LES J. PARKINSON'S

NEWS-REPORTS-ARTICLES

When you are a scribe and you are writing about what is going on in the pigeon world plus what you are doing yourself and as in all walks of life there are times when it does not work how you intended in the first place. One such time is this year when recently I wrote about my intentions to pair the race birds this year and rear a round off them to try and settle and make them more secure in their boxes. Then at a later date circumstances changed and I wrote that I was not now pairing the racers this year and this led to a call asking about what I was actually doing. In a round about way I was told off because I had not worked to my plan for the early part of the year, as long as I still have the pigeons that’s fine because plans can be changed. In pigeon racing I have learnt that things never always run smoothly and this is one of those occasions. My initial intentions started when I was going to move the office back upstairs and due to time that has still not happened. That then started a chain reaction that has stopped me doing other things that I had initially intended doing. What has that got to do with pairing the pigeons up you might well ask. Well I was moving the office so that we could move some items out of the shed next to the loft into my office behind the garage, which was the ideal place to put them. That space was then going to be used to add a further 6ft to the racing loft so that I would have a further section and therefore still be able to race on the roundabout system. The original idea was to pair them up to rear a single young bird in each nest and separate them before the hens had chance to lay their second round of eggs. This is not now the case because it is mid March and if I pair now to rear a round I am not going to get chance to do the things that I want as part of their preparation for the coming season. I was on a very tight time scale before the delay so the extra two weeks has set me back too far to follow my initial plans. Plus the fact I decided that it was about time my fingers had a break from hitting keys on the keyboard and we needed a holiday so I booked one week in Malta before racing started a little late but in this case better late than never. The weather has been very cold here in the UK and it looks as if the cold spell is not going to move for a while.

There are very often a few open races towards the end of March and with Easter being the first weekend in April there will no doubt be a lot of training done or even a few races held over those four days. We have to hope the weather improves otherwise there will be a few empty boxes by the time May gets here and none of us wants that to happen for our own lofts or anyone else’s because all we get is strays. So what will happen now, well I shall see how things pan out because as anyone who has visited here knows I am limited for space with a 24ft loft and no room for additional lofts. The extra 6ft that we were talking about might be pushing it a bit too far with the size of the garden so I think we shall not be moving the shed that is in that area for the extra loft space. Anyway no good to keep going over that subject we have about 5 weeks to get the pigeons in the best position for the coming season. I would have preferred to continue with the roundabout system but that will not happen this year because we have far too many pigeons after my annual sort out to split them. I am having the second round of young birds off my stock at Middlewich and they are currently sitting about 10 days so they will be moved into my young bird section about the second week in April. When that happens I will have had chance to thoroughly clean and burn out the young bird section before the youngsters are moved. I will pair the birds over the Easter weekend and race them on the natural system. No real problem with that because I have raced that way on many occasion’s and been happy with some good results in the National events where my main aim is for any season. By pairing at this time they will be settled and on eggs for a good training programme in April. There is also the vaccination of both old and young birds to be done and again it is my practice to do both the old and young bird race teams at the same time. Yes I know that there is now a recommendation that you do not use two vaccinations on the say day because it does not work but we have done it now for 8yrs and never had a health issue with the pigeons. I suppose that we could change to the recommended way but why change a winning system and after all if the pigeons are remaining healthy then that is a winning system of its own. It is a known fact that there have been fanciers who have vaccinated and still got para so who is right. We can listen to all kinds of experts but it is what happens and how things work in reality that we need to look at. You can put forward as many recommendations as you want but even they are never always correct and no matter how much testing has been done you cannot beat a tried, tested and proven system. Not only shall we be vaccinating, one spotting, wing stamping this time we shall also be registering the remaining old birds and the young birds on the ETS. These jobs get longer each year and I wonder what else will be in store before my days of pigeon racing are over. As long as any changes are a move forward in the sport then I don’t mind. Talking about moving forward I had a good talk to young Robert Carson about taking up and being active in jobs within the sport. Robert was telling me that he has passed a few jobs on because he was committing himself too much but I do know that he is still doing more than most. I was saying to Robert that when you are young you can get through more things in a day than when you get older. I remember how easy I found things 30yrs ago and I am still busy now but I cannot do as much as I did then and I don’t mind admitting it. While I keep enjoying pigeons as Robert does now I shall carry on with what I am doing.

Wayne

Had a few calls from fanciers asking how my nephew Wayne was getting on after parting with the birds. This is an e-mail that I received recently. “Hi Les, Had follow up appointment at clinic, to  go  through the results. I definitely have very positive Lyme disease, they cant say how long ago I caught it at the moment. They have put me on an antibiotic called minocycline, which has put some people in remission for years so I’m hoping that can happen with me. I have also got to watch my diet that is meant to be gluten, yeast free and low sugar. This diet can help repair the body quicker if I stick to it. Wayne” It goes to show that we are quick to blame pigeons when anything goes wrong with our health but that is never always the case. However when everything is under control I would not be surprised to be getting a phone call from Wayne wanting to start up again.

Club/Fed news

The racing season is not far away and one of the common complaints is that your club and winners are not getting the recognition that they deserve. This has been a complaint ever since I can remember so why don’t you make sure that you have your own club PO and if you don’t then don’t blame the magazines for lack of publicity because it is all free. Always remember that there are always scribes around who will add your notes to their column. Don’t forget the Three Counties sale at Rudheath this coming Sunday, a worthy cause because that is where the best channel racing competition is for you club. 

Photos

David Wilkinson’s granddaughter Jodi along with classmates were asked to produce a photo taken while reading in an unusual place. I wonder what they think of the contribution from Jodi, did the pigeon land on her head. While referring to David every year we see fanciers altering their lofts and this partnership are no different with several major changes in recent years. David’s son Craig tells me that they have now got it right. I have also included a photo of two quality trophies that are held by the Wilkinson family after being won in the 1920s. These trophies were mad and presented when they were made to last.

We also have a sneak preview of the loft extension for the Europa Classic this section is to hold the old birds for the Europa 500. Derek tells me that there will be a full report on the new section and what is happening at the lofts in the next few days. The first batch of young birds have settled in and I am told many more are on the way.