NEWS FROM SCOTLAND

Reports by Joe Murphy

First things first, my new email address is joejmurphy@blueyonder.co.uk The only change is from tiscali to blueyonder. I have contacted my local press officers and the majority on my email list; however fanciers who wish to communicate with me will need to change my contact details. Continuing with this theme, nowadays we have moved into the technological world with up to date information at the click of a button. It came as a surprise to me when I heard that a Scottish federation had taken 20 baskets of race birds down to the liberation point in the back of a transit van. I could not get over this and many of you will remember how I highlighted this happening a few years back and I honestly thought that we had moved from these dark days but it seems not. Nowadays it is all about ‘finance’ and the pigeons are the last thing to be considered and believe me when I say that this depresses me.

A few weeks ago I wrote in my article that while in America the weather men could tell you it was going to rain at 2pm and it did. Bilco highlighted in his article a site www.meteofrance.com I logged onto this and found it very interesting; while Charlie Cameron has told Kevin of another site that will be of use to race controller’s and this is www.xcweather.co.uk This site is for Gliders & Parachute jumpers. If you log onto this site on the left hand side you can view maps of Britain, France, Spain or Germany etc. Below this you can view the Wind Strength; temperature; weather & visibility to name just a few. If you click on Wind Strength then click on one of the arrows it will show you the position for example Edinburgh Airport with the wind at 12 mph south west. You can then click on another arrow say Southampton and it does the same, wind 14 mph. Now here is the best part, I have opened up the French site and clicked on the Alencon arrow and if you double click this arrow it will give you the wind for the next 6 days. It does the same with the temperature; weather and visibility. So for this week's Gold Cup race at 05.00 hours on Friday 27th June it is 6mph west wind with the temperature at 9c; at 08.00 hours on Friday it is 7 mph west wind with a temperature of 12c, it has to be bright and there are no immediate problems at the liberation site and the wind is to turn to south west over Britain with the east side of the country in sunshine. I have found all this out today Wednesday the day the birds are being basketed for the Alencon race, so let us see if this is the forecast for the race, if so then here is a site that ALL race controllers can use to the welfare of our pigeons with the bottom line being good racing for one and all. I would appreciate some feedback from fanciers on this site if you don’t mind.      

Offering Support

Since I first wrote about the trouble in West Lothian federation I have received numerous phone calls from fanciers from every corner of the British Isle offering advice and help to fanciers. It is not until you speak to these people that you realise how supportive of their fellow fanciers these people really are - believe me they are the salt of the earth. One fancier who contacted me was John Wood from Up North Combine area who told me that he had this years ago and the best advice he can give fanciers whose youngsters go ill after vaccination with PMV is to do it again once they see signs of sickness in their birds. He did this and the youngsters where fine afterwards my thanks to John for this advice.

Another fancier who took the trouble to phone was Len Clarke from Liverpool who had this problem about 5 years ago and Len solved the problem by doing the following and has had no problems since. At 7 days old give the youngsters ½ 200 milligram Flagyl tablet then at 14 days inject 1 millimetre Paratyphoid vaccine; at 24 days inject for PMV when the youngsters are moved from the nest to the young bird loft. If fanciers do this they will never have young bird sickness Joe, then 3 to 4 weeks before the first young bird race give them 10 day course of Cosumix Plus and inject them again with 1 millimetre Paratyphoid vaccine. At the end of the season between September and October every bird in your possession stock birds, racers, youngsters are vaccinated 1 millimetre Paratyphoid vaccine and a 10 day course of Cosumix Plus. You will never have sterile cocks or clear eggs the following year Joe if you use this system, well there you have some more sound advice from Len and I thank him for taking the time to phone me. If just one fancier benefits from the advice given over the past few weeks since this outbreak of circovirus started then the fanciers who have contacted me must be complimented on their sportsmanship to their fellow fanciers. Thank you one and all.    

