The Joe Murphy Column
I’ve had a few scrapes in my lifetime but I have never felt as bad as I’ve been these past few weeks; I have been seriously ill and would not wish this on my worst enemy. I would have been lost without the help and assistance of my wife Margaret and not only with looking after me she has also attended to my pigeons and did last week’s article for me. The one thing that has hit home to me is that if I’m not 100% then I’m going to have to cut down on the stock pigeons. The majority of their parents were bred in Deweerdt and Daniel Aerens loft in Belgium. So have a look out for my advert in the paper.
Results
ANGUS FEDERATION from the Tow Law race point on the 5th May 777 birds were liberated at 07-45 am into a light south west wind. Bob Baldie tops the federation with another bird in 9th spot. Davie Glen is 2nd followed by David Liddle who has the following positions; 3rd 4th 6th 14th 15th 19th & 20th. Macaulay Ferguson & Curran ae 5th 10th 11th 12th & 13th with Ian Scott in 16th 17th & 18th open.
East Section winners are Charlie & Glen Cameron of Arbroath takes the 1st 5 places with D & D Hay of Gourdon in 6th & 7th positions. M Wallace & son of Montrose take the next 2 places with the 10th spot going to Chic & Ann Carrie of Arbroath club.
Club winners; Forfar 501 birds won by R Baldie; Arbroath 161 birds won by Chic & Glen Cameron. Montrose 71 birds won by M Wallace & son. Gourdon 44 birds won by D & D Hay.
Arbroath RPC news of the Ripon race with 6 members sending 159 birds, liberated at 07-30 into a light North West wind. The father and son partnership of Chic & Glen Cameron continue their winning stretch taking the first 4 places in the race. Kevin J Murphy takes the next 3 places. Charlie & Glen’s winner was a yearling blue cock who won 1st section in the fed as a young bird. He is inbred to the Casters of Leon Messiaen being from a grandson of the Casters when mated to a daughter. Castres flew Barcelona 5 times and was part of the Barcelona Masters winning team twice. In the pigeon there is also Little Dorrie and Keith Bush bloodlines. 2nd club is a grandson of the “Jos” of Charlie’s who won a 1st and section in SNFC nationals ‘Jos’ was direct from the late Jos Claes of Herentals. The dam is a daughter of the famous Kanon of Danny Van Dyck. 3rd club is a 2 year old blue hen from Prada a winner of 1st & 2nd north section in the SNFC. Prada is a grandson of the Castres of Leon Messiaen, he also contain the bloodlines of Martin Ravelingien’s ‘Tutsi’ lines. The dam is ‘Little Dorrie’ a winner of 3rd open SNFC Reims. As a matter of interest this hen was 165th open SNFC Bedhampton in 2017.
ANGUS FEDERATION from the Ripon race points on Saturday the 12th May with 752 birds were liberated at 07-30 am into a light North West wind. David J Liddle of Forfar is 1st 8th 9th 11th 12th 13th & 14th; Davie Glen is 2nd & 7th with Bob Baldie in 3rd 4th 5th 6th 10th 16th 18th 19th & 20th. Ian Scott is 15th open with Macaulay Ferguson & Curran in 17th spot.
East Section winners are Charlie & Glen Cameron of Arbroath who take the 1st 5 places plus 9th with Kevin J Murphy having the other 4 positions.
Club winners; Forfar 504 birds won by David J Liddle; Arbroath 159 birds; won by Chic & Glen Cameron. Montrose 55 birds, this was won by G Campbell; Gourdon 34 birds, won by D & D Hay.
