NEWS FROM SCOTLAND

Report by Joe Murphy

Received an email from Brian Garnham who wrote: ‘Joe can I congratulate you on an excellent & informative article in this week’s pigeon paper. This is particularly interesting to me as for several years I have been trying to make sense of this phenomenon. If we accept that pigeons once outside their area of recognition need other aids in order to navigate home from the Lib point. Then most scientific evidence points to position of the sunor magnetic north being most influential in aiding the birds. Obviously that is a generality as many other less obvious aids have been bandied about, but if we remove both of the above then many losses will ensue.

'My first real evidence of the K factor came several years ago when being warned by Frank Tasker to take care on this particular week end as his Chinese visitors told him we were due a very high reading. Although not a particularly bad, but cloudy day, organisations across the country including our own had poor and erratic returns. The Chinese connection continued as over a number of years we sent birds for entry into the Beijing Classic. In their race reports the K factor for the day took prominence which took my attention. Luckily we managed to go to Beijing for the big race in 2004, arriving at the lofts on the day of the race to be told the birds had been liberated. This astounded us all as for many miles around the city it was totally smog bound. No sign of the sun even when we were flying in from some miles off. We were assured not to worry as it was a particularly low K factor. Most of the foreign visitors were very sceptical however right on cue the birds arrived. Best foreign bird one of Mick Betts I believe so well done Micky.

'Ever since I've been convinced of the effect many times reading Bilco & Round O's warnings etc. As the years have gone on though I've noticed sometimes the effects vary in intensity depending on other weather conditions, these seem to be whenever you loose the sun for long periods, ie: OVERCAST OR WHEN YOU GET A TOTAL (Blueout) ie: no clouds. Both these conditions when combined with high K factor give erratic returns. This years racing has had two high readings which have given very strange races the first was the weekend of May 26th when birds flying mainly south of England were badly affected, then a fortnight later Saturday 8th June was fair but birds liberated on Sunday or Monday 9th & 10th were affected all over the country. Talking as I do to friends all over the whole country after the above weekend racing from east coast to west coast by the way. Everyone spoke of pigeons arriving off line i.e.: coming from the west and on this weekend it was predominantly westerly winds. The biggest snag of all Joe is what you said in your article it will be seen as just bunkum.As of yet, forecasting as you will see when visiting sites is still only a prediction, sometimes wrong.Although the last shuttle launch carried equipment that should be able to read more accurately the suns activity and this will help us no end. Hope you don't think I've been (at it) Joe not a drink all day! Hope this helps other fanciers and again I applaude you for your contribution to the sport in general keep up the good work yours Brian’. My thanks to Brian and the other fanciers who took the time to send in an email to me it was very kind of them.

Other Talking Points

Received a letter from Dino Donnini of Skipton in North Yorkshire who had been following my past articles over the years and we spoke on the telephone about other aspects of Scottish racing and I asked Dino to write some of his ideas down and post them to me. Dino is obviously a fancier who had great experience of racing pigeons and although everyone may not agree with his comments; however that is each individuals choice my contribution is that if one fancier takes something out of these writings that will help him or her develop into becoming a better pigeon fancier then it will have been worth Dino and my time.

Dino starts off with: ‘Most of the money which the sport gives to charity should go back into our sport; we need to start helping ourselves for a change.’ Well I agree with this and a prime example is we need to peruse scientific evidence showing that racing pigeons are not carriers of HN51. Professor  ????? in Canada has said it over and over again but we need to use this information and go back to DEFRA and show them this. We also require legal backing so that they cannot stop us from racing our birds from the continent if we don’t stand up and fight this now we can say good bye to long distance racing. I know that Peter Bryant has worked hard over the past few years but he is lone voice and we need concrete proof to back him up. We said last year that this bird flu could be with us for the next 10 years and here we are with only ONE true distance race for the 2007 season. I know many fanciers (I was one of them) who keep pigeons solely for the SNFC long distance races nothing else matters. If we are not guaranteed at least Alencon and Tours then we will lose fanciers as many will not keep pigeons to just fly from the English Coastline. I know one top fancier who is waiting to see what happens in 2008 and if we don’t obtain channel racing then he will sell up and go back to his original hobby of hill walking. Believe me, he is one of the best distance fanciers I have met with a record to back him up and the other thing is he is not alone in these feelings.

