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A VISIT TO THE GARDEN OF ENGLAND Gareth Watkins tours some of Kent's top lofts
On the weekend of November 11th-13th 2011 I travelled over to Kent in the company of old friends Ieuan Williams and Ray Strawbridge with the intention of visiting some of the most successful long distance lofts in the South of England. Arrangements had been made to visit Alan “Wally” Turner of Elvington, a small former mining village a few miles from Dover, along with Mike Mitchell, Kevin and Lee Buddle, Heath and Peter Archibald as well as Bill Knox of the S R & W H Knox partnership. We had an uneventful journey over to Kent leaving Newport at 9.15 am and arriving at our destination and base for the weekend, The Best Western Hotel and Spa on the esplanade in Dover at 12.45 just in time for lunch. Once lunch had been eaten and with our rooms ready for occupation, we were soon on the road to Alan Turner’s home to view his crack team of long distance racers.
ALAN TURNER
Alan’s lofts are literally “shoe horned” into his tiny back garden and were a credit to both Alan and the fancy. Immaculately maintained, they housed a terrific team of pigeons. The loft is a 40 ft x 9 ft L-shaped structure containing five sections and facing east. All sections are scrubbed out and emulsioned each winter and the internal environment was first class. The old bird sections were fitted out with a combination of the German style “up and over” nest boxes and the more conventional “English” style boxes. The section that houses the hens in winter and young birds during the racing season had easy to clean lift off perches and all sections are cleaned daily 365 days of the year. A small stock loft bought for Alan by his wife Barbara housed a team of around eight pairs of stock birds.
The main old bird section of Alan's. The birds themselves are a combination of the old reliable Delbars with the addition of Van der Wegens and Kuypers brothers. Recent introductions have come via Jimmy Roy of Margate and John Searle of Cambridge. The latter being a combination of the bloodlines of two of Yorkshire’s finest long distance fanciers – none other than King’s Cup winner Chris Gordon plus some Brian Denney bloodlines going back to “Tuff Nut”. All birds handled similarly being long cast and just on medium sized with some of the cocks being just a little over medium sized. There was not a deep keeled pigeon in the loft, which has proven to be a common factor in all the fanciers’ lofts that I have visited that have long distance aspirations. The birds had enjoyed a marvellous moult and all were in great condition.
Alan Turner's loft. During our visit we handled the two great long distance warriors: “True Grit”, a dark chequer Delbar x Kuyper who has a sheaf of long distance prizes to his credit including the following:- 3rd Open BICC Perpignan; 132nd BICC Bergerac; 4th Open Tarbes [on the day]; 5th Open BICC Pau; 39th Open BICC Perpignan; 18th Open BICC Perpignan; 23rd Open BICC Pau; 6th Open BICC Pau and 380th Open International Pau against 8,555 competitors!!! Alan is undecided whether to retire him to the stock loft at 8years old. Yet another great hearted slogger is the dark chequer cock known simply as “93”, who has the following prizes to his credit:- 8th Open BICC Barcelona 2009; 3rd Open BICC Barcelona 2010; 7th Open BICC Barcelona 2011 PLUS 27th Open Pau BICC; 37th Open Bergerac BICC and 98th Open BICC Bergerac. He may well be headed for his fourth go at Barcelona in 2012 unless Alan’s heart softens. In 2011 “93” had just one preparatory race before going to Barcelona and that was Poitiers 380 miles so Alan certainly doesn’t burn the birds out before their long distance target race. Club racing is regarded as preparation for the long distance Nationals and Internationals and yet Alan can still hold his own once the race distance extends beyond 300 miles.
Some of Alan's nest boxes. Young birds are well trained and receive a couple of 100 mile races in their first year and as yearlings they go out to 300 – 350 miles in easy stages. Three year olds and over go to 5, 6 and 700 miles if fit. The yearlings are mated in February followed by the older pigeons in March. Alan’s usual practice is to switch the eggs of the old stalwarts and then separate for a few weeks before re-pairing the birds in final preparation for their target race. He likes cocks feeding a big youngster and just “looking” at their hen again. However it all comes down to the individual pigeon’s preferred nest condition as Alan is constantly watching the birds and looking for signs of extra keenness.
