2nd section A.
3rd section A is Derek Norden of Langholm who gave the birds up however they are so much in his blood that he came back 2 or 3 years ago. Derek timed in a black pied hen who threw her 8th flight the day after the race. She has been to Shap 46 miles, Leyland 100 miles then Appleton 126 miles returning the next day at lunch time. Derek likes to see this in his youngsters as it proves they have learnt something; she was given 2 tosses from 20 miles and was flying to the perch. Sire is a red cock a gift from Ian French of Gretna his sire was bred at Louella Pigeon World and is a direct son of Smaragd 1 & 2. While the dam of the sire is a Jan Aarden and she won 5th open NFC Pau. Dam of the 3rd section winner is a red hen bred by Derek from a mealy hen from the old family crossed with a John Ellis of Wellbank fame pigeon my thanks to Derek for the information. My thanks also to David Smith who has been superb all year in highlighting the performance from his area and he as gone out of his way to take pictures and send them to me for my reports thanks David you’re a gentleman.
First section E 1st west region is Tom Wilson of Denny who timed in a blue bar darkness cock flying to the perch he had a full wing at time of going to the race. Tom’s youngsters had 12 x 35 mile tosses before the season began and then the odd one between races. The blue cock was raced from Gretna 78 miles, Garstrang 130 miles and Leyland 167 miles the latter the week end prior to the young bird national. Sire is from a local fancier ‘Budgie’ Hogg from Camelon while the dam won 10th west section Cheltenham in 2005 her grand sire is a son of Honeyman’s Dream when paired to a hen from Kinnear & Barrett of Yorkshire again my thanks to Tom for phoning me back with the information.
2nd section E 2nd west region are the Wishaw partnership of Eadie, Kelly & Devine who timed in a small dark chequer Gaby Vandenabeele purchased from Louella Pigeon World and sent sitting 23 days on eggs and has raced the full programme on the darkness system. Her last race was Tow Law when she took 3hours 51 minutes and was doing a velocity of 825 the partnership have named her ‘Wee Dolly’ my thanks to Andrew Eadie for his short email and to Gareth Rankin for the photograph.
Andrew Eadie 2nd section E.
3rd section E 3rd west region is Billy Bilsland of Lenzie is an ex Olympic cyclist and he had to get on his bike to time in his blue chequer hen from this young bird race as she was going so fast. She is bred from Jim Cullen stock and was flying 261 miles into the extreme north west of this section. When verifying this bird SNFC Committee man Derek Hay released the hen outside the loft and the bird flew for 30 minutes on its own. Needless to say this was a great excuse to put the kettle on and find out the details of the wee hen until she decided to enter the loft again. This will show you the reader the condition this man had his pigeons in going to the race which is a credit to him. She flew the full Lanarkshire federation programme out to Tow Law a distance of 121 miles she then received one training toss from Edinburgh the Monday before basketting and she returned from the National with her 4th flight half up big Derek tells me that Billy has had a fantastic year at club, federation and National level well done Billy our congratulations must also go to the big man as he must be in the running for the west section averages in the SNFC well done Derek and Linda Hay for all the hard work you both do for the sport.
First Section F is John O’Donnell of Paisley who timed in a blue bar hen she was purchased from Billy Holland of Muirhead and is a pure Ad Achaerlaeckens from Holland.The blue hen was bred from Billy’s race team who flew the full young bird programme and have been to the coast this year as yearlings. John’s hen has flown all races in the Renfrewshire Federation which were Arniston 53 miles, Kelso 79 miles, Otterburn twice 97 miles, Tow Law 126 miles and then the SNFC Leicester race a distance of 260 miles; my thanks also to John’s daughter for taking the time to send me the details and also the photograph of her proud dad by email well done to you both.
John O Donnell 1st section F.
2nd section F is Liam Byrne of Paisley with a blue hen flying to the perch she dropped her 4th flight in the basket. She had the following race with the club (Barrhead Ferenze 92 RPC) young bird programme except the first race. She won 3rd club from Tow Law on the 1st September 07 and again she was beaten by club mate John O’Donnell her sire is an Eaglesham Busschaert purchased for stock and her dam was a Harold Hutchinson of Penicuik. Liam would like to give a special thanks to his friend Danny Leitch who assists him with the birds when he is working my thanks also to Veronica Byrne Liam’s wife who took the time to supply me with the details and photograph.
Liam Byrne 2nd section F.
3rd section F is David Kennedy & Son from who timed a blue pied hen flying natural to the perch David told me she was well feathered and this helped in the North West wind. She had 5 races with the Ayrshire north road federation out to Stonehaven a distance of 114 miles, and then he turned her south to Tow Law 120 miles and then jumped her into the young bird national. Sire is a 5 year old Janssen cock bred from Louella bloodlines while the dam is also a Janssen and is home bred my thanks to David for updating me when I phoned him.
