THE NORMAN SOUTHWELL SERIES PART 6 by Gareth Watkins...

PAUL STONE of West Drayton

Winning well at the distance with Southwells

To continue with the Southwell series, this article highlights the loft of Paul Stone of Middlesex who has to his credit a long list of top performances in long distance races including 1st BICC Barcelona in 1997 with his chequer hen “Charlotte” being the only bird on the winning day in the U.K. “Charlotte" was bred direct from “The Shepherd Cock” which is responsible, through successive generations, for the following long distance performers:-

1st, 3rd, 21st, 22nd, 56th Open Barcelona; 2nd, 10th, 11th, 40th, 57th Open Palamos; 23rd, 29th, 31st, 76th Open NFC Pau plus 2nd Open Tarbes, 2nd Open Dax and 1st Greater Distance Club from San Sebastian. The winner of 1st Sect 2nd Open Palamos for the terrific Kent long distance specialists J. Nicholson & Son is also a double g.g.dtr of the Shepherd Cock. This record must place the ”Shepherd Cock” amongst the premier league of producers of long distance racers in the country. Although he is the cornerstone of Paul’s loft he was bred by none other than Jimmy Shepherd of Chichester whose loft and birds will also be in this series.

Once again, with the Stone loft, we see an average back garden set up – no vast arrays of lofts crammed full of pigeons which are sent “en masse” to long distance races in the hope that by the law of averages one must come out. This is  a common factor in the lofts with Southwell based teams featured in the series,  in as much as “like breeds like”  and there is no need to rear huge numbers of youngsters each year to replace losses. The good ones seem to reproduce pigeons of the same high quality for generation after generation and it would appear that the Southwells produce more “good ones” than most.

Starting from top left and going clockwise: The Shepherd Cock, champion stock cock and founder of the loft; Blackcurrent, four times Barcelona and winner of 7th & 13th Open BICC. Also g.sire of Charlotte 1st Open Barcelona & Barbie 13th Open BICC plus 1st GDSBNFC Barcelona 2007 and g.g.sire of Sarah 1st Open BICC Barcelona; Lucy, 1st Open GDSBNFC San Sebastian 121st Open NFC; Charlotte, 1st Fed LaFerte Bernard and 1st Open BICC Barcelona only bird into UK on winning day.

Paul first became involved with pigeons in 1969, and with no previous family involvement in the sport, he had to start on the ground floor. The first Southwells were introduced from Jimmy Shepherd in 1987 and to this base other pigeons from Jimmy have been added over the years plus some “Spangles” from other sources. The individuals within the  present day family, which has evolved  from constant race testing, are generally dark chequer in colour and small to medium sized with shallow keels. Twenty pairs of old bird racers are maintained and these are raced exclusively on the natural system. A team of 30 – 40 youngsters are reared annually from the best of the racers and the 10 pairs of stock birds. All birds are mated on March 1st so that the youngsters are weaned before any serious racing gets underway. The birds are housed in a 36 ft loft  which faces north. This has a half dowelled front so ventilation is adequate. A form of deep litter is employed during the week with the whole loft getting a  spring clean once per week when time allows.

Local club racing is used to blow away the cobwebs of winter inactivity prior to serious preparation of the long distance candidates for the job in hand. This takes the form of two short channel races and plenty of private training from the south coast. A good general mixture is fed by hand all year round and this is adjusted as the long races approach, by the addition of extra maize. Regular home exercise is also applied to the race team but Paul is not in a position to operate an open loft system.

The birds are not overtaxed in their first two seasons' racing as Paul is happy if the young birds are raced to 150 miles inland in their first season and then sent to 350 miles as yearlings. Two year olds and upwards are expected to make light work of Pau.

The team are NOT treated routinely for any of the common ailments but do get the annual jab for paramyxovirus. Other than that they are expected to develop their own immunity from disease and rarely fall ill. All they get is good sound food and clean water with vitamins added once per week. Simple basic stock management that when applied to top class long distance racers bred from a long line of proven long distance racers has reaped consistent rewards in the long and difficult channel races.

In the difficult Barcelona International race flown in late June 2007 Paul clocked one of his old reliable Southwells to win 13th Open BICC plus 1st Open Greater Distance Single Bird NFC to prove once again the incredible durability and tenacity of this old English strain. I include some photos with this article to demonstrate the quality of the stock housed. 

10/8/07