Alan Turner’s Champion 68. Winner of: 3rd sect 4th Open BICC Tarbes; 7th sect 9th Open BICC Tarbes; 14th sect 23rd Open BICC Pau; 3rd sect 3rd Open BICC Perpignan; 3rd sect 5th Open BICC Pau; 39th Open BICC Perpignan; 18th Open BICC Perpignan; 6th Open BICC Pau on the day 2011 plus 380th Open International 8,555 birds; 132nd Open BICC Bergerac. Delbar x Kuypers Brothers lines. Winter feed for the birds is a combination of farm beans, wheat and barley with the addition of chicken pellets and Hormoform plus various oils at different times. When racing the racers are fed the very best continental racing mixtures with the addition of farm beans and peas plus sunflower hearts, peanuts and extra maize in the build up to the long distance races.
Alan Turner with trophies won with the BICC in 2009. Here are some of Alan’s 2011 performances in long distance races:- Pau BICC: 6th open 4th section, 73rd Open 43rd section Pau International [8,555. Birds] 380th open - On the night. BICC Barcelona: 7th open 5th section; 40th open 27th section clocking two of his three entries. Perpignan BICC: 2nd open 2nd section; 7th Open 7th section; 15th Open, 12th section clocking four of his five entries in the result. Guernsey Young Birds: 32nd Open, 20th section. BBC Palamos: sent one winning 19th Open 2nd section 650 miles. Club results Le Mans 1: 2nd, 5th & 7th. Le Mans 2: 2nd & 7th. Poitiers: 1st & 2nd.club. 15th Fed. Bergerac: only bird on the day winning 1st club plus 2nd, 3rd & 4th next morning, also taking 9th Fed and 22nd Open Kent Fed Combine. These are only this season’s performances. I can assure readers that they are fairly typical of the quality of performance achieved by Alan’s birds over the past 15 or so seasons since he took up the challenge of International long distance racing. After handling Alan’s impressive team of racers we then enjoyed a chat about the birds and some snacks kindly provided by Barbara before making our way back to the hotel in preparation for the night’s festivities.
Alan's Champion 93 - see text for details. After a quick wash and brush up we were down in the bar to await the arrival of the Kent contingent. Dead on time they started rolling in with Kevin and Lee Buddle along with Mike Mitchell leading the way. It wasn’t long before Alan Turner showed up closely followed by Heath and Peter Archibald and Don Harvey. We then made our way to the White Horse Pub not far from the ferry terminal and what a character pub this was! Wall to wall real ale and farmhouse cider with the walls and ceilings festooned with the names of cross channel swimmers and their cross channel swim times. The beer was soon flowing and a good sing song ensued led by choir master Ieuan Williams. His rendition of the English rugby anthem “Swing low sweet chariot” accompanied by various gestures would get any English rugby fan arrested if they attempted to copy them at “H.Q.” and any visiting fan sentenced to transportation for life. Alan Turner reckons that he’s going to enter Ray Strawbridge in the X Factor competition next series - all in all a great night in good company enjoyed by us all. Next morning we were up bright and early and we were soon enjoying a “full English”.
L & K BUDDLE
First port of call on the Saturday was to the loft of Kevin and Lee Buddle. This father and son partnership has enjoyed consistent success at the distance since starting in the sport in 1996. Each and every season has seen a progressive improvement in their performances at National and International level culminating in their great win from the Pau International race in 2009 when they clocked the only two birds on the day into the U.K. winning 1st & 2nd Open BICC. The main bloodlines at the base of the present day family is made up of birds obtained in the late 90s from fanciers of the calibre of Brian Williams who gifted the partners six youngsters to start them off. To these were added some birds from J & R Wills of Frimley in Surrey along with birds from other top class long distance aces Jimmy Roy, Paul Kendall, Brian Denney and Jim Biss. The latest introductions have come from David Hales and Lee and Kevin’s good friend Mike Mitchell. However the foundation of the loft, whose bloodlines run through all of the top performers, is a lovely chequer pied hen named “Buddy”. At 12 years of age she still handled like a two year old.
