Jimmy Graham's Malta trip

Having just returned from a fortnight's holiday in Malta I thought I would take the opportunity to thank all the Fanciers and the ‘Boss’ of The Blue Bar Café for the most enjoyable time we had in their company.

I must in particular mention Eddie Newcombe and his grandson Aaron who both turned up at our hotel and drove us back to Eddie’s villa in Mellieha Bay for drinks and to admire the marvellous birds that Eddie races.

I had a look at Eddie’s champion Blue Pied Cock (Eclipse). This fine Cock is only two years old and is the best long distance bird in Malta for 2007. He flew 1,380 miles in the four races to win this trophy.

In the 2007 season 173,920 birds were flown in Eddie’s club. Throughout this season ‘Eclipse’ won three Gold Rings and Best Long Distance Bird, Best Overall Distance in Four Races, Third Longest Distance Bird in Federation and National, Fifth Overall Distance Federation and National. He was 6th Club Metaponto, 4th Club Manfredonia, 4th Club Catanzaro, 1st Club, 5th Federation and National Bari, Best Long Distance Section A, 2nd Best Bird Overall Section A, 2nd Best Bird Overall Section A and B 5t

Now that’s what I call a racing pigeon………

Aaron, ‘Clintpark’ and Eddie.

‘Clintpark’, Brian Bezzina and John Soderlund (Central UNC).

‘Clintpark’ with Joe Mifsud, the owner of the ‘Blue Bar’, a must visit for all.

The following is a brief description of the racing in Malta. The Federation is made up of twenty three clubs, twenty one in Malta and two in Gozo. These clubs are divided in 2 sections, named Section A and Section B.

The Federation

The Federation committee is made up of three Officials, the President, Secretary, and Treasurer and a maximum of eight members.

The Maltese Islands lie in the centre of the Mediterranean. They are 96km from the most southern tip of Sicily and 288km to the nearest point in Tunisia. The total area is 315.6 km2. The main Islands are Malta, Gozo and Comino. The climate is typically Mediterranean with hot, dry summers and very mild, rather moist winters (occasionally not so moist).

Visiting Malta from the UK what strikes you immediately is the absence of any birds! You look around and there are no crows, starlings, wild pigeons (apart from the feral pigeons notably in the capital Valletta). In our hotel at the very utmost northern point of the island we only ever saw four sparrows. Towards the end of our fortnight we managed to see a few baskets of racing pigeons being let off from the Gozo ferry terminal (training tosses from fanciers at the southern end of the island).

This absence of wild birds is apparently down to the indiscriminate hunting and shooting of all types of birds. So acute is the problem of indiscriminate hunting in Malta that there are almost no resident species of wild birds on the Islands. The few that manage to survive usually share most if not all of the following characteristics: they are either so small that they do not provide an adequate target to hunters, or have an unattractive plumage and call which do not attract the attention of hunters or trappers, or are insectivores which cannot survive out of their habitat. These include the Spanish sparrow, tree sparrow, Sardinian warbler, spectacled warbler, cetti's warbler and zitting cisticola. Yet a few other birds such as the Cory's shearwater, European storm-petrel and blue rock thrush inhabit and nest in almost inaccessible places such as the tops of sea cliffs.

If given a chance, a number of other birds would certainly breed in Malta on a regular basis, as these have already been recorded breeding over there. Amongst such birds are the peregrine falcon, starling, quail, turtledove, barn swallow, house martin, short-toed lark, moorhen and little ringed plover.

Hunting and trapping is a very big problem in Malta. Hundreds of thousands of birds are shot and trapped every year. They are shot both from land and from powerboats out at sea, (this is where the larger number is shot).

Paradise Bay Hotel at the northern most tip of the island.

Malta though is a wonderful place for a holiday; the people are so friendly and enjoy the banter with the British tourist. One of the most entertaining experiences over there has to be travelling on the old yellow Maltese bus!  This is an unbelievable drive as there appears to be no Highway Code, it’s everyone for himself and as fast as he can get there dodging the potholes, and as for which side of the road you drive on? Well it appears to be whichever side is in the shade!  Sadly with Malta joining the EU new legislation has come in and the old buses, trucks and cars which no longer meet the new specifications have to be scrapped and most of the roads have to be re-surfaced. Oh well that’s progress for you !

Okay then hope you all enjoyed the article and remember to call in at the ‘Blue Bar’ when in Malta for a wonderful time. All the best and thanks again to Eddie, Aaron, Brian and Joe for their hospitality and good wishes. See you all at Blackpool…

As always any news call on 01576300615 or e-mail address    jimgraham30@hotmail.com.

17/12/07