PIGEON TOPICS
Stuart Bowman
Well what a long hard winter it’s been, the worst we have had in nearly 30 years. I though I might pair some stock birds early this year but I thought again! Glad i waited, in fact i wish I had waited another couple of weeks, I think the constant cold tempertures affected some of the pigeons this year. It has been many a year since I have seen as much ice, particularly in the birds drinkers. In the end I think everyone was completely fed up with it!
Spring came late in these parts with the buds on flowers and trees pushing through very late, and the wild birds were also late in going to nest. A solitary Swallow arrived in late April and as I write this in May they are still few and far between and expect it to be another few weeks before these marvelous little wonders arrive in numbers from the African Western Sahara.
I have heard tales of many clear eggs this year from fanciers far and wide, most putting it down to the severe weather before and during the earliest part of the breeding program. I too suffered here and like the above fanciers wait to see if it affects the birds and their performances in the racing season. In all probability the fanciers who had a good breeding season must have had them in better condition prior to pairing. Lets face you do have to have them well prepared. We will have to wait til the end of season to see what comes out of it all! Best of luck to everyone for the 2010 season!
At Rosyth rpc we managed to get two new members for the 2010 yb season ahead, and the members would just like to wish Henry and Barry all the best when the yb season starts! Some fanciers took advantage of the sun appearing on some days during April, but to be honest I like some others thought it was too cold. Some fanciers including me were slow in letting the birds out for exercise with breeding being a bit later I seemed to be well behind this year. I always prefer to get them out for a few weeks before I start dreaming of training them. They simply weren’t out enough this year. When the sun was out and I thought it was quiet I let some out but within a week or so I had lost 3 just around the loft. I usually have my Owl cd on but on these 3 occasions I didn’t. So after that it was on every time without loosing a bird. This went on most days for about a week then one day most of them were out enjoying themselves when the sun was out, and for the duration very little signs of hawks. After getting them all in etc I noticed that the tamest bird I had a d,chq cock was missing. I had seen him an hour earlier chasing everything. I was very despondent the next morning when he never turned up and I’ve never seen him since. I remembered I hadn’t put the Owl cd on, so there is a lesson to be learned there. Maybe I would still have had him if I had it on! Four yearlings gone because I thought things were ok and became complacent. After that I did not slip up I made sure it was on when they were out right up til the end of April and early May so I could start some of them for training.
During the training I did loose a few even from 10 – 15mls but these were inexperienced birds that weren’t fit enough. However I had a bad toss from 20mls the day before the first race and lost four birds with one coming home badly injured. Three of the birds were yearlings one had flown the yb national 260mls and one was a 4yo hen, I couldn’t believe it. This hen had scored in the club and SNRPC Arras and last year was my only entry and one of only 10 on the day to win 6th Open Andrezel National, 580mls on the day! This hen had previously been badly hawked as a late bred and would fly through a brick wall to get home such was her strength. The only conclusion I can arrive at is that she has been hawked again or suffered an injury!
This hen will be very hard to replace and these things get you down but you just have to bounce back. On the Monday I lost a daughter from her and thought this is not going to be my year, and to be honest I was reluctant to put them in the basket for a few more days, wondering when this bad episode would finish!
Happily after that things were more straightforward and no pigeon has been lost in training since and touch wood none will! Trouble is I am quite a few hens short at the moment, but there is maybe still some time to sort things out.
At the first race from St. Boswells the Rosyth winner was John Skelton with a 2yo De Baere hen flying spare. Aye she’s a fit hen then John! Tony Celantano was 2nd & 4th with the first one being a 2yo busschaert cock just paired up. The other was also just paired and was a yearling mealy cock bred from Joe Day of Ballingry crossed with George Brownlee of Carluke. Alan Cunningham was 3rd with a home bred 2yo chq cock on widowhood. Returns were pretty good from this the first race and I would like to say well done to our new Race Controller Stevie Ritchie from Cardenden for giving us a good start. I’m sure Stevie would have been relieved to hear of the first birds arriving into Fife! I’m sure everyone will join me in wishing you the very best of luck in this your rookie year Stevie, well done again keep it up!