Ayrshire Federation
News from Archie Macintyre who writes; Ayrshire Federation 3rd race of the season was from Consett on the 5th May, a race point we have not been into for quite some time. After having 2 good races to start the season off, the birds certainly met their match at this race with average returns being around 50% mark at night fall for quite a few of the members. Weather at the race point was excellent with a light south west wind. On the Westerly side, heavy low cloud remained most of the day. Reports of birds being reported in the Cumbria region again tells us part of the convoy headed straight west with birds being reported in Barrow in Furness, Maryport and Dumfries & Galloway area. Sadly it looks like the birds have taken a few strikes soon after liberation for some of the convoy to head due west given the light south west wind. Just my thoughts but sadly we will never know. Jim had the convoy of 1,996 birds up and away at 10:40 into a light south west wind for a race of between 110 miles up to 135 mile to the top end of the federation. Leading the way into the federation this week is a man who is no stranger to being at the top of the leader board across all distances to record, 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th federation 1,995 birds, on 1171, 1169, 1159 and 1158 is Robert Reid of Dalry HS. His federation winner for Robert is “7342” a 4 year old home bred bird, and she is sister to 3 winning pigeons. 2nd Ayrshire federation Ypres (beaten by loft mate) 1st Glasgow federation Wetherby and another hen with 2 National diplomas; ‘7342’ was injured in 2015 and has been only lightly raced since. She normally nests on top of the nest boxes but this year she decided that she would move down a level and mate with a stock cock in his own box leaving her old mate without a mate. 2 weeks ago while Robert was catching the birds for training in subdued light he inadvertently caught and subsequently lost the stock cock. ‘7342’ sat on the eggs for a couple of days then mated with her previous mate in her existing nest box. This seems to have been her motivation. As a matter of interest ‘7342’ has bred a Glasgow federation section topper for Patrick Doherty. The 2nd federation winner for Robert is a yearling ‘R54’ again home bred. She was lightly raced as a youngster and had her first race of the season at Consett and was sent sitting approximately 10 days on eggs. Her sire is a brother to 1st Region F Buckingham and 4th section Wanstead Flats. The sire’s parents have 4 national diplomas between them and his dam also topped Ayrshire Federation from Woolaston. The dam of ‘R54’ is ‘10668’ she is bred from what Robert considers to be the foundation pair of this family and is sister to many good pigeons including his 1st x 2 pigeons from Alencon last year. 3rd federation this week is a man who has not been far from the top of the federation leader board in the previous two races is Jim Shepherd of Dalry HS. I do not have much information on Jim’s winning bird but he tells me his yearling hen ‘1132’ is bred down from his own family of pigeons as Jim calls them (Heinz 57) and the sire was 1st federation Otterburn in 2016.
North Section sent 927 birds; 1st & 2nd Robert Reid (Dalry HS) 1171.4 & 1169.8
3rd Jim Shepherd (Dalry HS) 1163.0
Central Section sent 419 birds; 1st, 2nd & 3rd Harvey Pollock (Irvine HS) 1126.6, 1119.5 & 1113.2
South Section sent 649 birds; 1st B Lenachan (Annbank & District) 1149.9
2nd W Lawrence (Whitletts & District) 1143.1 3rd M Brown (Whitletts & District) 1094.2
Almond Valley Federation
News from Lynne Stewart with the Wetherby result flown on 12th May with 1466 birds liberated at 07-00 hours. Topping the federation on 1313 velocity is S Fleming of Armadale he is also 2nd 5th 8th & 16th open. Freddie Jamieson & son of East Calder is 3rd open with John Bird of West Calder club is having a good season with winning the following positions 4th 6th 11th 13th 17th 18th 19th & 20th . J Hadfield of Armadale is 7th open with club mate A Watson in 9th place. Dougie Bald of Balerno club is 10th open with D McBeath of Armadale club in 12th position. C Ross of Balerno club is 14th & 15th open.
Club winners are as follows;
Armadale sent 455 birds; S Fleming 1313.560, 1272.255, 1249.038, J Hadfield 1248.068
Balerno sent 211 birds; D Bald 1237.372, C Ross 1234.286, 1233.930, 1225.545
Carnwath sent 138 birds; B Campbell 1116.640, W Watson 1079.940, B Campbell 1063.569, D Hamilton & Son 1053.701
East Calder sent 194 birds; F Jamieson & Son 1256.704, 1222.793, 1205.347, 1205.088
Forth & Clyde sent 276 birds; D Stewart 1220.065, B & D Halliday 1209.476, L MacDuff 1208.261, 1204.428
West Calder sent 192 birds; J Bird 1254.328, 1248.912, 1235.886, 1234.902
Balerno
News from Colin Bain with the Wetherby result flown on May 12th with 7 members sending 211 birds these were liberated at 07-00 hours. Douglas Bald is first with a 2 year old blue cock a David Reed Vandenabeele doing a velocity of 1237 he is the same way bred as last week’s federation winners. Colin Ross takes the next 3 places on 1234 1233 1225 velocities; with 2 chequer cocks and a blue pied hen on round about. Sorry no information on their breeding all the best Joe and keep up the good work with your column Colin’.
