NEWS FROM SCOTLAND

Reports by Joe Murphy

Margaret and I went to Kevin’s for the Ypres race and we had the pleasure of having Willie Donachie from Dundee join us as we waited for the birds; Willie is the breeder of Kevin’s good black pied cock Rocket and as he was away to the race Willie wanted to be with us to see if he came home. The convoy were liberated at 07.00am and it was expected to have the birds about the 17.00 hours. What a race this turned out to be with many fancier having birds home and at long last a good number of recordings on the national web site. The first bird recorded was to Mr & Mrs Power & Allen form Gretna at 16.00 hours then a flier to Andy Miller of Edinburgh at 16.34 hours. This turned out to be the winner and it could not have happened to a nicer person; many of you know of Andy as he was the press officer for the Pentland Hills Federation for years but had to give this up this year due to a change in his job. He is a great worker for the sport and the Murphy family are over the moon for him in achieving this 1st open national win well done Andy. As a matter of interest, Andy told me that this is the same cock who won 65th section B 131st open Eastbourne; 6th section B 14th open Ypres last year and now 1st section 1st open SNFC Ypres in 2011. A good pigeon in a good fancier's hands.

Andy Miller - 1st open SNFC Ypres

We needed to be in about 17.15 to be on the same time as Andy but this was not to be then at 17.46 Willie and Margaret said ‘There’s a bird’ and on looking up there was the mealy cock JS (named after Jock Strang). This yearling cock was timed at 22.00 hours from Eastbourne and won 130th open. Within a flash he was in and he has won 11th section C 65th open from an entry of 2339 birds. Jock Strang was well pleased that Kevin had timed him in even if Jock did not have any birds at the race.

JS minutes after his arrival from Ypres

This was a good performance from this yearling cock who has now won twice in his 2 national races he has been entered in. He may go back to Clermont on his first youngster of the year but Kevin will know if he is right to go and if not he can sit until next year. We then sat back and enjoyed the remainder of the race with Rocket being Kevin’s 5th bird home and I have attached a photo of Kevin and Willie with him after the race. Kevin had all 7 birds home from this 419 mile race point. This is the 4th year of the Ypres race and they have all been good racing events and good returns; can this be because of the short channel crossing for the birds; something to think about.

Kevin Murphy & Willie Donachie with Rocket after Ypres

Regarding the Tours race Kevin was not so lucky as his only entry has failed to home and both he and I are contemplating missing out on the Gold Cup and Tours for a couple of years until we build up a team of older more experienced pigeons for these events. The Tours race turned out to be a hell of a lot better than Messac and going with the Midland National convoy was a major factor. One good thing about this organization was you could follow the progress of their pigeons as they timed in on their web site with velocities being recorded and over 400 birds were on it when Kevin looked which is great and well done to the MNFC. The national winners are Crombie and Mechan from Annan who have won the SNFC for the 3rd time; Jim Crombie won Nantes in 1978; with John Mechan in partnership they won Chenoise in 2003 and now Tours in 2011 as a matter of interest they were also 17th open in this same race. Their winner has previously won 59th open SNFC Gold Cup race from Alencon They are having a good season as they also won 1st section A 3rd open from the Gold Cup race from Messac last week; so well done to Jim and John.

John Mechan - 1st open SNFC Tours

Richard Combe from Elphinstone is again the ‘bridesmaid’ having been 2nd open Chenoise to Crombie & Mechan (I have checked the year book result but this is wrong and I cannot find the true Chenoise result to check if this is right). Richard was also 2nd open Tours in 2006 and 4th open Bourges in 2010. Richard had a very good race from Tours being 2nd 16th 19th & 37th national.

Richard Combe

Another household name on the result is Jock King of Kirkcaldy who timed in his very good blue bar hen to win 1st section C 6th open; she has previously won 4th section C 26th open Andrezel; 2nd section C 23rd open Falaise; 1st section C 11th open Bourges and now Tours; a truly great pigeon.

Another pigeon who caught my eye was the mealy cock of Dave Nicol of Longforgan by Dundee this wonderful pigeon has been a SNFC winner 7 times having won 86th section C 268th open Eastbourne; 18th section C 129th open Newbury; 50th section C 283rd open Bovington; 13th section 35th open Eastbourne; 1st section C 8th open Claremont; 8th section 91st open Marlborough and 3rd section C 15th open Ypres some pigeon and well done Dave. I have enclosed a photograph I had of this mealy as a yearling when he started off his winning career. There will be other good pigeons timed in and if fancier notify me and even send a picture I will willingly give them some publicity in the column; finally well done to all the fanciers who made the Ypres & Tours open result.