Lee & Kevin Buddle's loft. The lofts are situated in a compound at the rear of the family home and, once again as with Alan Turner’s lofts, everything was in immaculate order. The main racing loft which faces south west has four sections. One section houses the 30 racing hens and three other sections house the team of 30 racing cocks. These latter three sections contain the up and over style nest boxes which incorporate grid floors to reduce the need for daily cleaning. A small young bird loft which is fronted by an aviary adjoins the main loft. Eight pairs of stock birds are housed in a separate loft just to the side and in front of the race loft. The birds were in superb condition and the hens in particular were nothing short of spectacular. Each and every one oozed class and handled as good as they looked. In thirty eight years of visiting lofts I have never seen a better team of hens. All handled similarly in so much as they were medium sized with terrific musculature, strong backs and lovely intelligent noble heads. The eyesign on all the birds was A1 with strong iris colouration and plenty of character. Both Kevin and Lee work full time and so time with the birds is extremely limited, in fact, for six months of the year during winter, they only see the birds in daylight at the weekends. Nevertheless the birds’ performances certainly don’t seem to have suffered as the results that accompany this short report prove. The stock birds are mated in late January followed by the racers in February. The racers are allowed to rear a round of youngsters and are then separated and flown on the round about system for the duration of the old bird programme. Kevin and Lee like to get the birds into a half a dozen or so trainers out to 20 miles before racing begins and then give the long distance candidates perhaps 2 x 100 mile inland races followed by a couple of 200 mile channel races to get them in trim for their test at the distance. The final preparation for the long distance target race is a 250 mile channel race supplemented by their twice daily home exercise. The partners rarely train the birds after their initial pre season training as they simply do not have the time. During the periods of loft exercise the birds are let out and the lofts cleaned. The morning exercise lasts for around 30 minutes and the evening stint amounts to no more than 45 minutes. The birds are never forced to fly and the hens in particular rarely fly for more than 10 – 15 minutes, yet they can always be relied on to put in a full shift in long distance races. The race cocks are fed individually in their boxes whilst the racing hens are fed communally in a hopper on the floor. The food is always measured but never rationed as the racers always have sufficient for their needs. In the main the racers are fed Versele Laga Best All Round but in 2011 they were also given VL Superstar Plus to good effect. Other additions to the birds’ diet in the build up to a long distance race are sunflower hearts.
Lee & Kevin Buddle. Using the above methods on their team of superb long distance racers Kevin and Lee’s pigeons won the following prizes during the 2011 old birds National & International campaign:- NFC Tarbes 2011. 6 Sent.
I think you’ll agree that the above is a demonstration of terrific pigeon flying by two of the sport’s gentlemen - congratulations to you both.
H & P ARCHIBALD
We then moved on up the hill to our next port of call, the lofts of the father and son partnership of Peter and Heath Archibald. Their lofts are situated at the top of a very steep garden and when we were climbing up to the lofts I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a Sherpa and a fully laden yak coming down the other way. That’s some admission for a Welshman born and bred in the Rhondda Valley. Once at the top of the garden the visitor has a terrific view out to the south over Dover and the English Channel. The racing loft measures some 30ft x 6ft and is divided into five sections and houses 30 cocks and just 30 youngsters. The usual practice is to mate some of the cocks to stock hens and these cocks are raced on widowhood whilst the remainder are raced on a form of round about system. The vast majority of the birds housed originate from an old friend of mine – none other than Robert.O.Jones of Resolven, South Wales. These were introduced in the late 1990s and after a slow start, in which they took some time to acclimatise to their new surroundings, they then rapidly made up for lost time and have now established themselves as the mainstay of the Archibald’s channel successes.
Heath and Peter Archibald. During our visit we handled a number of top class pigeons including the following:- Chequer cock - winner of 4th Open BICC Barcelona and 5th Open BICC Pau International. In fact this medium sized broad fronted slogger has three top 30 finishes in Pau International races competing with the BICC. Next to hand was a blue cock, again just on medium size, that has won 41st Open NFC Tarbes and 2nd Open BICC Marseille, the latter position won in the very hard 2011 race. My pick of an extremely impressive bunch was a beautiful blue w/f hen that won 4th Open BICC Pau International being clocked on the day. This lovely medium sized, shallow keeled hen possessed a terrific eye and will no doubt do some more damage for Peter and Heath in the seasons to come. A young grizzle hen of Jos Thone bloodlines came next and she was the winner of 2nd Open BICC Guernsey young birds in 2011 when the vast majority of the early timers were clocked further up country in Essex and Suffolk. The last bird to be handled was a terrific chequer cock,that was slightly above medium size but which had nevertheless won the following prizes in long distance cross channel races:- 3rd Open BICC Tarbes/Agen; 57th Open BICC Pau; 51st Open BICC Tarbes in 2010 and 42nd Open BICC Tarbes in 2009. After enjoying a cup of coffee and a chat during which we put the world to rights it was then on to our third loft visit of the day to see and handle the birds at the loft of Mike Mitchell who lives in a small village about 5 miles to the north of Dover.
H & L Archibald's loft.
MIKE MITCHELL
Mike’s results in long distance International racing in the short time that he has been actually racing pigeons since 2001 are nothing short of phenomenal. To me they indicate two things:
Despite only starting his pigeon racing career in 2001, Mike Mitchell is certainly no raw novice when it comes to the care of pigeons, as for 45 years he had maintained a loft of fancy and sporting pigeons. It was to take 45 years and a chance encounter with an established racing fancier before Mike became actively involved with the racing side of the sport. This chance encounter occurred when one of his fancy birds entered the loft of Alan Hunnisett of Dover. This led to Mike caring for Alan’s birds during his convalescence following a major operation. This rekindled a long held interest in the racing side of the sport and in 2000 he joined the Dover Premier Club. Kevin and Lee Buddle, mentioned earlier in this article, immediately became Mike’s mentors giving him good advice and top class stock bred from the best of their developing long distance family. Bill Woodall also assisted Mike with advice on the International long distance race scene and so he was off to a “flying start” so to speak in his long distance racing career. The initial loft set up at the Mitchell establishment consisted of a series of sheds and aviaries that had, over the years, become linked together. In 2000 at the start of his quest for long distance success, Mike disposed of the old lofts and constructed his present loft which is 22 metres long and faces west south west. Initially, some of this loft space was dedicated to housing the fancy pigeons, however at the present time most of the loft is designated to the race team with just a small team of 10 fancy pigeons retained for personal enjoyment. The loft is divided into ten sections, two of which have aviaries attached. Three sections are scraped clean each day whilst the remaining seven sections have grills on floors, nest boxes and perches which greatly reduces the day to day management of the birds. There is also an extractor system fitted above the false ceiling and this extracts air from the loft for 15 minutes in each hour and as a result there is absolutely no smell of pigeons and very little if any dust present. Despite the extensive loft layout, a modest team of just 14 cocks and 14 hens are raced on a modified “widowhood” system. Readers will be surprised to learn that both cocks and hens are raced celibate. Once their initial breeding duties have been completed they are separated and do not see their mates again during the whole of the season. They are simply basketted and sent to the races and the hens literally fly to the perch in their section whilst the cocks race back to the nest boxes in which they raised their first round of youngsters.
Mike Mitchell with loft in background. The stock team amounts to just ten pairs, some of which fly out whilst others are kept prisoner and from the best of these and the most successful racers Mike rears approximately forty young birds each year. Most years the birds are mated on or around Valentine’s Day but in 2011 this was delayed slightly to 23rd February. Once the racers domestic duties have been completed the home exercise regime begins. The birds exercise voluntarily with great enthusiasm and Mike likes to get 1- 2hours of home exercise per day out of the team. The racers, both cocks and hens, are simply let out once per day and the lofts are left open for them to re enter whenever they feel like. When ready for training they receive as many early season training spins as possible out to 40 miles which is usually Maidstone to the north west of Mike’s loft. Once racing starts they usually have at least one 40 miler each week and are raced as and when Mike sees fit with the East of England Continental Club in preparation for the International race programme. The race birds are fed a high carbohydrate diet with very little protein and Mike makes this mix up to his own specifications by combining Bucktons Irish and breeding mixes with farm barley along with a high proportion of Versele Laga Gerry Plus I.C. and Superstar Plus I.C. He is a great believer in the Versele Laga I.C. mixtures as they contain everything a pigeon could need. The racers are fed this home made mixture twice daily and are allowed to eat their fill on each occasion with no rationing. Young birds are trained extensively in the year of their birth in order to give them a good initial education. They may then receive a couple of races and are put aside for the next year. As yearlings Mike likes to give them as much experience as possible of Channel crossing and to this ends they get numerous races from France out to Bergerac at around 400 miles, two year olds and over get the full treatment out to 650- 700 miles if fit and well. The family that Mike has developed is based to a great extent on the birds of the late Dick Baldwin of Rufford in Lancashire. Selected pigeons of Fear Brothers of Clandown origin were also purchased at this time from Bob Still of Wimbledon and D.Wilsdon Blean of Canterbury. These Fear birds were of basically Logan bloodlines and were renowned performers out to Barcelona with the BBC, BICC and NFC. for Sam and Roly Fear and just about every other fancier who introduced them. These initial bloodlines have been augmented by the addition of further select introductions from top winning fanciers – fanciers who have excelled in long distance National and International races both in the UK and on the Continent. Indeed, possibly the loft’s top performer at the present time is a blue hen known as “The Dutch Hen” and gifted to Mike by Peet de Zeeuw of Gravenzonde in Holland. Mike also exchanges birds with his good friends Lee and Kevin Buddle and has recently introduced six pairs of birds from Herman von Helmond of Vorslaar. The resultant pigeons developed by Mike are medium to small and shallow keeled. There are certainly no deep keeled pigeons housed at the Mitchell lofts. Each and every pigeon that I handled on our visit conformed to the above physical criteria and all had similar red/brown eyes even though they had different origins.
Nest boxes in Mike Mitchell's old bird section. The medical treatment at the Mitchell lofts is kept to a minimum but Mike does vaccinate annually for both Paramyxo and Paratyphoid during the winter months with a treatment for trichomonas whilst the birds are sitting their first round eggs. Vitamin supplements are used both on the corn and in the drinking water and that is just about it. Good pigeons bred from generations of sound long distance stock need not be mollycoddled. I have listed below some of Mike Mitchell’s recent top performances along with the individual performances of some of the loft’s present day long distance aces. They impress me and I’m sure they will impress all readers who appreciate just how difficult it is to achieve this level of success in the incredibly testing National and International races. 2009 2 Bird Average Perpignan with the BICC. 2010 2 Bird Average Pau with the BICC. 2010 2 Bird Average Perpignan with the BICC. 2010 Highest Combined Points All International Races with the BICC. 1st Open BICC Perpignan 2009 2nd & 3rd Open BICC Perpignan 2010 1st Open BICC Narbonne 2010 1 st Open BICC Saran 2010. Some of the lofts star performers are:- “The Dutch Hen” bred in 2005. Her wins are:- 2008: 13th Open BICC Tarbes and 13th Open BICC Perpignan International. 2009:11th Open BICC Pau; 45th Open BICC Tarbes; 45th Open BICC Perpignan. 2010: 1st Open BICC Saran; 13th Open BICC Pau; 8th Open BICC Tarbes & 2nd Open BICC Perpignan. That’s three times in the prizes in races of 550 miles plus in ONE SEASON! Plus a 1st Open in a very difficult “preparatory” race. “Eve” bred in 2007. Her wins are as follows:- 2009: 27th Open BICC Pau;36th Open BICC Tarbes; 1st OPEN BICC PERPIGNAN. 2010: 19th Open BICC Pau;6th Open BICC Tarbes followed by 3rd Open BICC Perpignan. “Bonne” again bred in 2007 her wins are:- 2009: 16th Open BICC Perpignan. 2010: 1st Open BICC Narbonne. 2011 Results BICC PAU International:-22nd & 33rd Open '' Bordeaux / Agen International:- 27th open 1st E section. '' Barcelona International:- 25th Open '' Tarbes/ Agen International:- 1st & 5th Open '' Perpignan International:- 3rd & 14th Open.