East of Scotland Federation
News from John Baillie with the results from the Ripon race: convoyer John Parry liberated the birds at 08-45 into a light variable wind and another fast race developed. Winning the federation this week is Tam Hunnam of Port Seton, he also takes 6th open. In 2nd, 3rd & 10th positions is John Bird of Prestonpans, with Jim McNeil of Tranent in 4th & 5th open positions. Mr & Mrs Burgess of Ormiston takes 7th place with Tom & Scott McEwen of Elphinstone in 8th open, Graham Wardhaugh of Dirleton fills the 9th open place.
Prestonpans HC; winning this week we have Tam Hunnam with a yearling roundabout hen, she is bred through his Braspenning, and is similar to his federation winner of the first race in 2018.week. In 2nd & 3rd places we have John Bird his first bird is a yearling cock bred by Woodland Stud of Brian Shipley’s. The sire is Golden Pantini and the dam is a daughter of Cruise Missile. In 3rd place is a 2 year old cock that was 2nd federation the previous week bred from a son of Bits & Pieces crossed with a hen loaned from the Markie Stud of Tranent: all John's birds are flown on the roundabout system. Returns were very good.
As typing this up, club members Jamie and Richard Combe have had their birds released from Alencon this morning, flying with the BICC. These birds have already flown a 320 mile race the previous week, they started a week before the federation started there programme and put them into approximately 170 miles for their first race of the season in early April. All the best to them on trying to push out the boundaries of racing pigeons into Scotland. Fanciers in the North East of England are now timing in regularly with the BICC and NFC, so it can be done, sometime during our season with the right conditions. A follow up from Tow Law 2 race; the cock that was 4th federation is bred from stock from Taylor Bros of Newbigging and the hen in 8th open position is a Vandenabeele from Bob Short, both flown by Jim McNeil of Tranent. Thanks once again Joe for adding us into your column yours John B’
Fife Federation
From the Ripon race flown on the 12th May the convoy of 2144 birds were liberated at 10-00 hours into a light north east wind. The top 10 open positions are as follows; 1st & 2nd is D Baldie of St Andrews with the winner doing a velocity of 1449. D Hunter of Methilhill club is 3rd with Jim Honeyman of Kennoway in 4th & 10th place. S Donaldson of Perth club is 5th with Tam Laing of Kennoway in 6th spot. G Anderson of Perth club is 7th & 8th with A McLeod of Kirkcaldy’s Novar in 9th spot.
The East section had St Andrews sending 122 birds; Tayport 81 birds; Methilhaven 136 birds; Kennoway 246 birds and Leven 184 birds. The top 10 are as 1st & 2nd D Baldie; 3rd D Hunter; 4th & 6th J Honeyman; 5th & 8th T Laing; 7th A Whittaker Methilhaven club; 9th J Harcus of St Andrews; 10th J Mackie of Leven club.
Centre Section had Glenrothes & Leslie sending 234 birds; Novar 183 birds. Erskine & son of Novar are 1st 4th 5th & 7th; with Turpie & McCord of Glenrothes & Leslie club in 2nd & 3rd positions, Dean Bridges of the same club is 6th & 8th with Brian Kinnear also from G & L club in 9th & 10th positions.
The West section birdage was as follows; Perth 218 birds; Crossgates 349 birds; Lochgelly 210 birds; Dunfermline 181 birds; 1st 6th & 7th places go to S Donaldson of Perth club. G Anderson of the same club is 2nd & 3rd with A McLeod of Novar in 4th spot. Jock Brockie of Lochgelly club is 5th with J Hynd & son in 8th 9th 10 & 11th all birds on 1400 yards and split by decimals.
Dunfermline RPC
News from David Kennedy who writes, ‘Hi Joe, my apologies for not sending my reports in on a weekly basis but time has not been my friend lately. From the Berwick race 11 members sent 241 birds. John Robertson claimed a clean sweep in the opening race of the season taking the first 3 places. His 1st bird was a 4 year old roundabout cock with R & M Venner of Street bloodlines. His 2nd bird was a 2 year old roundabout cock with the bloodlines of Ian Ross of Kirkintilloch. The hat trick was completed with a 4 year old roundabout hen whose bloodlines were also Ian Ross of Kirkintilloch. From Alnwick again 11 members sent 232 birds, first over the pad this week was Alistair McInnes with a velocity of 1335 ypm, he timed a 4 year old widowhood cock bred down through his A & L Painter Cattrysse bloodlines. 2nd place was Eddie McWilliams with a velocity of 1332.17 ypm. Eddie timed a 2 year old cock sitting on a 4 day old youngster his bloodlines being Tam Paterson of Plean crossed Bob Blyth of Dysart. Andy Ritchie is edged into 3rd place with a velocity of 1332.08 ypm. Andy timed a 4 year old cock sitting 16 days on eggs and was bred by club mate Frank Mitchell from his Jocky King bloodlines.
Alistair McInnes win this week’s nomination and 2 bird nomination. From Sedgefield the red card this week goes to Andy Ritchie with a velocity of 1429 ypm. Andy timed a 4 year old hen sitting on overdue eggs with the blood lines being Petite Rose crossed Eddie McWilliams Gold Award winner. 2nd spot is Alistair McInnes with a velocity off 1417 ypm he timed the same 4 year old widowhood cock that won Alnwick the previous week. Third this week is Eric Reid who times a yearling cock on the drive with a velocity of 1370 ypm. This bird was bred by John McDonald of Lochee in Dundee. Eric Reid wins this week’s nomination and the 2 bird nomination was won by Frank Mitchell. From Ripon a return to the winner’s enclosure is John Robertson with a velocity of 1341 ypm. John timed a 4 year old roundabout cock of R & M Venner of Street bloodlines.
2nd place goes to Andy Ritchie with a velocity of 1328 ypm. Andy timed a homebred yearling cock flying spare and the bloodlines being through Frank Mitchell's and Derek Nordon stock. Third this week is Walker & David Kennedy Loft No1 with a velocity of 1326 ypm. Walker timed a yearling roundabout hen her bloodlines being Marshall & Sons & Smith crossed George Atkinson of Market Weighton Andy Ritchie wins this week’s nomination and 2 bird. Once again sorry for the delay in sending the results in on a weekly basis, yours in sport David K.
Pentland Hills and New Lothian RPC
The New Lothian RPC with the Pentland Hills Federation had their 4th old bird race of the 2018 season from Ripon, a distance of 135-147 miles for the members. 14 clubs sent 3349 birds and race controller Bobby Graham gave the go ahead to liberate at 08-45 into a light variable wind. Winning 1st New Lothian and federation for the second week in succession is the inform loft of Stuart Gilchrist from Edinburgh Premier club. He timed his yearling widowhood cock on 1469 velocity. The pigeon was bred by Paul Morrison of Bo’ness from a Page Brothers Janssen when paired to a Karl Boeckx X De-Klak hen. This pair has bred numerous prize winners for various fanciers including the winner of the Bo’ness open for Paul. Again Stuart (TTH) failed to include the 10p Kill on his pool sheet making John Milne extremely wealthier!
Top ten are as follows; 1st Stuart Gilchrist of Edinburgh Premier with a velocity of 1469. J Hume of Arniston is 2nd with W Hume (jnr) of Danderhall club in 3rd place. L Mitchell of Castlebrae club is 4th followed by Owenson Brothers of Danderhall club in 5th spot. Club mates T Nolan & son is 6th followed by another Danderhall loft to F Robertson who wins 7th place. Stevie Girdwood of Sighthill club is 8th followed by Brown & Black of Woodburn to take the next 2 places.
Club Winners are as follows;
Edinburgh Premier 229birds; 1st & 2nd Gilchrist 3rd Dick
Arniston 266 birds; 1st Milne 2nd & 3rd W Pryde & son
Danderhall 785 birds; 1st W Hume (jnr) 2nd Owenson 3rd Nolan
Castlebrae 138 birds; 1st 2nd & 3rd L Mitchell
Sighthill 190 birds; 1st 2nd & 3rd Girdwood
Woodburn 211 birds; 1st & 2nd Brown & Black 3rd Allen
Bonnyrigg 257 birds; 1st Neill 2nd & 3rd Watson
Edinburgh West 138 birds; 1st C Bennett 2nd Verth 3rd Lamb
Loanhead 144 birds; 1st & 2nd Anderson 3rd Murray
Easthouses 228 birds; 1st Sanderson 2nd Bertram 3rd Reilly
Rosewell 85 birds; 1st Gibson 2nd G Tyler 3rd Cunningham & Ness
Peebles 40 birds;
Traprain 541 birds; 1st Thomson 2nd Newcombe & Black 3rd Mack
New Lothian 97 birds;
New Lothian RPC had 66 lofts sending 2039 birds; Stuart Gilchrist of Edinburgh Premier is the winner and lifts £15. Second winning £146 is J Milne of Arniston club with W Hume of Danderhall winning £8. L Mitchell of Castlebrae club is 4th followed by Owenson Brothers of Danderhall club in 5th spot. Club mates T Nolan & son are 6th with club mate F Robertson in 7th place. Stevie Girdwood of Sighthill club is 8th followed by Brown & Black of Woodburn to take the next 2 places.
Another of Brown & Black's Federation Winners
North of Scotland Federation
From the Arniston old bird race flown on 12th May 75 members entered 1752 birds, Davie the convoyer had them away into a light south west wind with blue sky. The east section had 36 members sending 1028 birds. They dominated the 1st x 20 open places. Topping the federation and east section is A Higgins of Fraserburgh West End club he is also 2nd & 4th. W Henderson of the same club is 3rd with Robbie Higgins in 5th & 6th spot. 7th open 1st west section is A Milne of Devern Valley club. G Findlay of Peterhead & District is 7th 8th & 9th east section 8th 10th & 11th open. A Wilson of Devern & Valley club is 2nd west section 9th open. D Ward of Fraserburgh & District club is 10th east section and 12th open. C McRae of the same club is 11th east section 13th open. J (Ian) Gibb also from the same Fraserburgh club is 12th section 14th open. Gordon Willox of Peterhead & District is 13th & 16th section 15th & 18th open with club mate Chris Donaldson in 14th 15th & 19th section 16th 17th & 21st open. Another Peterhead loft of Stuart Maskame is 17th east section 19th open and making up the top 20 in the fed are C & M Williams in 18th section 20th open.
West Section had 39 members sending 724 birds; the 1st x 2 birds I’ve mentioned above. G R Duncan of Keith club is 3rd & 7th section 31st & 36th open. Ronnie Wilson of Keith is 4th section 32nd open. G Wilson of Devern Valley is 5th section 33rd open. Fulton & Ritchie of Devern Valley club are 6th & 10th west section and are 34th & 39th open. P Sherman of the same club is 8th section 37th open and N Raymond of Devern Valley is 9th section 38th open.
Clubs First Bird
Fraserburgh West End winner A Higgins; Devern Valley winner A Milne; Peterhead & District winner G Findlay; Fraserburgh & District winner C McRae Keith winner G R Duncan; Inverurie winner A Foster; Buckie & District winner J Cumming; Elgin & District winners Jack & Reid. Well done to A Higgins on topping the federation and also well done to A Milne on winning the West section; cheers Joe yours George Duthie race secretary.