Many specialist long distance clubs have funds which if the need arose they could make a contribution towards paying either scientific evidence or legal fees to guarantee channel racing both up here in Scotland as well as England, Wales and Ireland. If not the money they make from young birds sales could be added to Preserving Our Channel Racing Fund. To get back to Dino’s letter his 2nd point is; Regarding Channel racing Joe, we must change our methods in these long distance races as birds are being liberated without being fed. I feel that conveyers should feed pigeons prior to release and this will help them on the homeward journey. If we look at the wild birds say for example geese who fly from Iceland to Canada a distance of over thousands of miles and they never stop for a drink, however they do fill themselves up prior to their departure. All we need is some brave convoyers to try this theory out and obtain feedback from the fanciers on how their birds are on return however the most important effect would be as near as 100% returns as possible.     

Point 3: Fanciers could also save money if they stopped buying medication for their pigeons, Dino who is 75 years of age has kept pigeons most of his life said, ‘My pigeons have never been subjected to any type of medication, and believe me when I say that young bird sickness is never heard on in my loft Joe’.

Point 4: Another thing that Dino advises on is buying books to read about how to win races, if you don’t have the pigeons it will not matter one hoot how many books you buy You will never win if you don’t have the correct ‘tackle’ it is as simple as that. How many fanciers do you know who go to Blackpool show after reading the adverts in the pigeon papers and purchase birds EVERY year, what a waist of money? They would be better spending their money with ONE top fancier and start off with a family that has been tested over and over at whatever distances the fancier intends to race his pigeons from. Rather than have birds from this and that fancier, whom to be honest are only trying to make a quick kill, if these so called quality pigeons had bred winners every year they would be not for sale in the first place, and the quicker fanciers realize this the better for themselves and the sport in general.

Dino finishes off his letter by saying, 'Joe if you print these remarks I will have saved fanciers a lot of money. My family has studied the wing theory for many years, and are fanciers aware that the designers of Airplane wings have copied the curvature of bird’s wings to give their machines lift.' For FREE information on any of the above subjects give Dino a ring on 01756 791337.

SALE OF THE CENTENARY

The late bred sale is in aid of the SHU Centenary fund will be on line by the time this is in print and an advert of the donors will appear in the pigeon press within the next week or two. As most of you know we are producing a book on our 100 years in existence and are holding a special centenary dinner/presentation on Saturday 17th November at the Hillcroft Hotel in Whitburn. This is going to be the biggest event held in Scotland for many years. The sub committee of the Centenary Fund agreed to present a silver medal to all federation winners at this event and the meal is financed by proceeds from this sale and other fund raising events we have been carrying out throughout the year. This late bred sale is something very special and I must thank Les Parkinson and Cameron Stansfield of Elimar Pigeon Service for their allowing us to use their on line auction sale service and a big THANK YOU on behalf of the Scottish Homing Union membership. The quality of birds are out of this world with 7 direct from 1st open SNFC winners, others down from Gold Award winners, direct from 1st NRCC Fraserburgh & 1st NRCC Thurso; direct from twice winner of 2 RPRA Awards; direct from 8th & 40th open NFC Tarbes; direct from 3 x times SNFC winner; direct from sire and dam of 1st open SNFC Winners; grand children of 1st national Barcelona, 1st national Narbonne, 1st national Perpignan, 1st national Limoges, 1st national Cabors and a double grand son of Invincible Spirit 1st international Barcelona 27.068 birds.      

Plus 2 batches of 6 youngsters direct from Braspenning and Andre Clements stock it goes on and on. Excellence shines throughout this sale and it is packed with superiority pigeons just study each individual birds pedigree on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and then place your bids against your choice. Once logged onto the Elimar site you can pay by Pay Pal which will take your credit card details etc and it also gives you the safety net of having your own password so no one else can access your account. This has been of great benefit in previous sales and we are indeed grateful to Elimar Pigeon Services. To allow fanciers an even better chance of purchasing one of these top pigeons I have decided to sell the lots in 3 groups. This way if you were unsuccessful in trying to obtain a pigeon in the first lot on offer then you have the chance to try again in the other 2 sale lots - I can’t be anymore fairer than this.

Lots 1-15 sale finishes on Sunday 2nd September at 21.00 hours.

Lot 16-30 sale finishes on Monday 3rd September at 21.00 hours.

Lots 31-43 sale finishes on Tuesday 4th September at 21.00 hours.

Don’t miss out on what is literally for the SHU ‘The Sale of the Centenary

A list of successful bidders will appear on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.site on the following night after each lot has been sold. ALL names and amounts raised will appear at close of auction. If you are not on the net or don't have email you can alternatively contact sale organiser JOE MURPHY SHU PRO Mystical Rose Cottage 2 Flutorum Avenue Thornton Fife KY1 4BD or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or telephone JOE on 01592 770331 after 7pm. Joe will place your bid on the web site by contacting Les Parkinson who will add your offer. If a fancier places a minimum bid of say £100 and his maximum submission is £250 this information will go onto the Elimar web site and as the original bid is beaten the fanciers other offer will always out bid the new bidder up to the maximum of his £250 tender. If for example the final bid is £250 the fancier who placed the first offer name will go to the top of the list and he will be the winner of that pigeon, as he placed his bid at the very beginning so this shows you cannot get more open-mindedly than this. Watch out for the ADVERT in NEXT WEEK’S paper.

FINALLY, AFTER EXPENCES ALL PROCEEDS WILL GO TOWARDS THE SHU CENTENARY FUND

Results

Howe of Fife news from Terry Turpie with the last few old bird’s race results, from Ripon 2 Alistair McCudden took the first 3 places his winner was a 3 year old blue widowhood cock being a Van Loon and he is a previous winner. Second bird is also a Van Loon blue yearling hen again a previous winner who returned with a broken leg as a youngster. The third bird is a 2 year old blue Dordin hen bred by Dougie Hain of Ladybank. From the SNFC Newbury race the winner was Brian Kinnear with a 2 year old Janssen hen sent sitting 10 days on eggs, she had won Ripon earlier this year, Brian is also 3rd club with a 2 year old mealy cock flown spare he is inbred to Kiers My Little Lady. Second are Turpie and McCord with a 2 year old blue hen Van Braune crossed Colin Bacon of Exeter, she was sent feeding a 12 day old young bird on her own as her cock was taken away 2 days before basketing. This hen won 1st club 4th section 12th open Otterburn in the same nest condition. In her first training toss from Crail in 2006 she ended up in Kevin Murphy’s loft in Arbroath, and she has never put a foot wrong since. This hen won Newburgh club in the same Newbury race. In the Ripon 2 race the winner of the Newburgh club was Bob Wilson with a yearling cock sent sitting 10 days on eggs. This cock was a gift from Grant Anderson hen he retired from the pigeons in 2006. He only had the first 2 races as a youngster and is one of 4 birds bred from Robert O Jones of Wales being down from his Thurso Cock. Second and third are Turpie & McCord with their first a blue yearling Braspenning sent driving his hen. This cock is a son of Kevin Murphy’s good Braspenning hen who won 1st club 3 weeks on the trop in the Howe club. She was paired to a Braspenning cock being from De Felle crossed Van Morsel and was loaned to Kevin to pair to his hen. The partnerships second bird is a yearling blue white flight hen flying spare as he cock was lost at Newbury; she is from Venner bloodlines one of 4 bought from West & Morgan of Abergaveny              

Fife Federation news from Catherine Jarvis who tells us that the members sent 1086 birds to Ripon 2 with Mick Donnachie of Crossgates the winner of both the federation and west section. Second section is John Brockie of Glencraig with Walker Kennedy of Crossgates in 3rd place, followed by John Robertson of Dunfermline in 4th & 8th places. J Thomson of Lochgelly is 5th with Mr. & Mrs H Park of Dunfermline in 6th place. S Hyslop of Crossgates is 7th with J Coltart of Perth in 8th spot. Willie Stark of Lochgelly is 10th with club mate and good pal Jim Beveridge in 11th place just ahead of Dave Whyte of Cardenden.

East Section is won by Brian Chalmers of Kennoway who is also 5th 6th & 7th section. Tam Laing of the same club is 2nd with Austin Whittaker keeping up his good form this season with a 3rd section. Dave Brown of Leven is 4th and 8th with his club mate Willie Dunnigan in 9th & 10th position. Kennoway’s Dave Hamilton is 11th just ahead of Jim Honeyman.

Centre section has Wattie Foreman of Novar in 1st & 5th places with club mate Jock King 2nd Alistair McCudden is 3rd, 4th 6th & 8th with Novar’s Dave Brown in 7th & 9th places. Willie Hutchison of Novar is 10th followed by Howe members Brian Kinnear ahead of Turpie & McCord.

From the Otterburn 2 race the East section is dominated by Kennoway Club who took the first 10 places with Norrie Smith taking the first 3, followed by Tam Laing in 4th, Brian Chalmers in 5th, 7th & 8th places, Jim Honeyman is 6th with his brother Jock in 9th & 10th places. Jim Mackie of Leven is 11th just ahead of his club secretary Ron Stevenson in 12th place. The centre section first 7 places are won by Howe of Fife that I think were the only club to race, Alistair McCudden is 1st & 3rd with Mr. & Mrs Nicholson in 2nd 6th & 7th. Turpie & McCord are 4th & 5th.

West section is dominated by Perth club with J Harvey in 1st & 6th place just ahead of J Blair in 2nd place. G Williams is 3rd 4th & 5th with Stewart Donaldson in 7th & 8th place. Bob Wilson of Howe of Fife is 9th with R Williams is 9th with namesake G Williams in 11th & 12th places.

News from Rhona Simpson with details of the Arniston Miners Welfare Homing Society who fly with the Midlothian federation, having had our first race cancelled due to a bad forecast the young bird season started with Otterburn where 15 members sent 570 birds which were liberated at 7.15 into a west north west wind 1st  the partnership of Billy Pryde & son  John with a chequer hen that they bred themselves from Colin Fleming of Southport  Grondaleers x Eddie Wright Busschaert this hen was racing to the perch doing a velocity of 1000ypm also winning 6th Fed. 2nd club and 7th Fed was Billy & John again this time with a blue flight cock bred themselves from their Eddie Wright Janssen stock birds, also racing to the perch on 998.185 ypm a close 3rd doing 998.150 and 8th Fed was Ricky & Rhona Simpson with a blue hen that they bred themselves down from Alun Mauls from Wales being Janssen’s and a Van Loon hen from Eric Owenson  of Loanhead this bird as the others was racing to the perch Rhona finishes of by saying ‘Sorry about the lack of old bird reports Joe I was in hospital having a baby and was too far behind with these to catch up’ no problems Rhona and it is good to have you back with the reports.

Gilmerton club had 13 members sending 330 young birds to Otterburn 2 with 1st place going to Duncan Crookston with a blue pied Belge rung hen doing 970 this young hen took up with a cock and was sitting 5 days on eggs. She was a full pooler and wins £88. Duncan bought her over at the Leir market in Belgium does not know the strain but I believe thy call them "The Lier Market Specials" She only had 1 toss from Middleton and 3 from Heriot which is 15 miles or so. Duncan has for many years experienced a lot of his pigeons being killed by hawks even in front of his loft.

Second is Allan Robertson with a red chequer pied cock doing 965 he was flying to the perch and is bred from a pair of pigeons from Colin Bain of Ratho, in turn they are from Robert Cormack stock. Joe on Friday 6th July in the afternoon Allan like many other fanciers tossed his young birds at Fountainhall only 14 miles and did not get one pigeon home that night and ended up with 28 out of 39 these were well trained and I wondered if it had anything to do with your article in this weeks paper on the Solar Cycle? Third are Baillie & Priest with a blue chequer cock doing 959 Glen let the young cock see his hen the day before marking. He is bred down from stock from Martha Van Geel and was given 5 tosses and 2 from Selkirk a distance of 35 miles.

Glenrothes & Leslie club result from Tam Maxwell who tells us that 2 members sent 42 birds to Kelso 2 with the 1st, 2nd & 3rd places going to Ian McMurchie with 3 darkness hens doing 921, 464 & 462 velocities as you can see from these what type of race it was well done to Ian.

This week’s photographs

Are of Roy and Marion Seaton of Annan's 2 SNFC winners from Newbury and Maidstone in 2007. My thanks to Jim Hannah for supplying the pictures.

Keep the news coming to Joe Murphy, Mystical Rose Cottage, 2 Flutorum Avenue, Thornton by Kirkcaldy KY1 4BD or phone 01592 770331 email address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.