Keith Mott Writes...

PETER VIRTUE

of Cockburnspath

We are going to Berwickshire this week to look at the performances of a very special fancier, who has been at the top of the Scottish National results for many years. To say, the Virtue loft had a good season in 2005 would be an under statement, winning: 2nd,5th,10th,36th,37th,41st. and 86th. open S.N.R.P.C. Newbury, 40th. open S.N.R.P.C. Alencon, 14th,15th. and 35th. open S.N.R.P.C. Falaise, 12th,28th,29th,37th,47th,49th,58th. and 59th. open S.N.R.P.C. Leicester. Peter Virtue also had a great season racing in the Federation, winning 11 club firsts and 4 firsts in the Federation, including: 1st,2nd,5th,12th,15th,25th. and 26th. open Maidstone. A fantastic performance! The star pigeon of the 2005 season was the blue chequer pied hen, “The Newbury Hen”, and she recorded 2nd. open S.N.R.P.C. Newbury. This game hen is down from Peter’s Champion “Peter Thorpe” / Busschaert bloodlines and her grandmother won 13th. open S.N.F.C. Clermont.

Peter Virtue first became interested in pigeons at the age or eight, but was too young to race so kept a pair in a tea box in his back garden until he obtained his first racers at the age of 15. In 1957 he obtained his first pigeons from Reg Barker who, Peter says, at that time had the best all-round loft in Britain, with a brilliant team of birds that won right through to 600 miles. His first winner, at the age of 17, was from Nantwich (220 miles), when he scored 1st. club, 14th. Federation with a “Heinz 57”, dark chequer cock and that good old pigeon went on to win lots of top honours for the Virtue loft. Peter says, that John Kirkpatrick was at the top at that time and, like the great old master, he is only interested in long distance racing, although he’s been very successful at Federation racing. Peter has been in the sport over 50 years and has belonged to only one club all those years and that is the Cockburnspath H.S. He lives near the sea and his first loft was made of old fish boxes off the beach, covered with felt to keep the weather out. I asked Peter what his early mistakes were and his reply was, “I have made mistakes all through my time in pigeon racing, every body has, but I hope I’ve learn from them.

Peter’s present racing loft is 30ft.x 10ft. with a full length corridor, four sections and a piano trap. His loft has air vents at floor and roof level to maintain good fresh air flow and he says the main thing is that a loft must be dry. Peter has had a health problem with his chest, and the loft is fitted out with grids, so that the pigeon dust is kept to a minimum. His 20 pairs of racers are raced on the natural system, being mated on the first Friday in March, with the long distance nationals in mind. The birds are not trained a lot because of the hawk and falcon problem in Scotland, but get the open hole all day and two 10 mile training tosses before the first race. He uses the short races as training, but if these are easy blow homes, he will give them a few 30 mile tosses, as the pigeons need a certain time on the wing to be fit enough for the long distance events. If the pigeons are fit, all the two year olds have to fly 500 miles and the yearlings and latebreds go to 360 miles. The old bird team are fed with the long distance in mind, on a good mixture with 50% beans and they are never given any seeds. The basic build up for his pigeons is about four club races up to 230 miles, then into the national and his best condition for sending to the long races is sitting 12 to 14 day old eggs. Peter has still got the same basic family of Reg Barker pigeons, that he obtained in 1957 and he says in those years he has had five crosses which have been successful. Most of his best crosses have come his good friend, Bobby Carruthers, including one off Bobby’s “Money Maker”. One of the best crosses for the Reg Barker pigeons was a dark chequer cock that he purchased from a local fancier in 1965 for £5 and this game pigeon had scored twice in the Rennes National. He was the Dr. Anderson bloodlines and bred one of his S.N.F.C. winners. Peter says that was the best fiver he has ever spent.

He keeps about five pairs of stock birds which he houses in a 12ft.x 10ft. loft. Peter pairs them up the same time as the racers, so the yearling can rear the first round off the breeders. He feeds them the same corn as the race team with a big content of beans and when he brings in a new breeder it must off premier winning lines and must also have good eyesign. Peter has 40 youngsters to race each season and their training never starts until the last old bird National race is out of the way. They get about five 20 mile training tosses before their first race and are fed on the same mixture as the old birds. The only difference is they get maples instead of beans and as the racing season goes on the mixture gets lighter. The young birds are raced natural to the perch and Peter says that because they are later bred, they never want to pair up. He is very much against the darkness system and most of his young bird team race through to the national ( 235 miles). Peter Virtue’s performances in the S.N.F.C. over the years have been brilliant, recording: 18 times in the first ten open positions over the channel, winning three times 1st. open, 4th. open Niort (670 miles), 6th. open Nantes (603 miles), 8th. open Avranches and many more premier positions in the National races. Two of his National wins were from Beauvais and Avranches. He won the Beauvais National in 1994, with an unpaired blue chequer cock, which was just flying to his nest box, after his hen got killed. Peter says he has owned many top-class pigeons through the years, but one of the best was his Busschaert blue cock, “Peter Thorpe”. This game cock had a wonderful record on the road recording the following: 1993: 9th. open S.N.F.C. Sartilly, 1994: 108th. open S.N.F.C. Rennes, 1995: 3rd. open S.N.F.C. Rennes, 1996: 3rd. open S.N.F.C. Rennes and he won eleven times 1st. club, twice 1st. open Federation. A brilliant pigeon!

Peter is a retired railwayman and says his wife, Jean, has played a big part in his pigeon success as she always looked after the birds in the winter months when he had to work 12 hour days and she has clocked many times in National races, when he had to work. He says, when he was a lad he was crazy on Federation racing, winning the old bird average cup when he was 18 years of age, but now is only interested in long distance National events. Peter maintains that all the pigeons have to be tried and tested, and he likes latebreds, but even these have to go to 360 miles as yearlings, sometimes carrying four or five nest flights. He is very keen on eyesign, but only in the stock loft. Peter is a worker for the sport, doing a lot of committee work for the S.N.F.C. and president of his local club, the Cockburnspath H.S. He told me he thought the sport was badly run and something must be done about the hawk problem soon, or it will kill off pigeon racing.

I hope you have enjoyed this week’s article on this great Scottish fancier. I can be contacted on Telephone: 01372 463480. See yer!



PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.