Buckie & District
News from Gavin Russel who informs us they were at Arniston on the 12th May and the birds were liberated at 08-00 hours. 1st club is John Cumming with a ve1ocity of 1395 he timed a yearling blue chequer hen flying roundabout, her breeding is J Strachan crossed John’s no 1 stock hen. 2nd club is Neil Christie on 1393 with a yearling blue bar flying widowhood Jan Aarden x Busschaert. 3rd club is Ian Coull 1393.72 with a 2 year old flying to the perch, he is Ellis x Jan Aarden x Paul Woolliss. I have the sad news that our club secretary Harry Mullan at the age of 70 years old pass away in hospital on the 15th May. Harry will be sadly missed by everyone in the club may he R.I.P. Thanks Joe Gavin Russell’.
Good SNFC Birds
This feature was missed last week as I was not having Margaret go through national results looking for pigeon’s she did enough doing my column. This week I start with 2 birds from north of the Tay the first is to Angus federation’s David J Liddle of Forfar. His chequer cock SU11AF 520 has won 6 times in the national starting in 2014 from Buckingham a distance of 330 miles he won 57th section C 228th open that same year he was sent to Maidstone and won 11th section C 49th open flying 401 miles; he was then sent to Clermont a distance of 549 miles and he won 32nd section C 119th open to finish off a wonderful season. In 2015 he again scored from the inland national this time from Portsmouth a distance of 408 miles and he won 24th section C 98th open the following year he was entered into the Reims Gold Cup race and won 6th section C 21st open flying 588 miles. Then last year he once again competed from an inland national this time from Buckingham and he won 44th section C 144th open, So he has 4 inland national diplomas plus 2 channel diplomas to his credit and I don’t know if David will send him to achieve a Bronze and Silver award but if he does good luck in 2018. Staying on this side of the River Tay we come to the loft of J & J Hunt of Dundee who have a blue cock SU14DF 1256 who has won 3 times from inland nationals and twice from Ypres. His performances are as follows; in 2015 he won 8th section C 29th open from Eastbourne flying a distance of 422 miles. Then in 2016 he won 105th section C 428th open from Littlehampton a distance of 409 miles, he was then sent to Ypres and won 21st section C 54th open flying 463 miles. In 2017 he was sent to Bedhampton a distance of 401 miles and he won 49th section C 167th open and once again went to Ypres where he won 21st section 57th open only 3 places off his previous Ypres result. Moving to the central belt of Scotland we come to the village of Stoneyburn to the loft of Lumsden & Colligan whose chequer pied cock SU14W 1380 has won 5 times in the national his performances are as follows; In 2016 he won 3 times being 5th section D 172nd open from Buckingham a distance of 286 miles. He was then sent to Littlehampton a distance of 371 miles and he won 13th section D 128th open he was then set up for Ypres a distance of 438 miles and he won 203rd open but failed to win a section prize. Last year he was sent to Bedhampton a distance of 362 miles and won 35th section D 333rd open then set up for the Ypres race he was to the fore winning 11th section D 89th open to win his 5 national diploma, well done lads and good luck with this bird in 2018.
1st Fed Kelso 224 2nd Fed Kelso 5567
Joe’s Joke
A therapist has a theory that couples who make love once a day are the happiest. So he tests it at a seminar by asking those assembled, “How many people here make love once a day?” Half the people raise their hands, each of them grinning widely. “Once a week?” A third of ?the audience members raise their hands, their grins a bit less vibrant. “Once a month?” A few hands tepidly go up. Then he asks, “OK, how about once a year?” One man in the back jumps up and down, jubilantly waving his hands. The therapist is shockedthis disproves his theory. “If you make love only once a year,” he asks, “why are you so happy?”
The man yells, “Today’s the day!”
Please continue to keep the news flowing; to Joe Murphy Mystical Rose Cottage 2 Flutorum Avenue Thornton by Kirkcaldy KY1 4BD or phone 01592 770331 or Email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. REMEMBER THE J IN THE MIDDLE or log onto www.elimarpigeons.com www.fancierchat.co.uk www.pigeon-chat.co.uk and www.Pigeonbasics.com - Pigeon Racing the Basics! Who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland
© Compiled by Joe Murphy