Barcelona Challenge

My 4 entries have gone to John Tyerman who took them over to France and I have had a lovely phone call from Lou and John McGee who are co ordinators of the challenge. Lou was telling me that they had a young bird training toss the day before and John could not sleep a wink as he had some missing. He is like the rest of us and each individual pigeon is his priority and this is all you can ask for in someone who is managing a loft on this basis. John was telling me that the yearlings are going well and he intends to give them a race within the next couple of weeks from 350 miles and then let them sit until next year. As far as my own youngsters are concerned they will be trained 50 miles in every direction of the compass before the winter sets in and then next year they will be raced to the 350 mile mark. I have no problems with this management regime as this is what Kevin & I do anyway. Kevin did not race last year only trained his youngsters and this year they have been to Eastbourne with one of these yearlings coming on the 14 hours mark. She is finished for the year and all going well will be a candidate for the nationals next year as a 2 year old. If you are interested in the Barcelona Challenge and the progress of the birds log onto this Elimar website or www.Pigeonportal.com site and click on Barcelona Challenge where you can follow Lou’s updates on the entries; Lou and John have invited me over to view their set up and I might take up this offer as it would be good to see this, finding the time is going to be the problem but I think I will make the effort to go.

Results

There are not many results in this week as the Eastbourne race was a hold over until Monday of this week and it will take a few days for the open result to be published due to the Gold Cup pigeons being basketed the following day Tuesday. I can appreciate that fanciers will be busy and obviously their number one priority is the Gold Cup pigeons therefore the results will go in next week’s column.

While on about the Eastbourne race, the feedback I have had has been mixed with some fanciers having a great race while others did not have a bird on the day. For example, Austin Whittaker from Methil (whose loft is in form this year) took the first 13 places in his club while other members never had a bird home. I have also heard that fanciers have had their birds return very dehydrated and in one instance the bird landed in the garden and the fancier had to pick it up from the grass. Another bird was reported one mile from its loft walking about the road, while another bird from the same club has been reported in Ireland. I think the management committee need to review the transportation arrangements for these inland nationals as these races are here to stay as far as birdage and revenue is concerned. Members cannot sustain the heavy losses yearly that they have experienced and I have advised fanciers to write to the secretary who will put their complaints in front of the management committee.   

Glenrothes & Leslie IFC news from Maxie who tells us from the Eastbourne race 10 members sent 93 birds with 1st & 3rd places going to Brian Kinnear with a yearling doing 1125, Brian’s second bird was a 2 year old doing 1109 sorry Joe my apologiesno details for the birds,as I never seen any of the members at the clocks and as its 23:30 hours I do not want to trouble anybody at this time of night. In 2nd place is Scott Ramsay with a yearling doing 1116 again sorry Joe for not getting the details of the birds especially after such a hard race well done to Brian on winning 2 weeks on the trot and to Scott on his performance yours Maxie, who I thank for his excellent efforts to come home from the clocks at 22.00 hours and make out a club result and then send it down to me so late at night speaks volumes for the dedication of this man who by the way is away early to work the next day Well done Maxie you’re a STAR.

Pentland Hills federation and New Lothian RPC news from Andy Miller who like Maxie does a wonderful job in promoting his members and within 2 days of the race Andy forwarded the following report; Joe, the Pentland Hills federation had their old bird open race from Eastbourne on 23rd June convoyed by the SNFC where 40 members entered 501 birds. Winning 1st open federation is the partnership and in form loft of Nolan & Farwell who reside in Gilmerton but race in the Danderhall club. They timed their yearling hen flying roundabout on velocity of 1173. The hen was a gift bred by John Keenan from Sighthill and she won a minor club prize two weeks previously from Newark. In 2nd, 8th & 9th open is our own Andy Miller who is again having a great year. Third are Mr & Mrs Kerr with W Pryde & son in 4th & 5th places, just ahead of Mr & Mrs Bennett in 6th spot. The A & R Pringle partnership is 7th with G & I Summers making up the top ten.

Sighthill RPC news now and 1st,2nd & 3rd club, as well as being 2nd ,8th & 9th open with his winner doing a velocity of 1172 was Andy Miller. The first bird timed was a yearling cock of Busschaert origin flying widowhood a winner of club prizes on 3 occasions this season and a full brother to 2nd open federation the previous season from Maidstone. The second timer was also a yearling flying widowhood showing for the first time this year, however it is a full brother to the 1st federation from Peterborough 3 weeks ago, the 3rd bird timed was a 2 year old hen flying widowhood she is a grand daughter of Andy’s 2nd open SNFC Reims winner, my thanks to Andy for his quick result.

