STAFFORDSHIRE MOORLANDS & DISTRICT FEDERATION

by Thomas Garvie

Well, we have reached the last old bird race of the season and it is the longest one from Saintes, which is just under 530 miles to our loft. It is actually the race my wife Liz has been dreading but also very exciting for her and me as well because it is no mean feat timing in from that distance and it is not a guarantee that you will even get a timer. For weeks I had picked the six that were going but two of them were Liz's favourite birds. One she had named Keith, which was a dark chequer cock and he was probably one of if not the best birds we had and her other one was Badger, aptly named because of his colouring. I have included a photo of Badger because now that he is back Liz said she wants to keep him as she could not face racing him again because unfortunately as yet her other bird Keith has not returned. I have told her there is always the chance he might just turn up because he had a mind of his own and he was always a loner and never followed the others and I think this is what made him stick out a bit. But even though he probably was our best bird he was certainly not on my list of favourites as he had caused me nothing but grief ever since he was a young bird and I had nothing but problems from him from the start. Most folks would have got rid of him a long time ago but there was just something about him even though he was the bane of my life. As a youngster he would parade up and down the landing board preventing any other birds going in the trap and he would only go in when he decided he wanted to and when I tried to move him off the landing board he would just fly on to the aviery roof and still keep chasing the other birds. I still put up with him and he continued to suit himself because when we took him training he would always come back but never with the flock. He would always return when it suited him and one day when we took him training he never came back and was missing for a couple of days. Liz was thinking he was dead but I said no, he will turn up on the day of the race just to spite me and, sure as heck, he turned up on the Saturday in the middle of the race but thankfully we had timed some in or else he would have strutted his stuff and paraded up and down the landing board. Liz thought it was funny him turning up like on race day. As a yearling he was showing a lot of promise but still causing me lots of headaches because I had put in stall traps and he would still own the landing board.

Badger

I used to get really annoyed and whack him off the lander with a cane [not hurting him I hasten to add] and then we decided to change to Ets. We bought a complete Bricon system, which we found to be brilliant, and I only had a couple of minor hiccups and when I phoned Mark Palmer he went through the whole system set up with me and explained anything I asked. I thought his service was second to none as nothing is too much trouble even when I phoned him up on a race day when I had a problem, so we are glad we got the Bricon system. The chip rings are, I think, among the cheapest and they never increased in price this year when a lot of others did, so all in all we think we have the best system and would never consider going back to a conventional clock. Personally I think the time will come when everybody who races will eventually be on Ets. It was the best thing we ever did and it is certainly the best thing for the birds as you never need to handle them. It is brilliant, especially with the youngsters as sometimes they can get a bit trap shy if you continually handle. When we fixed in the Ets sensor pads I had to alter the entrance to the loft to accomodate the pads and took out the stall trap and put up bobwires at the front and the rear of the tunnel so when the birds went in they could not get back out. I thought I had sorted Keith out once and for all as now the opening was bigger all the other birds just pushed in past him and so I was more than happy with that but, not to be outdone by me, he then found out if he was first in the tunnel then he could then prevent the others from getting in. I just gave up because no matter what I did he always found a way to outsmart me. Then as a two year old he still caused me grief and one race in particular, Carentan, he landed on the landing board and I expected him to run straight in but not him, he decided to fly down to the ground and when I was going to chase him back up on the lander I tripped on a piece of wood and fell over and landed face down on the ground. When I was flat out Liz heard the trap go and she heard the beep but before that when I was falling I tried to stop myself by grabbing at a large square planter which Liz had but it fell over and smashed. Liz ran up and I thought she was going to help me up but all she could say was "do you know that planter cost me £20", not "are you okay and have you hurt yourself"!

Will I be sad if he does not turn up, yes I think I will because he was a one off and a real character but so is Badger, only his characteristics are completely different because he was rather slow but always turned up and Liz was not too keen on me sending Badger as well as Keith but I told her that was what they were there for [politely of course]. I was sure that if it turned out to be a sticky race then Badger would just plod on and get home and as it turned out it was quite a good fast race so I told Liz Badger would be home about Tuesday as the race was on a Friday but even he proved me wrong by turning up early on the Saturday which was maybe a good job because for 4 days it rained non stop and I knew that any birds still to come would really struggle. Liz is always asking me every day if Keith has came back and it is quite difficult to always tell her that he is not back. She has now decided that she will never get to fond of any other racers as she gets distraught when any of them fail to return. She is a real pigeon carer as well as a genuine fancier in her own right and after she decided to refrain from racing Badger any more she has decided his next trip outside the loft will be when he is entered in the 500 mile class at the next show of the year along with the others that returned.

We had four home from the six we sent. We had three home on the day and we were both very excited when we saw our first bird coming. He was a blue pied cock and he finished runner up in the club to Chris Mourne, who timed in a very fast bird and was a worthy winner. Chris is certainly the man we have to beat over the water as he won three out of the four water races and we finished runner up to him in those three races but we did manage to win the first water race from Carentan and for a change Chris was runner up. As I said, he is the one to beat going by his racing this year but it gives you something to aim for next year so we must try and improve. I have also included a photo of Chris's winning bird where he is happily sitting back on his nest.

Saintes winner

Back to the race now and 86 members sent 517 birds and they were liberated at 05-45 in a light south west wind. Looking at the weather forecast there was going to be south winds along the course of the race so I expected to have a bird home on the day or more and it proved to be quite a fast race and as far as I know returns were very good. Congratulations must go to M Webb flying in Poynton who not only topped the fed but he also had the second bird in the fed a couple of minutes after timing his first one. They were both two year old cocks and the first bird was on 1470 with his next one on 1465. The next places in the fed were as follows with Ken Pettitt from BlytheBridge being third on 1449 with a two year old hen then another two year old hen on 1432 and another three year old hen on 14111.8. Ken had a fantastic race overall timing the first six birds in the club. Then we had G Harvey & son from Alton on 1438 with a two year old cock, then another flier who had a fantastic race was T Woolrich & son from Packmoor who had three birds together on 1417.2 with a three year old hen then on 1417.1 with a two year old hen and another on 1417 which was also a three year old hen. Brilliant flying indeed. Taking the tenth spot in the fed was my own club mate Chris Mourne with a two year old cock on 1411.2 so that is the top ten in the fed.

I think overall it turned out to be a very good race and congratulations must go to race controller Roy Jones and also to the convoyers who all did a splendid job and I hope they return next year in the same position. Although Roy is getting on a bit [joking Roy] he certainly has a lot of years ahead of him in pigeons and he certainly deserves all the accolades he gets because of his lifetime work in pigeons.

The convoy was made up of the west section sending 316 birds from 48 members and this was won by T Woolrich & Son who actually took the first four positions in this section, but again there were quite a few clubs from here who did not send. The north section had 15 members sending 71 birds and M Webb took the first two places in the section as well as the first two in the fed, and third in the section was club mate Chris Mourne. The east section had 23 members sending 130 birds and this section was won by Ken Pettitt who had five out the first six positions in the section only broken up by G Harvey & Son who were second in the section. Well done to everybody who entered the final race and again congratulations to the winner M Webb.

The fed open pools were won by K Pettitt taking £101.25, Rick Geary&son took just over £93 with their two pooled birds, F&M Hough took £37.80 with J Rowland taking £25.20 to finish the pools off with a total of £257.40 being paid out.

Some club news now starting with Ipstones where 5 members sent 27 birds and the first three places went to R & J Goodwin & son with three yearlings, two cocks and one hen and his velocities were 1389, 1117 and 965. I should also mention D Glover who was fourth with a three year old cock and timed in the next morning on 544.
BlytheBridge now where 4 members sent 42 pigeons and and having a fantastic race by taking the first six places in the club was Ken Pettitt. His first bird was a two year old blue hen on 1449 and this bird won the race from Messac two weeks earlier, a very game bird indeed. His next bird was a two year old grizzle hen on 1432, then a three year old blue hen on 1411, a three year old red cock on 1404, a two year old blue hen on 1403 which won him most of the pool money, and then a two year old blue cock on 1124. What a race. Roy told me that Ken rang him at five o'clock saying he had timed in five birds but that he had nine back in good condition. Roy told him to time in another bird as there were six prizes in the club. Ken took a rubber to the club at seven pm and as none of the other members had timed in yet Roy timed the other bird in for Ken, so Roy wants everybody to know that he did time in a bird from SAINTES even though it was not his own!!
Macclesfield now where six members sent 44 pigeons and what a way to end a fantastic season with Rick and Simon Geary taking the first two on 1402 and 1396, the first bird being a two year old Van Wainroy cock send sitting on eggs and this bird was bred by Derek Reid from Surrey and is closely related to three first national winners. Their second bird is a two year old a Soontjen x Vandenabeele cock and is a first classic winner and its brother is a first fed winner so well done on finishing a great season on a winning note. I bet you have had a large haul of cash Rick with this win. Mick Goldstraw is third on 1330 with a four year old roundabout cock bred by Mark Anderson of Middleton and is a grandson of Full Try. Martin Hough is fourth on 1235 with a two year old cock which he bred himself. The sire of this bird is a brother to Geoff Kirkland’s famous Snake and the dam is from Roger Sutton which comes from his own family of distance birds. The club would like to thank Martin for sponsoring the race.
Next our own club Hayfield IOC where 4 members sent 13 birds and of course the winner was Chris Mourne on 1412 with a two year old cock. Chris in finishing off a great season on a real high. Second were Clarke & Garvie on 1225 with a two year old white flight cock and I have also included a photo of him sitting high on a perch after his return. This cock was our third bird in the race from Messac two weeks earlier and he was only sent at the last minute because of the way he was acting earlier in the day; he would not let any other birds near the food hopper and as I wanted to make sure they all had some food I put him in the aviery and locked him out the way as he was not really meant to be going. I was watching him all day outside and he was going mad trying to get back in the loft, trying to get to his hen through the wire and then trying to get to her through a tiny gap in the door and purely because of this I decided to send him so at the last minute I opened the door and he flew straight in to his box to get to the hen. As soon as he had got in, I took him out and basketed him and I knew he was going to be our first bird. It was a great feeling when I saw him coming up the valley and he is very distinctive when flying as you can see his white flights so we were ecstatic when we saw him coming. In third place were David and Jean Ashby timing in a four year old cock on 1178. Third and fourth were Clarke & Garvie timing in two two year old hens, a chequer on 1116 and a grizzle hen on 1107 so these birds were fairly close together and taking the fifth spot as no more birds were timed were David and Jean on 983 with a four year old cock.

Saintes runner up

Well that is it for the old bird season and it is now on to the young birds, so again if you have anything for me the e-mail is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or you can give me a bell on 01663 733317.