Alan Turner, a retired coal miner from Elvington near Dover in Kent, first became interested in International pigeon racing in 1996 and since that time his pigeons have won literally scores of prizes in long distance races when competing with the BICC, NFC and BBC. This success was emphasised when in the 2009 season Alan won the Europa Cup for best average in all International races competing in the BICC – the home of British International pigeon racing. This success at the extreme distance has continued into the 2010 season when Alan once again enjoyed an excellent series of results in long distance National and International races.
Alan with one of his many long distance winners
I recently met up with Alan once again at the 2011 BICC presentation weekend at Bournemouth. Incidentally if any fancier would like to spend a relaxing weekend in the company of some of Britain’s top long distance fanciers then you should make a beeline for Bournemouth and the BICC presentation weekend get together, I guarantee you will enjoy yourself. Anyway back to Alan Turner. We soon got to talking about his birds, methods and performances and the following report is the outcome of those conversations.
Alan became interested in racing pigeons as a very young boy and he was greatly encouraged in his interest by his grandfather, who was at that time the Chairman of the Dover South Road Flying Club. The first loft was erected in the back garden of Alan’s parents' house but unfortunately it was too large and contravened the local Council’s building regulations and had to be dismantled. The present loft is a forty foot Petron design which has a tiled roof and is divided into six sections plus an aviary for stock birds. The loft houses the complete team of old bird racers, stock birds and youngsters which at the height of the season amounts to around eighty pigeons in total. Alan likes to keep the birds clean and so the loft is scraped out at least once per day and sometimes twice each and every day of the year. He has never used deep litter nor grill flooring.
Alan's loft
Stock birds are usually mated around the fourteenth of February with the bulk of the old bird racers a month later in mid March. Some old birds are mated even later so that Alan has two teams coming into form at different times. All racing is carried out on the natural system and he has enjoyed great success with birds in various nest conditions from driving, sitting ten day eggs or feeding a small baby – it all comes down to the individual pigeon’s preference.
The race team is exercised around the loft twice daily and they do this with great enthusiasm. Once their allotted exercise period is up they are called in immediately and are not allowed to hang around – they are strictly controlled at all times. When Alan is satisfied that the old bird team is ready, they’re taken for a thirty or forty mile toss twice weekly in the build up to their first race. Thereafter they get a regular training toss at forty to fifty miles throughout the season. The pigeons that are intended for the long distance International and National races usually have two short channel races with the East of England Club and they are then lifted into their target race.
Alan with his trophies won in the BICC in 2009
Feeding is quite simple here – the birds get as much as they want at all times but are not allowed to waste food. Alan firmly believes that it is impossible to over feed pigeons that have to compete at 500-700 mile racing. The mixtures fed are made up by Alan himself and comprise locally grown farm beans, pea s- both maple and blue peas, plus barley and maize. In the build up to an International race extra maize is incorporated into the mixture along with peanuts and Hormoform.
A distinct family of pigeons has been developed over the years and these have the old reliable Irish Delbars as their base. Van de Wegens have been added to this base with great success and the family has been developed by line breeding to the top performers both on the road and in the stock loft. Recent introductions have come from Eric Fox & Son of Derbyshire along with some of Chris Gordon’s 700 mile National winning family. Early signs are that these recent introductions will eventually become an asset in the continuing success of the loft once fully acclimatised. The type of pigeon that Alan has developed using his line breeding system and subsequently continuously testing the resultant progeny at the distance, is long cast with a good strong back and thick wing butts that sits nicely in the hand being well balanced and buoyant.
When asked about a routine medication programme Alan stated that he gets the pigeons’ droppings tested at regular intervals and if the all clear is given then he sees no need to treat. The only other additives to the birds’ diet are grit, minerals and pick stones supplemented by Naturavit and Naturaline with garlic oil added to the corn once per week.
Inside the racing section
Some of the top birds raced by Alan include:- Chequer Cock “75” winner of 14th sect 18th Open BICC Perpignan 2009; 18th sect 40th Open BICC Pau 2008 and 15th sect 22nd BICC Pau 2007. He has also flown Barcelona. Pictured below are three more of Alan's top birds.
Dark Chequer Cock “93”:- wins include 7th sect 8th Open BICC Barcelona 2009; 3rd section 3rd Open BICC Barcelona 2010 also appearing on the Barcelona International result on both occasions. “93’s” other wins are 24th sect 98th Open BBC Bergerac; 18th sect 37th Open BICC Pau; 37th Open Bergerac and he has also flown Tarbes into the bargain!
Blue Cock “Hawk”:- 5th Open Amalgamation Bergerac 8,614 birds; 10th Open Marseille [only 10 birds in race time]; 5th Open Marseille; 18th sect 65th Open Pau.
Chequer Hen “66”:- 1st club [only bird on the day] 14 hours 10 minutes on wing 10th Combine 2,440 birds; 15th Open BICC Dax; 23rd sect 109th Open BBC Palamos.
If that’s not enough to demonstrate the class of long distance racers bred and raced at Alan’s Elvington lofts then nothing is! I have also added a brief resume of some of Alan’s major prizes in long distance races over the past 15 seasons .
Alan Turner's 2010 performances (above)
Alan Turner's BICC performances (above)
I would like to finish off this loft report by taking a quotation from an excellent article written by John Lyden which appeared in the BHW in August 1996:-
“A newcomer to International racing is Alan “Wally” Turner of Elvington near Dover who won 10th Open BICC Marseille International with one of his Delbar based family of pigeons. “Wally” is one of those totally enthusiastic pigeon fanciers that are a credit to the sport. He has raced in three BICC races so far and he has been in the result on each occasion. He obviously has the ability to do very well. I know he has the right ingredients and I hope that he can make the often difficult transition between club and International racing”.
I think it fair to say that Alan “Wally” Turner certainly has made the transition very successfully. Congratulations on your many fine performances Alan and here’s hoping that they will continue far into the future.