In the Tarbes/Agen International race listed above Mike’s timer winning 1st Open BICC was also the only bird clocked on the day of toss into the UK. Incidentally this hen was also 14th Open BICC Tarbes in 2010 and is of Baldwin x Fear Bros bloodlines. I’m sure readers will agree that the above list of top class performances in some of the hardest races against some of the best competition available are nothing short of outstanding. Although Mike is definitely “the main man” he was full of praise for the help and support he gets from his wife Cynthia who is always at hand to help should the need arise. Well done both. Due to the poor light and Ray’s creaking knees we were unable to make our next loft visit of the day to Bill Knox at Tyler’s Hill and so Ray retired to his room for the remainder of the afternoon while Ieuan and I retired to the comfort of the “White Horse” to sample some more of the real ales on offer. We were to meet up for a meal with Mike Mitchell and Kevin Buddle once more in the evening. Sunday morning saw us all up bright and early and breakfasted before making our way to Tyler’s Hill just north of Canterbury to visit the loft of Bill Knox as part of our journey home.
S. R. & W. H. KNOX
I have studied the results of the BICC for some years now and the name of SR & WH Knox of Tyler’s Hill in Kent has appeared high up in the results with monotonous regularity when the race is hard and the distance long. It was therefore absolutely essential that we made the effort to call in and see the birds and the man that are responsible for this continued success. The present loft is built into the roof of the garage and the internal floor dimensions are 30 ft long x 9ft wide. The rear wall is 4ft high and has nest boxes three high built in, the roof then starts to slope at 35 degrees and there is a 2ft walkway running down the centre of the floor space. The birds are usually caught up on the top of the boxes as the confined space caused by the sloping ceiling seems to reduce their room to manoeuvre and keeps them tame. Three Velux windows in this roof area allow plenty of light to enter the loft and can be opened up to allow extra ventilation in the loft and creating a pleasant internal environment. The 42 nest boxes are sited along the side walls beneath the sloping ceiling. There are three bays set in the loft front, the two each end measure 5ft x 4ft and are fitted with 24 box perches and sputnik traps with glass louvres under these. The centre bay measures 6ft x 5 ft 6" with the entrance door and a stall trap with glass louvres underneath also fitted with 24 box perches. This area is used to store the training crates and is fitted out with two Butler sinks and a chest freezer which is used to store the corn. Additionally, there are also three doors leading into the eaves which allow for extra storage space. All in all, a very professional and well thought out set up, combining adequate ventilation, light and a snuff dry internal loft environment.
SR & WH Knox's loft.
Bill Knox's 1st & 2nd Barcelona winning hens. The birds are fed by hopper with a measured amount of food daily during the winter, but are allowed as much as they want in the summer months when their workload increases dramatically. Currently, Bucktons “Light Speed” mixture is fed with the addition of farm beans plus Homoform whilst rearing. The only other addition to the birds’ diet is a conditioning seed mixture plus a few peanuts for each pigeon in the final days build up for a marathon race. “22” Chequer Hen:- 1st section 1st open Barcelona, 7th section 7th open Barcelona. Flown channel 17 TIMES - 3 times Barcelona. “6l0”:- 2nd section 2nd Open Barcelona. “69”:- 1st section 4th Open Biarittz.
Flown channel 28 TIMES including Pau, Tarbes and Dax. “647” Blue Grizzle cock:- 1st GDSBNFC Barcelona, 4th GDSBNFC Barcelona. Flown channel 23 TIMES including Barcelona, Tarbes and Pau. “641” Dark Chequer:- 2010 11th Open Pau, 33rd Open Perpignan. 2009 49th Open Pau 25th Open Marseilles. Flown channel 16 TIMES including Tarbes. “457” Red Grizzle cock:- 1st Section 2nd Open Pau. Flown channel 23 TIMES including Dax and Tarbes twice. “904” Chequer Cock:- 2nd Section 10th Open DAX LSECC. Flown Channel 22 TIMES including Pau (three times) Tarbes and Perpignan. “595”:- 2010 1st section 5th Open Tarbes LSECC, 2009 2nd section 14th open Tarbes LSECC. Flown channel 11 TIMES. A terrific family of pigeons – one that Bill Knox can certainly be proud of. It was then time to wind our way home to South Wales having enjoyed a feast of handling top class long distance pigeons and equally as importantly, enjoying the company of some truly outstanding gentlemen of the sport. Our thanks go to Alan, Lee, Kevin, Heath, Peter, Mike and Bill on allowing us to see and handle your pigeons and also for your hospitality.
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