Pete Penman jnr sent me a letter with the result from his clubs Coaltown of Balgonie rpc race from St . Boswells with 150 birds away and it goes like this. 1st Penman & Grubb on 1543 with a 4yo van loon chq hen sitting 10 days winning nom and acc. She has previously won 2nd club Leicester, 88th Open SNRPC Arras, and 111th Open SNRPC Lilliers, she was a gift from Davey Laing from Thornton. 2nd also Penman & Grubb on 1582.2 with a 3yo blue pied cock feeding 2 big youngsters & sitting 5 day eggs. Sire is from Bev Curtis of Wales who’s birds win from 50 -500mls.Dam is a daughter of J.Proctors 7th Open SNFC Tours 627mls. 3rd club is Rab Moffat on 1502.9 with a d,chq 2yo busschaert hen sitting 5day eggs bred from stock birds from Mrs Duncan of Dinnington in Newcastle. 4th also Rab Moffat on 1485.5 with a blue louella Janseen hen sitting 12 days.
The Otterburn result is as follows 228 were sent and in 1st place following on from last weeks superb performance is Rab Moffat with a red 4yo Louella van reet sitting 12 days eggs on 1013. Also in 2nd place is Rab Moffat with a 2yo home bred blue Janseen hen of the Louella bloodlines again sitting 12 days doing 1011.8. 3rd & 4th places go to Chic “Chapper” Dinsdale. First bird a 2yo blue cock sent looking at his hen on 999.2.This bird was bred by clubmates Penman & Grubb, Davey Laing stock and Bev Curtis Wales.Chicks next bird is a chq Pied yearling Delbar hen flying spare on 998.6.This Otterburn race was a hard but fair race with good returns. Most lofts with one or maybe two birds short. Here’s to next week Stuart.
My thanks to Peter for the results and well done on topping the Kingdom.
In between the first two ob races The Kingdom Racing Pigeon Association held their Annual Breeder Buyer Sale at Cowltown Bowling club with a tidy sum raised and a few bargains to be had plus a few laughs! I’m sure the Officials would like to thank all who came along to donate or buy pigeons and everyone who helped make the sale a success! There will also be a late bred sale held near the end of August where there are sure to be some crackers from some of the best lofts in Scotland. Be There and see for yourselves!
Rosyths Otterburn race was a more testing affair than the week previous and the winner in this race was Gerry Gibson with a yearling d,chq cock just racing to the perch. This one was bred from birds Gerry received from Tony Rodgerson of Kennet near Clackmannan. Gerry was also 2nd with another yearling chq cock. This one was from a J.Skelton cock and a SVR hen Gerry bought from LPW. 3R WAS John Skelton with a 2yo chq cock feeding a big yb and on fresh eggs. This one comes from Johns Lowick Bros Pigeons.4th is Lee Birkett with a yearling blue hen on 8 day eggs. This Soontjen hen is from his Dad Alistair Birketts birds. Ally now flys in Kirkaldy in the St. Serfs club.
This race would stiffen the birds up a bit especially the later ones who had a harder time of it, but they live to try another day. Quite a few north east winds about just now so not ideal for those who are still trying to get them fit. They’ll get there in the end though.
Got some photos of my birds done during April and think they came out ok. I went down to Leven to see Andy Beveridge to see if he could do them and he obliged. Got a good deal from Andy and it wasn’t to far to go. Will show some next time and will talk about them later.
That’s it for this week, if the fanciers that said they might send some info do so by all means incl any Pics or other items of interest. It’s up to you and your club members to help you out if they want a little mention in the BHW. The main things are position, names, birdage, breeding and nest condition etc. Just post it or email to the following. Stuart Bowman 118 Sinclair Drive Cowdenbeath Fife ky4-9rg, Tel 01383-518471, or email to
