STAFFORDSHIRE MOORLANDS & DISTRICT FEDERATION

by Thomas Garvie

Hi all and after last week's catastrophe when I was writing and lost everything and had to start again, this week I intend to make sure there are no more mishaps like that because for one thing, apart from being really annoying, it is only after you have re-written everything and sent it away that you then realise you have missed out a few things which were in the original article and then it is too late. This week I intend to make sure that if I have to stop [which no doubt will happen when some problem comes up] then I will make sure it is saved and copied before I leave the computer. And as I do not want to forget again, I would like to thank Motion Industrial Products Ltd on behalf of the fed for sponsoring the Messac race on the 2nd of July [this was one of the things I had put in originally in my last article but was one of the things ommitted when I had to do it again] but better late than never.

This morning before I started writing, Liz and I had our young birds away for their first toss, only a few miles to get them off the mark and they arrived a few minutes after us, which was good as it is always a bit nerve wracking when you first take them and you wonder how it will turn out, especially now with all the raptors who just seem to be everywhere. It does not seem to matter where you go now, they are never far away, but luckily this time we managed to get them all back safely and in one group. We will start and move them on a bit farther each day now if the weather allows but there was no problem over the weather this morning as it is a gorgeous morning here with the sun already beating down so it was the perfect opportunity to start them off.

This year we have started of with 35 youngsters to race with, which may not seem a lot because I know fanciers in the fed literally have hundrerds of young birds, but we are more than happy with what we have and 35 is more than we had last year. We all know we will lose some before we get to the first race but hopefully not many as the young ones are the future of your loft and it is hard getting them past the youngster and yearling stage. Then after that they are a bit more settled and reliable. Well that's the theory anyway, but in general I have found them to be more settled and dependable when they are two years old. After the Messac race we intend to stop whatever comes back from that race so that we shall have some three year old birds because we have picked out our race team as for the two longer water races and they are split with some yearlings and two year olds at Messac and only two year olds at Saintes. Any we have left after this will set us up for next year with some good experienced birds, providing we get some back that is because it is no certainty with any races now never mind longer water races. I do not think we will greatly increase the team of young birds we breed just to have a large team because that is not the answer to the problem of losses plus the fact it just gives us a lot more work which we do not need at the moment because it is constant here from first thing in the morning till late at night. We want to try and keep the birds to a comfortable level whilst having enough birds to compete so it is a fine balance just trying to get it right. But every year is different because some years you can lose a lot and other years lose few but I suppose like some fanciers who want to compete in loads of races within various organisations, then you will need to have a lot of birds, but our thinking is that if you want to compete in everything then the workload must surely take some of the enjoyment out of it. We love what we do race wise because we also have the show birds so that takes up time as well so we have to divide the time between both racing and showing. We also like to have time to ourselves so we can enjoy other things so pigeons are not going to take over our lives and once we start to feel that the birds are starting to rule our lives then they will go as we want to control the birds not the birds control us. Hopefully that is way in the future.

I would also like to bring some good news after last week when I said that the illustrioius bird named Fred which belongs to David and Jean Ashby [well David will say it is nothing to do with him and belongs solely to Jean]. The bird had gone missing for some days and had not returned from a race. Jean believed that he was dead and I wrote he had gone to pigeon heaven but then after speaking to Jean at marking she was proud to announce that Fred had turned up even though he was in a bit of a mess after being ripped to bits by a hawk. Hopefully he will recover fully to live out his time with them because he will be in no state to race again [much to David's dismay] so it looks like you are stuck with Fred now David but I think you are just maybe a bit jealous as Fred takes up a lot of Jean's affection.

Returning to the fed race, which is from Poole, roughly 180 miles to fliers up here. The convoy of 1630 birds were liberated late in the afernoon at 14-30 hours in a strong south west wind but up here at this end it was blowing a gale with a really strong west wind and some really heavy continual showers. It was not the most pleasant night for waiting on birds as much of the time we were in the conservatoty out of the rain but up they were and it was just going to be a case of waiting. The winning bird arrived after almost three and a half hours flying to the loft of P Stanway from Poynton and he had a velocity of 1578, so well done on that win and he also had another two on 1554.1 and 1554. The next positions in the fed went to M/M A Hargreaves from BlytheBridge on 1576 and 1574, M Webb from Poynton on 1573, P Beck from Longdendale on 1572, K Moore from Macclesfield on 1568, Leigh & Musgreaves from Dukinfield on 1567, CG Knowles from Longdendale on 1552.3. So there we have the top ten.

The west section had 74 members send 1007 birds and this section was won by K Moore from Macclesfield. There were a few clubs in this section who did not send. The north section had 27 members send 291 birds and this section was won by P Stanway from Poynton, and the east section had 29 members send 332 birds and this was won by M/M A Hargreaves from Blythe Bridge.

Some club news now and Ipstones first and 6 members sent 72 birds. The first two places went to K Champ with two yearling cockc on 1532 and 1516, next two places went to R&J Goodwin &Son on 1512 with a two year old cock and then a yearling hen on1498. Blythe bridge now where 5 members sent 80 birds and first and second were M/M A Hrgreaves with two hens on 1576 and 1574. Their first bird is the £100 hen who won this two years ago as a young bird in a Blythe Bridge Moorlands race and it was in such good nick after returning from Fougeres last week they decided to send it back to Poole where it was first club second fed. Taking the next two places again with hens was K Pettitt on 1513 and 1512. Moving on to Meir now and taking the honours here was C Kemp with a blue cock on 1542. second was Winkie Whieldon with a cheq hen on 1530 and he was also fourth with a blue cock on 1518 and in third spot were G Leese & dtr on 1526 with a cheq cock. At Macclesfield now who had 218 birds away and Kev Moore was first and second, Bernie Barratt was third and fourth were Rick and Simon Geary. This race was sponsored by the Navigation public house. And last club this week is my own, Hayfield IOC and the red card went to old codgers David and Jean Ashby [Fred's proud parents] on 1516 with a 6 year old cock [the old age pensioners can still do a turn yet]. Taking the next two places was sprint ace JL Gibb [who is actually laid up with flu just now simply because he would not put any heating on in the house since Christmas. Come on Jim get a shilling in the gas meter] and Jim was on 1483 with a yearling cock and then 1466 with a four year old cock. Fourth was Chris Mourne with a yearling cock on 1439.

Sadly a few days after this race we got a letter from the Reddings informing us that one of our birds from this race, the only one we were short, had been found dead by a kind lady who reported the pigeon so we know why he never turned up. There are a lot of kind folk who report pigeons even though they do not keep them but they are just animal and bird lovers in general because we have had a couple of birds this year that have been picked up and well cared for by the public. They are very eager to get the birds back home where they belong as soon as possible so thanks to them for looking after our birds.

Well that is it for another week. The next race is Messac which we will be the first water race this year that we will be going in a joint convoy with North Staffordshire so we shall see how it works out. If you have anything to be seen in print send it to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or give me a bell on 01663 733317.