Keith Mott writes...

THE GUERNSEY

LOFT VISITS

Whilst convoying for the London & South East Classic Club for six seasons, I went to Guernsey 11 times with the young birds and managed to visit four of the premier lofts on the island. The short tour of these lofts was featured on 'Many Miles With Mott' video number sixteen and I must say a big thank you to Albert Harley and Matt Bentley for their help while I was there.

THE LATE, BERT BOWDEN

The first loft we visited was that of the island's 1998 long distance champion Bert Bowden, who recorded 9 x 1sts including 1st and 2nd club Berwick (435 miles), 1st club Crieff (480 miles) and 1st open combine Chesterfield. It was just after the Second World War when, as a 14 year old lad, Bert trapped a stray and has never been without pigeons since. Bert says he has had many good seasons in his 40 years in the sport, but 1998 was one of the best ever. He races mainly north road, but likes long-distance racing, including Pa1amos (589 miles) with the British Barcelona Club. Although my visit was in September and Bert's pigeons were heavy in moult, I could see they were full of class, being mostly blue chequers of the Jan Aarden strain.

On my visit he showed me his good blue chequer hen with much pride, as she had recorded 1st Channel Islands, 4th open Palamos with the B.B.C. This 5 year old Ponderosa / Muller hen flew the early part of the season on the roundabout system, being repaired 24 days before the Palamos race and sent sitting 12 days. Bert pairs his 24 pairs of racers on the last day of February and only takes one youngster off each pair before they are put on the roundabout system whilst sitting their second round of eggs. They are fed on a first class mixture, which is beefed up for the long distance races, Bert's main interest each season. All training is over water from Sark (8 miles), Alderney (22 miles) and Jersey (24 miles). The old birds are only raced on the roundabout system for the early part of the season, being repaired for the longer events. His very smart loft has four sections, one for young birds, three for the roundabout system, and the birds are trapped through open doors into a full-length corridor. Each old bird section has 12 nest boxes and Bert favours the closed-in boxes with long-distance racing in mind. His 12 stock birds are housed in a brick coal shed and are mostly of the Jan Aarden strain.

Bert won the longest old bird race from Crieff in 1998 with a Jan Aarden blue chequer cock sent sitting 10 day eggs. This race was very hard, with no day pigeons and only three clocked on Guernsey on the second day. The Berwick race in 1998, at 435 miles, was very hard, with only three birds on the day and five being recorded in race time.

Bert had two birds together to chalk up 1st and 2nd, his winner being a class blue chequer Jan Aarden cock sent sitting overdue eggs. Racing long distance on the north road into Guernsey is very hard, as the birds have to cross the English Channel at the home end when they have flown 450 miles and are tiring fast. Young bird losses are high on Guernsey, with all training and racing over water, and the islanders tell me if you get the wrong day your whole young bird team can be wiped out on the Channel.

NIGEL & RONALD LEGG

Our second visit was to the highly successful partnership of Ronald Legg & Sons, John and Nigel, who race on the west side of the island. Nigel says that, because of where they live, it is hard to win in the sprint races as the birds have to "dog leg" to them, but given the right wind they have won a number of short races. However, they like long-distance racing and their best performance was winning Berwick two years on the trot with the same pigeon, breaking the Channel Islands record. The Legg family raced pigeons individually for many years, but formed the partnership 20 years ago as they all live in the same location and were only 'killing' one another each season for averages and major points trophies. The family are all in the building trade and their two smart brick lofts are self-built, with sputnik trapping.

Nigel showed me many top pigeons on my visit, including a 12y Busschaert / Krauth blue chequer pied hen, which is their best all-round pigeon of all time. This wonderful hen was raced on the natural system and won 2nd club Berwick two years on the trot, 2nd club Fraserburgh (700 miles), amongst many other major prizes, including 1st open combine as a young bird. In the stock section his hen has bred winners every year, with different cock birds. A wonderful pigeon! The Leggs have always raced natural but over the last five seasons have raced mainly cocks on widowhood and a few hens on the roundabout system. Nigel says they went over to widowhood because they need the good trapping the system brings.

The widowhood loft contains three sections and the inmates are paired up in April. The main family raced is Ronald's own family made up many years ago from strays and Belgian bird's which have now been crossed with Massarella Busschaerts with outstanding success. The widowhood birds are fed on a high protein mixture and are never broken down because they are racing over the water every week. The Legg partners race north and south road. They have ten pairs of stock birds and say they don't like big pigeons and, on bringing in a new stock bird, always go for the very best long distance lines.

The partners breed 50 to 60 youngsters each season, which Nigel says may be a lot, but by racing over the water every week you are lucky to finish up with five youngsters at the end of the season! The young birds are raced to the perch and because they are bred late are normally well feathered for racing. They race through to Rennes (101 miles) with the BBC and Yeovil (100 miles) on the north. The youngsters are fed on a good mixture and their brick accommodation is 25ft long with two sections.

RICHARD MAUGER

My third visit was to the British Barcelona Club-winning loft of Richard Mauger, who won 1st. open from Bordeaux in 1997. Richard also won 13th. open in 1998, with the same pigeon, his good blue hen, ‘Misty Lady’, who was sent to Bordeaux sitting 13 day old eggs. When the great hen won in 1997 I was at Bordeaux with the London & South East Classic Club and there were no day birds recorded in mainland England on the day of liberation, in either club. ‘Misty Lady’ was bred by Fred Hall of Brighton, the 1998 Pau N.F.C. winner, and is of the Jackson & Andrews family.

Richard started racing 20 years ago, but always had pigeons as pets when he was a lad. He is only interested in long distance races, flying cocks and hens natural, and has won many major prizes racing with the British Barcelona Club. He has 24 pairs of racers, which are trained from Jersey and St Malo, and pairs up in late February. The old birds get two French races on their build-up and are then sent to Barcelona (601 miles), preferably sitting 12 days; the yearlings go to Bordeaux and sometimes Pau. The racing loft has three sections, open-door trapping, grille floors and Richard favours widowhood-type nest boxes. The main family kept is De1bar, which he has had for 20 years, and he brings in the odd cross now and again. Richard's son Paul is an outstanding fancier in his own right, having won 1st open Rennes (BBC) young bird race in 1996.

BRYAN KETT

In 1999 Bryan won 1st open Palamos, the blue riband race of the British Barcelona Club, and my good friend Albert Harley subsequently set up this loft visit for me. Bryan's self-built loft has real character, being set amongst some mature trees on the picturesque coastline of Guernsey. This loft has two sections - one 12-foot section for old bird racers and a 4-foot section for his young bird team. It is 100% geared to long-distance racing, which is all Bryan is interested in. He flies only natural and seclusion and contentment are the name of the game in his 10ft. All 24 nest boxes in his old bird section are closed in, giving the birds total peace. His wonderful old loft is painted white, set against a dark background of trees, and all trapping is through sputniks.

The highlight of the visit was when he showed us his 1999 British Barcelona Club Palamos National winner, ‘Amazing Grace’. This game hen is a touch of pure class. She is medium, apple-bodied in the hand with silky feathering and is bred from Ponderosa UK Stud Jan Aarden stock. When this wonderful champion won the Palamos National (590 miles) she was sent sitting 10 day old eggs. The British Barcelona Club liberated into a north-west wind and this game pigeon was clocked at 1616hrs with no birds being recorded in mainland England until next day. Champion ‘Amazing Grace’ has always been raced entirely on the natural system and had won previously. In 1998 she was 3rd club Palamos, 1st club Nantes, 1st club St Malo as a young bird and has flown Pau (436 miles) – a wonderful hen!

Bryan only started racing pigeons in 1978, although he has kept them most of his life. He has won many premier prizes from the long-distance races throughout the years, a recent success being in 1998 when he was 1st, 2nd, 3rd club Palamos; 1st and 2nd club Bergerac (350 miles), only two birds on the day in the club; 1997 - 1st, 2nd, 3rd club Bergerac, only three birds on the day in the club – a brilliant performance!

As I stated previously, Bryan's whole management is geared to long distance natural racing and he pairs up his 20 pairs of racers on February 14th, if the weather is good. He can't train any more than about eight or nine miles in Guernsey, so all training is over the water, from Jersey, Sark and Alderney, which means great losses. He maintains that training from the other islands is very difficult and, if the weather turns adverse or the wind is against them, the pigeons tend to go off into France and find it very difficult getting back onto the island. The typical preparation for the Palamos National is lots of training from the other Channel Islands and then two races, one from St Malo (61 miles) and one from Nantes (161 miles). The birds are fed on Willsbridge Popular Mixture, with peanuts being added to put soft fat on the birds for the longer races. The main family at the Kett loft is Ponderosa Jan Aarden, obtained from an auction on the island a few years ago, and he only keeps four pairs of stock birds. He dislikes deep pigeons, going for those which are shallow in the hand, and is not bothered about their eyesign but insists on good, silky feather. On our very enjoyable visit to Bryan's loft he showed us several of his top racers, including the handsome dark chequered Jan Aarden cock which had 1st club Bordeaux in 1999 - and this cock was also raced to eggs on the natural system.

Bryan races his 30 young birds naturally to the perch and trains them to Jersey, 21 miles over the sea. They race from St Malo and Rennes (101 miles) and Bryan maintains the losses are really bad in all Channel races. He says that, if the wind is in the wrong direction from Rennes, the birds seem to go right past Guernsey and cross the Channel to mainland England with the British pigeons. I must say that, to me, Guernsey seems to be one of the hardest places in the world to race pigeons and only quality fanciers and pigeons reign supreme. I think Bryan is one of them. His record through the years from long-distance racing has been second to none and was topped in 1999 by his winning the Palamos National.

I hope you've enjoyed your insight into racing on the island of Guernsey. It's a hard old game over there. I can be contacted on telephone: 01372 463480. See yer!