Lawhill Racing Pigeon Club news from Willie Donachie with the result of Eastbourne race 6 members sent 38 birds liberated at 06.00am into a west wind the race was sponsored by Mr John Feeney. First place is won by the Brown & Donachie (2) partnership with a yearling doing 1113. In 2nd and 3rd places is Dunk McLeary my thanks to Willie for his quick result and he will forward on the details of the winners later.                

Photographs

This week’s photos are of my good friend Dave Davidson whom I mentioned last week as Margaret & I were both attending a surprise 70th birthday party for him; well here is the happy man with the other of a special cake made for this occasion.

 

This week’s joke

As we all know we are now in a technical world with the internet and computer a vital part of our daily lives. However, some people cannot come to grips with computers and in some instances don’t even try they are so afraid of them and quite a number of these are pigeon fanciers so when I heard this joke I thought you might like this as it has to be one of the funniest things I have heard in a long time. I think this guy should have been promoted, not fired. This is a true story by the way from the Word Perfect Helpline, which was transcribed from a recording monitoring the customer care department. Needless to say the Help Desk employee was fired; however, he/she is currently suing the Word Perfect organization for 'Termination without Cause'. This is the actual dialogue of a former Word Perfect Customer Support employee. (Now I know why they record these conversations!):

Operator: Ridge Hall, computer assistance; may I help you? Caller: Yes, well, I'm having trouble with WordPerfect. Operator: 'What sort of trouble??' Caller: 'Well, I was just typing along, and all of a sudden the words went away.' Operator: 'Went away? Caller: 'They disappeared.' Operator: 'Hmm So what does your screen look like now?' Caller: 'Nothing.' Operator: 'Nothing?' Caller: 'It's blank; it won't accept anything when I type.' Operator: 'Are you still in WordPerfect, or did you get out??' Caller: 'How do I tell?' Operator: 'Can you see the C: prompt on the screen??' Caller: 'What's a sea-prompt?' Operator: 'Never mind, can you move your cursor around the screen?' Caller: 'There isn't any cursor: I told you, it won't accept anything I type.' Operator: 'Does your monitor have a power indicator??' Caller: 'What's a monitor?' Operator: 'It's the thing with the screen on it that looks like a TV does it have a little light that tells you when it's on??' Caller: 'I don't know.' Operator: 'Well, then look on the back of the monitor and find where the power cord goes into it. Can you see that??' Caller: 'Yes, I think so.' Operator: 'Great. Follow the cord to the plug, and tell me if it's plugged into the wall. Caller: 'Yes, it is.' Operator: 'When you were behind the monitor, did you notice that there were two cables plugged into the back of it, not just one??' Caller: 'No.' Operator: 'Well, there are. I need you to look back there again and find the other cable.' Caller: 'Okay, here it is.' Operator: 'Follow it for me, and tell me if it's plugged securely into the back of your computer.' Caller: 'I can't reach.' Operator: 'Uh huh. Well, can you see if it is??' Caller: 'No.' Operator: 'Even if you maybe put your knee on something and lean way over?? Caller: 'Oh, it's not because I don't have the right angle - it's because it's dark.' Operator: 'Dark??' Caller: 'Yes - the office light is off, and the only light I have is coming in from the window’. Operator: 'Well, turn on the office light then.' Caller: 'I can't.' Operator: 'No? Caller: 'Because there's a power failure.' Operator: 'A power......... A power failure? Aha, Okay, we've got it licked now. Do you still have the boxes and manuals and packing stuff your computer came in??' Caller: 'Well, yes, I keep them in the closet.' Operator: 'Good. Go get them, and unplug your system and pack it up just like it was when you got it. Then take it back to the store you bought it from.' Caller: 'Really? Is it that bad?' Operator: 'Yes, I'm afraid it is.' Caller: 'Well, all right then, I suppose. What do I tell them??' Operator: 'Tell them you're too f --- ing stupid to own a computer!!!!!'

Please continue to keep the news flowing to Joe Murphy Mystical Rose Cottage 2 Flutorum Avenue Thornton by Kirkcaldy KY1 4BD or phone 01592 770331 after 7pm week days Please. My NEW email address is joejmurphy@blueyonder.co.uk Or log onto www.elimarpigeons.com or www.Pigeonportal.com and the newest pigeon forum in the United Kingdom www.pigeonglobe.co.uk for my up to date portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland.