Keith Mott Visits Surrey & Kent...

STEVE HOWARD

OF GUILDFORD

I made the 20-mile drive to Guildford to visit Steve Howard, who had just had a golden two weeks racing his team of natural pigeons. From the London & South-East Classic Club's Yearling Nantes Derby, he clocked a Bill Johnson Busschaert blue cock, which was especially paired for the race after being spare all season, to record 2nd Open (1,443 birds). Two weeks later he clocked his good yearling blue cheq cock ‘Scott's Boy’, on the day from Bordeaux, 436 miles, to win 1st Open SMT Combine (2,143 birds). This game cock was unpaired, flying to his nest box, and was 10 hours 4 minutes on the wing to top the Combine. All Steve's yearling cocks were unpaired because, at the start of the season, he had 11 hens and one cock killed by sparrowhawks. ‘Scott's Boy’ was bred out of an Eric & Pat Cannon of Godalming cock and a hen obtained from Mr & Mrs Newman of Petersfield. As a young bird he was very consistent, being raced to the perch and, on his build up to Bordeaux, had several inland races and the L & SECC Yearling Nantes Derby.

Steve started up 20 years ago with 10pairs obtained from his friend and his father, who were good fanciers in Guildford many years ago. He likes races from 250 miles, through to 500 miles, and has won many premier prizes in the N.F.C. through the years, including 24th Open Pau with only one pigeon sent. He races 15 pairs natural, because he says it's the best system for the long distance. He tried the widowhood system for one season and won five Ists in the sprints but could not get them from the long-distance races. He pairs up the second week in March then gives them three 50-mile training tosses and a few club inland races to get them fit for the early Channel events. He likes the old birds to fly from Pau but likes yearlings for the 450 mile stage, with hens sitting ready to hatch and cocks driving to nest. He. hopper feeds a good mixture of beans, peas and maize, with a little barley added in the winter months. Steve has three lofts, the main one being 16ft long, three sections with sputnik trapping. The other small lofts contain the young birds and seven pairs of stock birds. Steve only cleans the lofts out once a year, as he says too much scraper upsets the inmates and he likes the dryness of the uncleaned loft. I must say his pigeons really did look well!

Steve's wife, Sherylyn, is very keen on the pigeons and does a lot of the training, which is mainly from the south, with Channel racing in mind. The Howards have a really bad hawk problem, living as they do on a hill near woodland, but he says he loses a lot of his pigeons to crows. The main families raced are Eric & Pat Cannon and Mr & Mrs Newman, and the two long-distance families have crossed very successfully. On of the main stock hens is a 2y and on the road she won 4th Open L & SECC Angers Yearling Derby. Steve has a type in mind when picking out stock birds but says winning long distance lines are very important.

COLIN TAYLOR

OF WHITSTABLE

The month of December saw me make the 90-mile drive down to Kent, the Garden of England, to visit the brilliant widowhood lofts of Colin Taylor of Whitstable. The weather was cold and wet, but when we started to look at Colin's wonderful team of widowhood cocks we soon forgot about the adverse conditions.

Colin has been in pigeons all his life and has raced since 1968, with outstanding success. Years ago he was only interested in Channel racing, winning many times at all stages through France, including 1st Open Libourne. He has won the longest old bird race countless times and has lifted many top prizes in National and Classic clubs. In recent years his interest has turned to widowhood sprint racing and he's won over 470 cards since 1994. Colin has recorded the first 10positions in the very strong local club many times, winning the federation and open sprint races. The widowhood sections are full of federation winners and cocks that have won six and 8 x Ists in races up to 300 miles. He started widowhood when he lived in London in 1984 and only races cocks on the system. He pairs up on January 12th and the hens are taken away on their first round of youngsters at 14 days of age. The cocks are left with one youngster to bond him to his nest box and then the female rears the other young one in her new section. The cocks are not trained during the racing season, only flying out for one hour, twice a day, around the loft. In 1999, the cocks had four short training tosses before racing started and won 1st federation in the first race.

The widowhood loft is never entered during the day, as the cocks must rest and must never be wound up. The racers are broken down from Saturday to Monday and are fed on a first-class widowhood mixture. Colin says the only real difference between widowhood racing on short and long distance is the feeding with the long-distance birds getting a much heavier mixture. The birds are not paired for the odd long-distance race that he might send to. The hens are shown to the cocks on marking night, although he says the cocks are all different and some don't need to see their mates. The racers get their hens on their arrival from the race and Colin maintains this varies in time on how difficult the race is, having no hard and fast rules on his system. He hasn't got a family of pigeons and says his race team are, 'Dolly Mixtures', but are all his type of pigeon. He is not interested in strains and maintains that he has been in pigeons all his life and has no idea what a sprint or long-distance type should look like.

The main widowhood loft is built 4ft off the ground and is 30ft long, with three sections. The very smart building has a tiled roof for good ventilation and the 12 Nest boxes in each section are painted light blue, which is very peaceful for the inmates. The cocks trap through open windows off landing boards and straw litter is used on the loft floor during the winter months. Colin has three other very small lofts at the other end of the garden and these house young birds, widowhood hens and his small team of stock birds. The 10ft stock loft has two wire fronts, so the inmates can get out in the weather and enjoy a bath. The first pigeon we looked at on my loft visit was a handsome blue chequer cock, winner of 1st federation three times, as a yearling on the widowhood system. This ace is a son of the Libourne combine winner and had won 7 x 1sts up to five years of age. A premier stock cock we handled was a handsome blue, obtained direct from Hartog, which had bred countless winners for the Taylor loft, including 6 x 1st prize winners in the 1995 season. Colin is very interested in eyesign and says that this champion stock cock had the gold sign. We handled a son of the Hartog blue cock which had won 8 x 1sts and 1st federation in 1999 on the widowhood.

Colin keeps five pairs of stock birds, which are paired up at the same time as the racers, so that the stock birds' eggs can be underlaid. They are hopper fed on a good breeder's mixture. He is against antibiotics for racing pigeons, as he thinks fanciers who use them are asking for trouble and maintains that you can't put anything in the water to make average birds good. The birds are given an open loft from morning to night during the breeding season and living in the Kent countryside means a bit of a hawk problem. Colin breeds about 35 young ones each season which are only lightly raced but get regular training from 30 miles. The young birds are raced to the perch and are well fed on young bird mixture. Colin is not a great fan of the darkness system, but has tried it and was not happy with babies at the end of the season, although the young bird results were good. Thanks to Colin for the loft visit. His pigeons and lofts are a credit to him!

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT