Keith Mott writes...

MICK TUCK

OF WITLEY

This is an article which I think is well over due. Mick Tuck has been a premier fancier in the Surrey area for many seasons and has had very little recognition. I have known Mick for some time now, as he races in the Godalming Club and was a friend of my ol’ mate, Eric Cannon.

When I asked him what sort of racing he liked he replied, 'definitely long distance. There's nothing worse than getting a phone call to say that the birds are up and predicting that they will be in the loft within 15 minutes, that’s rubbish. I like just a few birds on the day, that's my sort of racing.' One of his best early performances was in 1990 when he had two nest mates, both cocks, which were bred from a cock purchased from local fancier Bill Gelder. The cock was a Massarella gay pied cock which he had paired to a very good Cannon hen which he purchased off Eric Cannon. One of the cocks was sent to Mick's first ever Pau race and they were liberated at 06.15hrs on the Friday, into a light south-west wind and Mick sat in the garden until the bats came out. His mum came out to the garden and told him that it was nearly 10pm and the tired Mick walked to the loft slowly, to remove the clock from the nest box. As he slid the loft door open he heard a flutter, flutter, bonk! He stepped back and looked up at the loft roof, but couldn't see anything, so went to the back of the loft and moving in the long grass with its wing outspread was his good old blue chequer cock, GB85X75657, one of the nest pair. Mick picked him up, gave him a drink and some trapping mixture and then clocked him in at 9.58pm. There were only four birds on the day and Mick was 4th in one of the strongest clubs in the south of England. Two weeks later he had the Bergerac race so he sent the brother, but the only problem for Mick was that he was going on holiday on the Saturday and the pigeons were being liberated at 0535hrs in a light north east wind on the Friday. Mick says it was a very hot day, but sure enough he clocked his blue chequer pied cock, GB85X75658 at 8.29pm, to record 1st club Bergerac (450 miles) with only five birds recorded in the club on the day. Mick was the highest trophy and card winner, lifting 18 trophies in the mighty Godalming Club in the 2002 season. He has a very good Eric Cannon hen bred in 1999 and last season she recorded 1st club, 1st Surrey Federation, 9th Open SMT Combine Alencon. Mick took it easy with her for the rest of the season and sent her to Bergerac on 12-day-old eggs and she won 1st club, 19th Open SMT Combine. A real class hen!

Mick is totally natural with only Channel races in mind. He has only 15 nest boxes in the racing section but never keeps 15 pairs as he likes the inmates to have plenty of room. He only breeds 20 youngsters, as he thinks if you keep a small team, you can concentrate on them more and get them for races easier. He feeds a ready-mixed corn from a local corn chandler, called Cranleigh NO.1 and says it is first class corn and just adds a few tic beans for the long distance races. The birds are paired up on Valentine's Day or the nearest Saturday to it. Trapping the birds on race day is through antibolts but this is never easy, as where the Tuck family live is infested with cats and the pigeons are always spooked. Mick starts training the old birds two weeks before the first federation race, with two tosses every day, morning and evening. His work partner, Russell Barker, also a Godalming pigeon fancier, train together and go 28 miles and toss at a place called Cheese Foot Head (you must be joking!), near Winchester in Hampshire. When they arrive at the training liberation site, they let the birds stand for 10 minutes then liberate in one big group. Mick says that Russell lives in Aldershot, 12 miles away from Witley and training together gives the birds practice at breaking. The birds get Sundays off and are given a bath. He says being a natural flyer; he is stronger with hens, than the cocks and the birds fly the federation programme, with selected national and classic races for some birds. His ideal condition for a hen going to the long distance is sitting between 10 and 14-day-old eggs, sitting quiet more often than two eggs. Mick maintains that he likes to have as much air flow in the loft as he can and says the loft should not be damp or overcrowded.

Mick Tuck was born in Chiddingford and is a joiner by trade. He says he makes anything out of wood and has made quiet a few pigeon lofts. His son, Ryan, takes a keen interest in the pigeons and has a few birds of his own in the loft, normally the most colourful ones. Mick told me, unfortunately his wife and daughters hate pigeons and think they take too much of his time, which could be given to them, but his wife will water and feed the birds if he is working late. Mick first became interested in pigeons at the age of 17 and at that time his hobby was exotic pheasants, as he wanted to be a game keeper. In his home village of Chiddingfold there was a very good pigeon fancier named, Dick Keen, and he introduced Mick to pigeons and gave him his first pair of racers. One day the door of the shed got left open, with the birds flying and to Mick's surprise, they returned and so started him on the road to pigeon racing. His first stock birds, baskets and clocks were obtained from an old fancier from Milford called, Bill Gelder, and he and his sons, George, Sam and Danny, got him really started. Mick recalled that his first winner was from Weymouth and says he still gets the same buzz out of winning that he had when he started up 22 years ago.

The two main fanciers who first drew his attention to pigeons were Eric Cannon and Arthur Bridgewater. Mick told me that in those days Arthur was on the widowhood system and was the main man winning everything inland. Mick smiled when he told me that Arthur is quite an elderly fancier, but there's nothing he doesn't know about pigeons, but if you pick his brains, he never tells you all his secrets, you have to fill in the gaps yourself. Mick says the late, Eric Cannon, was a magnificent pigeon fancier, probably one of the best National flyers. Channel racing was his game and what a total, natural flyer. Mick's loft was formed with pigeons obtained from these two great Godalming fanciers and he has crossed them with outstanding success. In recent years, Mick has brought in pigeons from Vince Durrant, and other Combine winning Godalming fanciers and these have blended in well with the Cannon and Bridgewater bloodlines. The first club he joined was the 30-member strong, Godalming and District FC and he still flies in it today. The club is south road and is a member club of the Surrey Federation. The Tuck loft is the same one he started with 23 years ago, but has made a few modifications through the years. The self-built structure is 16ft long with two sections, one for old birds with 15 nest boxes and the other with 20 box perches for the young birds. He has no stock birds or prisoners, mainly because he hasn't got the room in the loft and any bought or gifted pigeons are broken into the loft as quickly as possible. Mick's main family of pigeons are Eric Cannon, with crosses into that being mainly for distance racing. He maintains that his friend, the late, great, Eric Cannon, of Wormley, was the best fancier in the Surrey area and his National achievements were second to none. When it came to racing in the Pau National, he really knew his stuff. The Tuck loft has won 1st Federation eight times and twice 1st Open SMT Combine from La Ferte Bernard and Wadebridge with young birds.

Mick keeps only 20 young birds and starts to train them when they are running for two or three hours. Their first training toss is always early on a Sunday morning from The Windmill at Butsa Hill, about 18 miles up the A3 and if their any good they will get home normally, just before Mick. He doesn't pair youngsters up, but says you always get some that do, so he has a couple of nest boxes in the young bird section and has always done well with the ones that do pair up. He only breeds one round of babies, all the same age and they fly the full race programme. As regards the dark system, he can't see that there is any advantage to be gained by it. The system might moult them through quicker, but does it actually do them any good? I don't think so, says Mick. His youngsters get the same food as the old birds, but he uses peanuts a lot, mainly to encourage them in the trap.

Mick likes showing his, pigeons and runs the winter shows at the Godalming Club. His view on eyesign, is that there must be something in it. The more he reads about it, the more he understands, but he honestly believes that it is only a small part of it. He maintains that there are other things to consider in the make-up of a good pigeons, like the balance in the hand, good feather and wing. He doesn't believe at all in inbreeding, but says most of his best birds are the tamest, but he doesn't really know why. With the moult, he pairs up ,in late February to try and hold the flights for tile longer races. As regarding special feeding for the moult, they get no different corn from normal, but are kept quiet and well rested during the heavy moult period.

Well, that's it for this week. I hope my readers have enjoyed this insight in to Mick Tuck's pigeon management. He's a very special fancier. I can be contacted on 01372 463480. See yer!