Dave Nicol's good Mealy Cock

Help requested from Ohio

Received an email from my fellow scribe Les Parkinson from Elimar pigeons regarding a pigeon reported to him from Paul & Marsha from Ohio USA; this pigeon had an SHU prefix on the ring and it was in a very poor way and they asked Les for some help in tracing the pigeon and on what to feed it etc. I made contact with the Scottish Homing Union who deals with our rings etc; and their prefix on the birds is SU and not SHU as is on the birds ring. Ann from the Scottish Union office told me that they have had a similar instance of this happening in the past and either a club or some other form of organisation in America has taken on the prefix of SHU and the rings can be obtained through the web pages and Ann thought this would be were the pigeon belonged. She also informed me that the ring number for the SU bird belonged to Linda & Derek Hay of Kirkintilloch whom I phoned and spoke to. When I told Derek the story he laughed and laughed and informed me that the bird with this ring 1290 was lost over a year ago. I knew they had good long distance pigeons but to fly all the way to America takes some beating!!! I emailed Paul and Marsha regarding the above and what to do i.e. give the pigeon water; some rice or wild bird food with the most important thing being the water.  I thanked them for taking the time to look after the pigeon and I'm sorry that I cannot help you anymore as it is not a Scottish Pigeon Yours Joe Murphy SHU Press Officer. Paul wrote back saying ‘Thank you for your response and I have searched in vain for the SHU prefix on the web which did turn up that a woman in Michigan, USA found a bird with the markings of SHU 2009 140; and it looks like the Horse vs. Zebra line of thinking which does suggest that maybe the birds originate in the US but I don't see anybody here that has the prefix. Unfortunately the pigeon died and in a last ditch effort, I have included some pictures (admittedly not the best quality) of the ring. It is difficult to take a picture of a number on so small a round object so there are 3 pictures that cover the entire circumference. Perhaps, this will give a pigeon fancier (is this correct?) such as yourself a clue that would never occur to an outsider like us. I have some higher resolution pictures but reduced them somewhat to make sure that there were no transmission issues. It is interesting that the news you sent me regarding 1290 ring was lost over a year ago; was the bird attached to it when it was lost? (Answer Yes). Please advise any further thoughts and thanks again for working on this and for helping us out’. I have asked their permission to use the above emails and photograph in the column to highlight this interesting story. At first I thought it was one of Linda & Derek’s national pigeons that had been lost from France landed on a ship in the Atlantic; then when the boat docked at New York took off and landed in Ohio but this NEVER happened.

Our thanks to Paul & Marsha for the time and effort they took in trying to locate the pigeon also to Les Parkinson for contacting me; also to Ann at the SHU office for all her help in this situation and lastly to Linda & Derek for the laughs we had together thinking they had extreme long distance pigeons. The best laugh was when I told Derek that it would cost him £6000 to get the bird home; the phone went dead quiet and I had the last laugh.

Results

Arbroath RPC news of the comeback race from Witton Castle a distance of 135 miles 6 members 43 birds; a clean sweep as Charlie Cameron who wins 1st; 2nd & 3rd with velocities of 1285; 1210 & 1187 The winner is a dark chequer yearling cock who’s parents were bred by Maflait of Jabbeke in Belgium. Both being closely bred to their champion racer and breeder De Olympiad later renamed Gran Canaria when he was purchased by Taveirme - Rigole. The 2nd club winner is a black yearling cock flown to Leicester 280 mile as a young bird and has been the 1st bird back to loft a few times this year. Sire is black cock winner of 17th & 66th open SNFC Ypres. Dam is black hen winner of 5 SNFC certificates including 15th open Eastbourne, 6th open Ypres and 13th open Reims. The 3rd place pigeon is a black 08 cock that has been in the inland national results from Newbury and Eastbourne as a yearling. Sire is Jos winner of 1st & 2nd section C with SNFC. Dam is Snowcap winner of 1st section C 4th open SNFC Reims in 2003 my thanks to Kevin for the result.

Montrose RPC news from Graeme Scott regarding the 2nd Witton Castle comeback race were 6 members sent 56 birds. The result shows Graeme Scott taking the first 3 positions, and his 4th win of the season. The winner on 1270, a late bred yearling chequer cock flying to a small young bird, his sire is a pigeon gifted as a young bird from Jim Donaldson of Peterhead being full of Jims top distance birds. The dam was bought at Ken Melvin’s bereavement sale and is a Cattrysse bred by Natural Breeding Station in Belgium. The 2nd position bird on 1262 was a natural system blue yearling cock a Janssen bred by Stewart Brothers of Stirling. This good cock this season topped the Angus Fed from Wakefield and was also 4th club Witton Castle. In 3rd position on 1241 with another good performing yearling chequer cock that has won 1st club 19th fed Witton Castle; 1st club 14th fed Leicester; 5th club Eastbourne and in total has been on the club result from 8 club and 4 x 2-bird club races this season.  Both the sire and dam were bred by the McGee / Tyerman Barcelona Challenge lofts in Hernicourt, France.

Angus Federation of Racing Pigeons Societies; news from Ann Carrie with the Witton Castle race flown on 2nd July 2011 with the 34 members sending 342 birds; liberated at 07.00am into a light west wind. First are J Anderson & son of Letham club; 2nd & 7th is I Scott of Forfar with his club mates D & D J Liddle in 3rd & 4th place. Dave Glen from Letham is 5th; 6th; 8th & 9th with Eric Galloway from Forfar in 10th place.

