TIPPLERS,TUMBLERS ,ROLLERS.
Tipplers are hardy little endurance flight birds. Often flown in kits of 3 ,they have, under competition rules been timed over 20 hrs on the wing day and night. In the 60s I visited fanciers in Alvaston, Derby and learned of people like the legendary Gordon Hughes. Lovely birds often prints and blues they floated by for hours. Tumblers, in all colours, perform short and loose tumbles and acrobatics in the sky, and I had some of these 66 years ago. The serious spinners, like a falling ball at high speed, and flown in kits of 20 under competition are the competition or Birmingham rollers. I met Graham Dexter, and George Mason ,two global greats. My seminal interview with Dr Graham is in my book Jim Emerton in Conversation with the good and great of the pigeon world-on amazon. All these 3 types of birds are lovely to see and keep ,and I never tire of the little beauties, having spent years observing them.
Jim Emerton.
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MARATHON RACING IN ACTION.
Having raced my birds from 71 to 879 miles, there is nothing like the sight, sense, feeling and thought of a bird nicely home from beyond 700 miles in International or perhaps National racing. Every bird in the clock is a good one and worthy of breeding from. The experience in your head can be both spiritual and mystical for the human psyche and is entirely subjective. The peak of a man?s racing career is to be found in the Barcelona International race-yet to feel this you have to send them in this epic migration and speed/endurance race. You remember your marathon birds always.
Jim Emerton.
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LETTER BY JIM EMERTON.
Sound reasoning has prevailed, as The BBC is destined to fly with The Barcelona International in 2019. This is a wise decision by the members, and one hopes for a united plan of action with the great BICC. The race will be tough, and the timing of good birds will lift the spirits and raise morale of the fancy. Let us see more strain making out of marathon racing in the UK and Ireland, and may the best bird and fancier prevail up to and over 800 miles!
Jim Emerton specialist Author.
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SPIRITUALITY,TRANSCENDENCE,MYSTICISM
These states can all be felt and experienced in the human psyche. The brain may respond to concentrated external stimuli from say the natural world, or from the complex activity of the brain itself, leading to a state of awe or higher consciousness. Beyond pure logical thinking, it can be the real of mystical insight, in art, poetry ,madness and many creative processes linked to eccentricity and genius. The personification of the inner condition was manifested by William Blake, and I perceived it in Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka-they changed my life!
Jim Emerton.
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