STAFFORDSHIRE MOORLANDS & DISTRICT FEDERATION

by Thomas Garvie

Frome 2 & Blandford 3 - June 2012

Well after having a fairly decent race from Le Mans last week the fed has moved back to Frome and here the fed had 1404 birds for this race and as usual we were waiting in the rain for the birds. That is the normal at our lofts but we have a good supply of water proof clothes up here as we certainly need them. We were hoping that the coming week would bring some decent weather, especially Wednesday as we had entered birds in to the show at Cheshire, which is our first outing for the birds after Blackpool show. There is nothing worse than going to a show where it has been wet and you are trudging through mud and water and you cannot get a chance to see half of what is on offer because when it rains everything is covered up. Everything went to plan because on the show day [19th June] it was a gorgeous day and the sun was shining from the off and it was a perfect day to take the racers with us for a training toss. I on't mind taking them to Cheshire as it is a good place for letting them go. We let them up as soon as we arrived as we wanted them well out the way before the man was there who was displaying and showing his falcons. I did not want them to be trained towards our birds as we all know what happens there!!!

As it turned out we had a fairly good show with the racers we had entered and we won a few classes but more importantly we won best racer there. I have included a photo of our blue JanSsen cock in his pen with his rosette and card for first place. he is just a plain blue bar cock but he feels great and he has won best racer for us at shows before. Liz certainly gets them into good show condition as all the birds we had entered felt really good. It is a good chance to get a few young racers in a pen for the first time as they will be going to a few shows over the year and any time spent in a pen can only help. There is nothing worse than trying to catch a bird in the pen when it is wild as anything.

I like going to the country shows as there are always a few things we need to pick up. They are never cheap but this time I think I got a bargain with a nice thick fleece jacket for the coming cold days [it might be needed for summer]. I always take this chance to stock up with a few bulbs and this time we got some Alium bulbs, as we think these tall bulbous flowers look stunning when out. They are not cheap but we loved them so we indulged a bit. I need to get them planted as soon as I get a chance but there just never seems to be enough time in the day.

Best racer in Cheshire Show.

Getting back to the race, the birds were liberated at 08-30 on the Sunday morning as basketing had been put back to the Saturday night because the weather forecast was poor for the Saturday morning. It would not have made any difference to us as Sunday morning was identical to Saturday morning but it was better down south on the Sunday morning.

Taking top spot in the fed were M/M A Hargreaves from Blythebridge on 1621, next were A&J Pike from Berryhill on 1612 followed by M/M Forrester from Alton on 1609, Burton &Jones from Ipstones were on 1608 ,R&J Goodwin & son also from Ipstones were on 1607, Ken Pettitt from Blythbridge was next on 1599. A new name to me was A&D Macmillan from Meir who took the next three places on 1594[2] and their third on 1593 and taking the tenth fed place was D Glover from Ipstones on 1591. So there we have the fed top ten so well done to them and well done to everyone who sends in the fed.

I wish the clubs that send me their information could please send a photo of the winning bird or even the winning member. Ideally a photo of the owner and the bird would be great as there have been some fantastic performances put up in the fed this year and there are no photos of them to go with their good performances. You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make them drink and it is the same with the clubs as you can hope for information but you can't drag it out of them. They are only depriving the winning birds of the recognition they should have, especially after a long tough season where the birds have had to put up with some horrible weather, especially the north east winds which seem to be with us for an eternity this year. This has taken i's toll on the birds as well because they will only face it for so long then they get more reluctant to return.

A few club notes now starting with Ipstones where eight members sent 89 birds and taking the red card here were Burton & Jones on 1608 with a yearling cock. Second and fourth were R7 J Goodwin & son on 1607 and 1583 with a yearling cock then a two year old cock next and in third place was D Glover on 1595 with a 5 year old cock. Macclesfield now where ten members sent 116 birds and taking yet another red card as well as being second and fourth were father and son Rick and Simon Geary on velocities of 1537, 1533 and 1526. Their first bird was a two year old Soontjen x Vandenbeele which has already had two firsts this year. Their second pigeon was only having its second outing this year and this bird topped the fed from Fougeres last season. Their next bird was a yearling cock. Club PO Kev Bowers was third on 1532 with a 3 year old Soontjen cock and this same bird was 1st in the club and 10th in the fed from Le Mans. This race was sponsored by the Navigation Inn, which is the club headquarters. Last club I have any news on this week is Hayfield where Chris Mourne takes the red card breaking up a fantastic streak of winning inland races of J L Gibb. Chris was also third on velocities of 1518 and 1507 with a two year old cock then a three year old cock and relegated to second place was sprint king Jim Gibb on 1514 with a 5 year old cock. In fourth place were youngsters David and Jean Ashby with a three year old cock on 1480.

That rounds up everything for this race and now the fed has moved on to Blandford, which is our longest inland racing point. This race is the week before Messac so I dare say some will use it as a training toss for some longer races but sometimes this can backfire if things go wrong, as they usually can in pigeon racing. We did send a couple which will be going to Saintes but we did not want to risk them all so we intend to give our other candidates plenty of training and maybe then put them in the short race before Saintes. But that will all depend on the weather as I do not intend to risk birds needlessly before the federation's final old bird race. Everybody has their own varied idea of pigeon racing and we have ours and at the moment we are happy with that and will keep to it unless we feel we need a change.

We have just started training our young birds. We are probably well behind most club members but we are in no rush and I do not believe in training them far too far in advance of the first race. I also do not wish to over train them. Again this is only my thoughts as I know folk who have been training for a long time and hammer them down the road as often as possible. I know a lot of members who have been doing this have had some serious losses and also some that have bred very early in the year also suffer badly with hawk attacks because they are looking for food early in the year and the easy target is youngsters who are too young to get away from the clutches of experienced falcons. Where we live we get early year visits from hawks and are glad we have no youngsters out flying at this time of year to become early food for the hawks. At this time of the year we have our racers out very early in the morning and late at night as this seems to help a bit but that does not mean we escape the attacks because I don't think that anybody who has birds flying out escape them at some point in time. They just seem to be everywhere you go because there are certainly a lot more birds of prey than is deemed to be by some organisations that seemingly cannot count!!!

Going back to the Blandford race, the fed had 1143 birds and they were liberated at 07-45 hours in a light south west wind. Taking the first three places in the fed were the Fowler Family from Leek on 1740[2] and one on 1739. Well done to them. Next were R&J Goodwin and son from Ipstones on 1736, next were Challenger & Collett from Meir on 1733 and 1726, and taking the next four fed paces was Mike Webb from Poynton on 1725 with them all. Obviously Mike has now moved on to ETS. That again is the top ten in the fed so well done to them and also well done to everybody who sent in the fed.

A few snippets staring with Ipstones where 5 members sent 56 birds and in first place were R&J Goodwin and son on 1736 with a two year old cock. Next two places went to Burton & Jones on 1721 and 1708 with a yearling cock followed by a yearling hen and fourth place went to D Glover on 1702 with a two year old cock. Next we have Macclesfield where 8 members sent 108 birds and the winner here was Martin Hough on 1724.8 and he was also third on 1722.5. This bird was first club first section as a young bird at Cheltenham and his other bird was a cock which was second in the club from Le Mans. Just pipped into second place by a decimal was Alan Senior on 1724.4 with a yearling Lambrecht x Herman roundabout cock and the nest mate was a winner for him as a youngbird. Fourth pace went to Kev Bowers with a three year old cock claiming its fourth card of the season. This race was sponsored by Marie Ann Hairdressers. Finishing off yet again with Hayfield and reclaiming the red card is Jim Gibb on 1710 with his super 5 year old cock which he says now has 14 first prizes and he says we can have it for £1400, which works out at £100 per winning race. Thanks but no thanks Jim as we would need your loft location to go with it. Jim was also third on 1693 with a four year old cock, and in between was Chris Mourne on second and fourth on 1701 and 1676 with a two and a three year old cock.

Well that finishes off the two short races inbetween races from France and the next one is Messac so if you have any info you know where to send it. Bye for now from TG.