First section G 1st north region is John Hunter of Durris by Aberdeen this is the 4th time John has won the north section in 4 years so not bad going when you consider he was also 2nd north section Falaise. John timed in a blue chequer pied hen she was on the darkness system and had six federation races as a young bird before being entered into the SNFC race. The previous week she flew Wakefield with the Grampian Combine a distance of 240 miles and was his 1st bird home she is bred from WimVan Lewen i.e. Jan Arden based. Her sire was 1st north section SNFC Newbury 2005 a distance of 315 miles John had 4 birds in 37 minutes and is pleased with their performance. He had a concern that the birds would go over the top as when he let them out on Tuesday before the race they flew for three and a half hours in the morning. John's training programme is 1 toss at 15 miles, 2 at 20 miles, 2 at 30 miles, 2 tosses from Dundee then the first Federation race and no more tossing after that. The birds fly morning and evening and John has some natural young birds as well but with their condition in the moult they were stopped for the year, John is going to change the lofts around when he finds a joiner, to make all young bird racing on the darkness system. As John explained he does not have the time to wait years for birds to mature so works them hard to weed them out he added all his birds came from the west and not from the North sea or east coast my thanks to Ian McKay for supplying the details and photos to go with this report and our congratulations to John on his section win.
John Hunter 1st section G.
2nd & 3rd section G 2nd & 3rd north region is the G & C Rae partnership that flies their birds into allotments at Woodside in Aberdeen. This is a father and son partnership Colin being the son and Roddy the old man and the worker (his words not mine). Their first bird was a blue cock and had every race in the federation winning 2nd club from a very bad Alnwick race when the winning velocity that day was 547 ypm his sire is from a Jan Aarden crossed Doddy Ross strain and has been a very steady young bird. Their second bird is a blue hen being a daughter of their Grampian Combine winner in 2004 from Wakefield. This cock also won 5th North Section in the SNFC Eastbourne race and 3rd open in the federation. The blue hen is bred from a hen from Ian McKay crossed with Doddy Ross pigeons. The dam is a Harry Visser and was home bred she was another who had every Federation race this year and Colin is delighted with her performance. The partnerships won 3 x 1st prizes in the young bird season and are winners of the young bird averages in the federation and their club the Aberdeen & District Colin is a typical Aberdonian not a man of many words again my thanks to Ian McKay for supplying details on his members he has done a first class job in assisting me this year.
Conclusion
Well that’s the end of the 2007 and to be honest I’m glad to see the back of it as it has been one of the worst years on record with the heavy rain we have experienced and racing cancelled due to the weather. The ban on channel racing was the final nail in the coffin as far as I was concerned as the club is built round long distance racing and we were deprived of that because of others and it is out width our control. This young bird season has seen horrendous losses and it is time we all started to stop and have a think about what is happening to our sport. Quite a number of members have lost good pigeons at this last young bird race while others have excellent returns for example one man has 76 out of 99, another 27 out of 29 then on the other hand I have spoken to fancies who have 3 out of 20 and 10 out of 36. I have even spoken to the London north road race controller who tells me that they did not liberate their birds until after 12.15 with the last going at 13.30. These federations were at Newark which was only 40 miles east of Leicester and as we liberated at 07.40 hours we certainly did not clash with these birds as the majority of our convoy were nearer Scotland by the time these London birds were liberated. The forecast stated we would have sunshine all the way however it did cloud over 15 minutes after the birds were liberated and the London lads did not go because of the full cloud cover. I don’t know if this is what happened to the youngsters or was it they did not face the north west wind as they came up the country. My own personal believe is that federations need to look at their race programme and take a leaf out of the Eye Valley members book. These lads win this race every year and it is obvious to me that it is their race programme which holds the secret, as they have been to 268 miles prior to the come back race with the SNFC from Leicester which is only 230 miles. The other thing is their first race is 118 miles so they MUST train their youngsters or they will be lost at this first race point. Now try telling fanciers from the Central belt that their first race is from 120 miles and they would laugh you out of the room. Well personally if you don’t change your ideas then you will never beat the lads from Eye Valley.
May I once again thank everyone who phoned the Lib Line service all I’m trying to do is give you the members a facility worthy of our great club however it seems that too many do not wish to participate in this which the management committee will have to look into. To all the winning fanciers who have supplied me with details on their birds I again thank them for their support and feedback without this I could not compile such comprehensive assessments on each race. Well that’s it for another year and I urge every member to leave the weekend of the SNFC annual general meeting free to attend this meeting as this is the place to do your talking not in the pubs or on the phone.
Section A
E Hodgson & Sons Kirkpatrick Fleming 1050.871
M Currie Moffat 1029.060
D Norden Langholm 917.198
Section B
A & R Miller Ayton 1162.364
M Bell Jnr Coldingham 1147.649
M Bell Jnr Coldingham 1138.169
Section C
M Leggett Forfar 1082.5
Mr & Mrs Cameron Arbroath 1068.852
A Whittaker Methil 1061.55
Section D
J McNeill Broxburn 1072.403
J McNeill Broxburn 1055.91
S Gibson Avonbridge 1039.464
Section E
T Wilson Denny 1000.67
Eadie Kelly & Devine Wishaw 928.24
W.L Bilsland Kirkintilloch 915.316
Section F
J.O’Donnell Paisley 829.944
L Byrne Paisley 776.587
D Kennedy Dumbarton 758.122
Section G
J Hunter Aberdeen 1006.084
G & C Rae Aberdeen 1000.183
G & C Rae Aberdeen 999.975
Compiled and copyright Joe Murphy
