PIGEON TOPICS
Stuart Bowman
From Rosyth's Otterburn race the winner was Secretary Gordon Cree. The winner was a blue hen bred by Lee Birkett and racing to 5 day eggs. Good to see the secy get a wee turn for all the work he puts in, well done Gordon! 2nd & 4th was John Skelton, firstly with a 2yo Emiel De Weert hen on dummy eggs. The next one was a yearling d, chq cock also on dummys and is from Lowick Bros from their Dutch Long Distance birds. 3rd Louie Mitchell with a ylg Janseen blue cock on 3 day eggs. This one was bred from Davie Brown from Kirkaldy originally from birds out of Woodland Farm Stud. This was a very fast race with excellent returns for everyone.
The Kingdom Racing Pigeon Association held their Open race from Wanstead Flats with most fanciers agreeing that this was a strange one with fanciers having to wait a long time on their second pigeon although the fanciers with the early pigeons wouldn’t be too worried! The winner timed at 3.39pm for the 354 mls was Davie Wilson of Ballmullo with a 2yo chq hen on 1199.48. 2nd Open was Pete Patrick on 1157 with the first yearling. 3rd open on 1147, Garry Hall. 4th Open on 1141.56, John Dinsdale. 5th Open Bob Swinton on 1141. 6th Open Tam Berwick on 1139. Davie Wilson in again on 1112 for 7th Open and should win 2-bird ave. 8th Open was John Ellis on 1110. Lou Mitchell 9th Open on 1106, and Finally Jim Anderson was 10th Open on 1105 and had the first nominated bird.
Milton result from Jim Galloway with Wanstead Flats and the winner was Bob Swinton on 1141 with a 5yo blue Busschaert hen on 10 day eggs. This hen was 4th Wakefield previously and was race round about prior to this race then paired up. 2nd Bob Swinton with a 5yo blue cock on 985. This Tam Willkie crossed Busschaert cock was on round about before this race and then paired up to be sitting 10 day eggs. He had previously won 4th Otterburn and 3rd Whitton Castle. 3rd club went again to Bob Swinton on 854 with a 5yo blue cock which had also been on round about and then paired up for this race and was racing to 7 day eggs. His previous wins include 2nd Otterburn and 1st Whitton Castle. This pigeon is a Busschaert crossed with a bird from old Dave Allan from Freuchie.
As a footnote Jim writes that it was a bit of a sticky race with some members getting birds and some didn’t, with some homing next morning and some in the afternoon. Jim says well done to those who timed in good birds and congratulations to the winner Davie Wilson. Jim goes on to say that he had heard from fanciers that there were heavy showers and they were pretty heavy en route along with the thunder and Lightening! Yes your quite right Jim that might explain why some of the birds were soakin wet and the gaps in returns. Well that’s pigeon racing we pay our money and take our chances! Thanks again Jim.
From Rosyth's Wanstead Flats race the members sent 98 birds and the winner was Louie Mitchell on 1106 with a yearling red cock racing on eggs 8-10 days old. The sire is a Jan Theelan from David Kennedy and the dam is from Jim Doig from a pigeon containing lines of Rab Hamilton of Cambus and Eddie Mannn from Johnshaven. John Skelton was 2nd on 1079 with a yearling d, chq cock on 10 day dummy eggs containing De Baere lines. 3rd & 4th was our secy Gordon Cree on 1075 and 1044. The first one was a home bred from Janseen birds and a 2yo blue pied hen flying spare. The next one was a yearling chq hen on 10 day eggs again home bred from Janseen birds. Actually Gordon said his two time ins (both hens) were paired together so the first one wasn’t really flying spare if you get the drift! The second one was in fact same way bred as Gordon’s bird which was 3rd in the SHU Millenium one loft race! Well i was not a happy chap at this race, with my time and returns. However i had seven from eight by early next morning including some late breds and some yearlings that weren’t raced last year, so even though there was plenty of room for improvement it could have been worse for me. Well done to all the winners!
Before closing let me take this opportunity to congratulate Pete Virtue on another National win this time from the Gold Medal Race from Reims with several others on the day when fanciers were struggling. A top performance by any ones standards! Also well done to Davie Whyte of Cardenden with his 3yo white cock racing to 12 day eggs to win 1st Sect C’ and the first bird into the Kingdom. These were game birds timed from this race every one of them! I had to settle for getting a 3yo blue cock on the second night taking 81st Open; he had previously won 43rd Open Arras last year when he was found on the loft after i slept in and never woke til just after 5am. I had plenty of time to get him into the loft this time though and i was glad to see him home safe! Like a lot of other fanciers i will just have to keep trying with the birds i’m lucky to have home from this race.
That’s it. Anything worth a mention to 118 Sinclair Drive, Cowdenbeath, Fife, ky4-9rg tel 01383-518471, email to