Downfield Friendly RPC news from Willie Donachie who informs us that the club held its final inland old bird race from Witton Castle on 2nd July, which was a come back race with the Dundee Federation. The birds were liberated at 7.00am into a south west wind, and leading the pack this week were the partnership of Brown & Donachie who won 1st; 2nd & 3rd club; 8th & 10th federation; their winning pigeon was a yearling hen flying to a youngster just hatched out on the day of basketting, this hen was a darkness youngster still holding nest flights and flew the young bird programme. Her sire was a consistent young bird winning club & fed prizes and flew SNFC young bird national, this winning hen was bred from our William Hay stock of Andre Clements’s. Our second pigeon was a 2 year old hen flown to the same nest condition, she also is a William Hay Andre Clement and won 1st club 4th federation, 9th Grampian Combine from our Wakefield young bird open, as a yearling this hen was our time in from the SNFC Bovingdon inland national were she won 4th section C 49th open from 5223 birds. Our third pigeon was a 3 year old Van Loon hen flying to chipping eggs she is half sister to our good Van Loon cock that won 1st club 1st federation 1st open Grampian Combine from Leicester this year both being bred from a direct son of Champion Applejack bred by W.& V Carr.

Fife Federation: Crossgates news from Gordon Bell who wrote ‘Hi Joe we had 10 members sending 136 birds to the open race from Eastbourne, taking 1st club 1st west section & 2nd open doing 1159 ypm  is Joe Mullen with a yearling hen sitting 11 days; Joe tells me she was so keen she would not let the cock sit on the nest. She is line bred on her sire’s side to Jock Ellis of Wellbank gold award winner Wellbank Lass, and her dam was a daughter of Jim Donaldson’s gold award winner Reims Girl she is certainly bred for the job and well done to Joe who had a great race getting 41 of his 45 entries home. In 2nd club 2nd west section & 3rd open is the incomparable Dougie Barnes who always has his birds up for the job; Dougie’s 2 year old cock was doing 1149 ypm and is a Karl Boex bred by his friend of many years Bill Southward of Cleator Moor this cock was sitting 12 days and has a few minor prizes to his credit. Dougie was also 3rd club 3rd section & 4th open with a yearling cock sitting 11 days he is from a pair pigeons from another old friend Dennis Herbert of Deal in Kent that’s it for now cheers Gordon’.

Reported Lost

Received an email from Mike Main of Aberdeen who wrote ‘Hi Joe, thought you'd be interested to know that like others I had losses at the SNFC Marlborough race, and was absolutely surprised to get a pigeon reported from this race in Thurso, the most extreme point in the British Isles! And these wonderful birds never fail to amaze me cheers Michael Main’. I also had a phone call from Tom McConnell from Newtonards in Northern Ireland informing me that he had a blue hen about his loft but she would not go in. Then one day when he came home from work he found her dead at the front of the loft a hawk had killed her; her ring number was SU07F 6078 and she was a very nice pigeon. Tom also has a blue cock GB08V 19142 in his loft in a box. This bird was picked up in the local community centre as it walked in the doorway. Tom can be contacted on 02891 826260 and I thank both Tom and Mike for their information.

Pigeons Slaughtered

On this week’s main Scottish news and in the tabloid there was an item about 52 racing pigeons being beaten to death with sticks in their loft. This terrible deed happened to 70 year old Brian O’ Neill of Danderhall in Edinburgh. Brian was physically sick when he saw what had happened. It was total devastation with some of the birds being beheaded. Some of the dead birds had been to Reims the weekend before. The police said: ‘This has been a sickening act of animal cruelty which has left the birds' owner extremely upset at the death of his birds’. Police appeal for information on the raid and if anyone knows anything can they contact the constabulary. In today’s newspaper Edmond Hood from Kilbirnie in Ayrshire has given Brian a pair of month old babies. He said: ‘What happened to Brian is every pigeon fancier's worst nightmare and my heart goes out to him’. I think this says how we all feel about this sickening attack.

Joe's Joke

No one believes seniors; everyone thinks they are senile. An elderly couple was celebrating their sixtieth anniversary. The couple had married as childhood sweethearts and had moved back to their old neighbourhood after they retired. Holding hands, they walked back to their old school. It was not locked, so they entered, and found the old desk they’d shared, where Andy had carved “I love you, Sally.” On their way back home, a bag of money fell out of an armoured car, practically landing at their feet. Sally quickly picked it up and, not sure what to do with it, they took it home. There, she counted the money - fifty thousand pounds!Andy said, “We’ve got to give it back.” Sally said, “Finders keepers.” She put the money back in the bag and hid it in their attic. The next day, two police officers were canvassing the neighbourhood looking for the money, and knocked on their door. “Pardon me, did either of you find a bag that fell out of an armoured car yesterday?”Sally said, “No”. Andy said, “She’s lying; she hid it up in the attic’. Sally said, “Don’t believe him, he’s getting senile” The agents turned to Andy and began to question him. One said: “Tell us the story from the beginning.” Andy said, “Well, when Sally and I were walking home from school yesterday ....” The first police officer turned to his partner and said, “We’re out of here!” 

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 or to my new email address   joejmurphy1947@gmail.com Or log onto www.elimarpigeons.com  www.Pigeonportal.com or www.racingpigeonsuk.com who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland.