WARWICKSHIRE WITTERINGS
DREW CALLAN
Bath 1 & 2 YBs 2012
Good morning all, it’s been a while since I was last in a position with some time on my hands to catch up on some results for the federation. I had hoped to find some time before now but the 6 weeks of summer holidays I have just had seemed to have evaporated into a haze and the opportunities never presented themselves to do any catch up. As a result I am quite some way behind and so in an effort to catch up I am going to focus on the young bird results for now as they are the most recent and hopefully get a chance to mop up the outstanding - in both senses of the word - old bird results. Apologies for this but I have to start somewhere and this seems the most logical.
Right then let’s kick off with the Warwick Federation young bird programme. We traditionally start a week later than many feds but this year with the very unseasonal weather some feds pushed their programme start date back a week to allow fanciers a chance to get a few more chucks into the young bird teams, so as a result our convoyer, Keith, had a bit more company on the first day at Bath and this slightly delayed our liberation. As it was, Keith liberated the 894 young birds sent by 42 members at 9.45 in a fresh westerly wind into near perfect conditions for the first young bird race. This wind is as favourable as you can get for young birds and this was reflected in the velocities and returns. Taking up from where they left of in the old bird campaign we see Mick O Rourke and team on top form for the first 8 spots in the federation with just a drop of 3 yards between them. As these guys have demonstrated in the old bird programme, their birds race as a team every week and when the wind is a bit in their favour they take no prisoners. Mick has a well established Soontjens team and is trying out a few new secret weapons this term so it will be interesting to see how they fare against the old family. The velocities here range from 1619 ypm down to 1616 ypm - a great fly by the team.
Next up we have K Wilson with the winner in Nuneaton North Road and a bird that proves good enough on the day for 9th Federation on a velocity of 1611. On his tail in both club and fed we have the federation chairman Johnny Gilbert who had a solid team performance that was good enough to take the remaining 10 places in the fed. Johnny has put a lot of work in to these birds with regular chucks 3 times a week out of Cirencester and it seems to be paying off. There was a bit of a blanket finish here as the 10 spots were claimed in a drop of just 2 yards… 1607 – 1605 ypm.
All in all I think we had a good start to the young bird campaign with fanciers reporting 95% plus home which if we are being honest is what young bird racing is all about… getting them home and holding our numbers.
The following week the federation were back at Bath with a slight increase in birdage which reflected the limited opportunities to get more chucks in the young birds that fanciers have had during the week. With the Welsh birds pulled up short because of a later start due to the weather, the job of race controlling was made slightly easier and we were hoping for an earlier lib if conditions allowed as we need to allow Keith to get back in time for his bath. As it turned out on the morning Keith was able to liberate the 991 young birds at 8.15 in to a fresh south westerly which would aid them on their way home. It wasn’t expected to get any stronger so hopes were high for good returns and nets were up! The convoy did not disappoint and the birds whistled on with a good head of steam.
Taking full advantage of the conditions and wind was the Monsell lofts of Dalby Bros who had a stonking race with a drop of birds across the pads in 4 seconds to take the first 13 in the federation. Now to be honest I know nothing about these guys but I remember fanciers with the same name who used to fly north so perhaps they have swung south to have a go at the channel. If this isn’t the same people I apologise for getting you mixed up. Regardless of who they are these guys can fly a great bird and have them finishing as a team. Excellent flying gentlemen and to the farthest reaches of the federation as well; your birds definitely made use of the wind to their full advantage. These birds were well clear on a fast day and certainly put some daylight between themselves and the rest of the pack - 38 yards of daylight to be precise. The velocities on the day were 1837 down to 1833 ypm.
Next up with a repeat of the team performance the previous week we have Johnny Gilbert winning Nuneaton and mopping up the remaining 7 spots in the fed. On any other day these velocities would have been good enough to win the fed but after the demolition job carried out by Monsell Johnny had to be happy with the bridesmaid’s position. Never mind mate, maybe you will catch the bouquet some day soon and besides you don’t really need a veil.
