LEINSTER NORTH ROAD FEDERATION

by Francis Corcoran

February 2015

The Barrow Valley Racing Pigeon Club held their annual prize presentation in the Graiugecullen GAA club house on Sunday evening the 1st of December. The evening began at six o’ clock as it was considered a more appropriate time for all concerned, what with people working on the Monday or having to get home to the kids before bedtime. It was all possible to do, so no excuses for non-attendance.

The food was provided by one of our members, Onario Rocca. Rocca runs a very busy restaurant in the local area. On arrival, he normally assesses the numbers present at the do and can calculate in minutes what food is required for those present. It all arrives fresh at about eight. The presentation was completed by the treasurer Joe Brennan and the Secretary Roly Brennan just before the food arrived and a very efficient job they done of it too. The highest prize winners for the 2014 season were the partnership of Roly Brennan and Onario Rocca, followed by Jimmy Hurley in the runner-up spot. Best Novice of the year was young Damien Mather and best newcomer was Michael Ramsbottom.

I found an old mobile phone on the sideboard the other day belonging to Marguerite, one she had long since finished with. On asking if it had a camera I was assured it did and that it was in working order. I’m not really a phone or for that matter a camera person, not even having one myself on my own phone, I decided to commandeer this one and use it in my day-to-day activities, ie taking a few photos for the weekly books and not be too dependent on others to take photos for me. When I went to clear this camera I noticed some photos that had been taken over a year ago. The reason I had them taken was to see if the stitching job I had performed on the poor unfortunate bird in question would be a success and whether or not he could go on to compete in future competitions, and if so, how would he fare. I hope the photos included are not too gruesome to publish but I would like to illustrate just how brave our feathered friends really are, and can be, under such adversity. Other people might have administered a different treatment to the poor brute, as we pigeon fanciers have often had to do, but in this instance I felt that the bird in question had put in such a heroic effort in returning to the loft that surely it was worth the effort to try and save him. At this juncture and to illustrate another point I will tell you that the injuries sustained were probably as a result of the bird absolutely hurling itself into a blackthorn hedge in its efforts to escape the clutches of a Peregrine Falcon. The whole flock of trainers had scattered in all directions just after they were released. The strike and the ensuing chase unfolded in front of me. It was a sad sight to see this grand batch of birds being so brutally persecuted by this seemingly insatiable raptor that would stop at nothing to feast on one of those birds that he was in pursuit of. With not a thing I could do to stop the mayhem, I left the scene and headed for home.

On return home there were several birds missing, as was only to be expected, on the second evening this poor fellow turned up carrying the injuries that you see illustrated. Without doubt it was one of the worst lacerations I had ever seen. We set to with needle and thread, after some thirty or forty stitches we were beginning to make some progress and apart from the problems encountered trying to tidy up the crop lining we were happy with the outcome. Nothing to do then except allow him to rest and hope for the best. I have to admit that I didn’t handle the bird for months as I was afraid that the stitches might bust in the act of catching and examining the wound, I thought it better to leave well enough alone. He did however start to exercise with the other birds after only a few weeks and apart from sporting a bit of a frill on his chest, he seemed to be none the worse for wear.

Horrific injuries

Lots of stitches

Finished product

In 2014 he was back on the road training, lightly at first, as I was going to stop him if he showed any sign of distress. Nothing untoward happened during the training and when the time came he was entered into a few short races before eventually taking part in two cross Channel events, one from Mauchline, the other from Hamilton (both these races from the west of Scotland) and although he didn’t set the result sheet on fire, he did what was asked of him on the day. Some writers give the impression that it is only winners and good performers that should be kept in the loft, and they may be right, but to me the bravery and tenacity of this particular chequer cock will always assure him of a place in our lofts.

Our little Jack Russell terrier, Buddy, was always a constant companion to both myself and Marguerite no matter where we went. He had learned at an early age that the pigeons were a no go area for him, and also in the Birdroom he learned not to touch any of the many escapees that we would have on a daily basis whilst feeding and cleaning out the birds. Canaries in particular would be on the ground after just a few flaps before being caught with the net. In the early days the odd bird could be seen sticking out of Buddy’s mouth ‘I taught I saw a putty cat’ sort of thing, but he wasn’t long in learning to leave them alone. His forte however was to catch any rodents, mostly mice that might be attracted around the place and this duty he performed with due diligence. If there was a mouse on the property he wouldn’t stop until the intruder had been dispatched. He didn’t however distinguish between good bags of bird seed and bags of rubbish - if there was a mouse under or behind them, they were all pulled asunder until the dirty deed was carried out and Buddy would be happy. Needless to say it was often an expensive solution to the problem but one we put up with in our determination to keep the place rodent free.

Constant companion the late Buddy

Apart from his vermin control work he liked nothing better that to travel in the van, always taking the front seat with his paws firmly placed upon the dashboard, so as to be able to survey all in front of him. Mile after mile he would stand there, looking, watching, for what, I don’t know, but he always seemed to enjoy his trips.

If he had one fault, it was to exit the van as quickly as possible having reached his destination or on return home, it was that, we think that might have signalled the end for poor auld Buddy, as it appeared that he slipped a disc on exit from the van just after Christmas. The first indication was the fact that he could not jump up on his usual chair, we thought at first that he had enjoyed the festive season too much and had put on a bit of weight, but within days we had him with the vet. Cortisone injections were administered without a proper result, he then went to a specialist clinic in Howth Co Dublin where he underwent an emergency operation on his spine, but all to no avail. Poor old buddy died on January 18th , just 18 days after we first noticed he had a problem. Gone, but not forgotten, he has been replaced by a nice little fellow, this time, in black and white, a bit smaller in size I’d imagine, but hopefully, he will live up to expectations.

One other thing I would also like to say, and that is if you have a dog that you are fond of, it pays to have them insured, as you can then get the best possible treatment for them without too much soul searching as to the amount of money you have to spend to have them looked after properly. I can tell you that I won’t be complaining about the cost of treating and looking after pigeons, having witnessed first-hand how much it costs to treat a small dog.

The new arrival - hope he lives up to expectations

With all the commotion going on just after the festive season, I wasn’t much in the humour for writing. Not that there was a whole lot going on in the pigeon world: the politics I’m not that interested in, as very little of any good ever comes out of all that rubbish.

The breeding season is in full swing now and the racing season is just around the corner. It won’t be long before we will have some racing news and results to report on and that of course is the best part of the year for most fanciers, hopefully we will have better racing than we have had over the past couple of years. With any luck it will only have been a slight hitch and we can get back to normal racing.

A couple of things I would like to mention. I would like to apologise to a fancier from east London who rang me some time ago. I promised I would ring him back but unfortunately I forgot to save his number and therefore was unable to get in touch - my apologies.

Also, young Alf Nolan was very poorly in hospital over the Christmas and the New Year period with quite a serious illness, and it was touch and go there for a while. He is now out and home, being looked after by his wife Kathleen. I’m sure with all the attention he is receiving he will be up and about in no time. Alf has asked me to thank both his wife Kathleen and his daughter Becky for looking after the pigeons during his stay in hospital. He tells me that they were kept in such good nick during his absence that he was hoping that they might put in a stint during the racing season to see if they might improve his results. They are a very close couple and this year is one of the few, for obvious reasons that they have missed the Blackpool Show. The couple have been going to Blackpool for quite a long time now. If I’m not mistaken Kathleen was going when old Alf and his wife Pauline were going, and that’s going back a bit.

Anyway, glad to hear he is on the mend.

Well that’s it for this week. I’m hoping that I can keep the column going each week on a few snippets until the real action starts.

Any news to Francis This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or 00353599145419 

Punch

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