STAFFORDSHIRE MOORLANDS & DISTRICT FEDERATION

by Thomas Garvie

RACES 1 - 4

TEWKESBURY

Well the new season is upon us and we all have hopes and aspirations as to what we want to aim for in this coming year and I suppose everybody has different things which to aim for and every flier has different plans as to where they want to go to. Our personal plan is to send the birds to as many channel races as we can whether it is within the club or the new club we have joined which is the North Midlands Continental Club. Between them both we want to enjoy the races from France more than the inland races but all of this depends on the birds we have left when the time comes to send to the water races because before racing has even started we have lost 4 birds from around the loft. That is almost certainly down to birds of prey because birds around home do not just vanish in to thin air and we also have had two injured birds, one of which was our best bird last year and it arrived home very late with two very badly broken legs and a very badly scraped keel. We did put the legs in splints and made up a hammock of sorts which was tied inside a set of showpens and we also had to adapt a sock so that the bird was not able to flap or move about and we kept in in here for about 18 days then it was starting to find it's way out the sock and after a couple of times picking it up off the floor we decided that it needed to come out the home made hospital and put it in our other emergency unit aka the feed shed and after we took the splints off and gave it a bit of a clean it was put in to the pen where we watched it struggling a bit to get up but after a couple of days it was starting to stand quite freely so we were really happy with the bird's progress so we wanted to put another bird in the pen next to it so as to give it a bit of company and before we had decided what cock to put in next to it the injured bird [a hen] we decided that we would put it's own mate because he did not fly because last year he was attacked by a hawk and was really badly injured before we got the sparrow hawk off him, these birds as we all know do terrible damage and it is really cruel the way they eat them alive as I have had quite a few birds attacked like this and some survive but others were not so fortunate because there is no way you can keep birds after they have been eaten right down to the bone but luckily for us this time we managed to rescue the cock but as I said there was still a lot of damage but my wife took him under her wing anbd cleaned and looked after it until it was able to return to the loft but the damage done to it was so great it would never race again but it would still happily fly around the loft  but that was until the night before when we were going to put him in the infirmary with his hen when I had the birds out flying and just before they were due to come in a peregrine dived straight in to the batch and scattered them  and we were waiting on tenderhooks till the birds were all back in so we could do a head count,one was missing and yes it was the one which had been hawked the previous year and my wife was really upset because she had nursed him back to health only for him to be attacked again but there was nothing we could do and we assumed that because he was a little bit slower that the murderer's of the sky had taken him but while we were sitting outside I watched this bird flying toward the loft  in a kind of hap hazard fashion and as he heared the landing board I knew it was the missing cock but he looked bad as his feathers were all out of place and I could see the blood dripping down his chest from what I presumed were the holes where the talons had grabbed him but how he got away we will never know but after Liz cleaned him up yet again he was then put in the pen next to his mate and this seemed to perk the both of them up and now she is back in the loft because she was desperate to fly out and is now flying about as if nothing had happened and the only thing you can see wrong with her is a little lump on one of her legs but if you had seen this bird about four weeks ago you would not have given her much of a chance but my wife will always try and help any injured bird back to health no matter how bad the injury and she will only have them put to sleep if she thinks they are badly suffering but as yet the twice hawked bird is still being kept in another loft as we want to give her some more time to get strenght back in to her legs because we do not want him to start treading her for a while yet but back to racing and the weather so far in April has been very warm and that is a bit unusual in itself because for our first race which was from Tewekesbury, a new race point for us. The weekend's weather was quite warm so there would be no excuses for the birds this time.

So on the morning of the 16th of April we were off and running and the 2,591 were released at 09-45 in a light west wind and it turned out to be a very good race with near 100% returns from what I gather and it was no surprise to me that taking the first four positions in the fed was P Beck flying in Longdendale and his velocities were 1539,1538 and two 0n 1537, Leigh and Musgreaves from Dukinfield were fifth and tenth in the fed on 1536 and 1533, A Stewart from Berryhill was sixth ,eighth and ninth on 1535 and the other two on 1534 and taking the seventh fed spot were Adams Brs from Meir on 1535.

The east section which sent 548 birds was won by L Champ from Blythe Bridge on 1533 and yet again it is a very familiar name carrying on from last season.
The west section which sent 1,370 birds was won by A Stewart from Berryhill on 1535 and the north section which sent 673 birds was won by P Beck from Longdendale who ultimately was at the top of the fed on 1539,and I am sure Paul will be very happy with his great start to the season and before it slips my mind I have to mention that the fed has a new website which is really taking shape and has just about everything we need already on the site and I think the site is now run by Brian and Jill who will no doubt correct me if I have got this wrong but here is the new site address to type in so that you can check on anything you need--www.moorlandsfedpigeons.co.uk so have a look

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This year the fed has some special races organised and the first of those is the 5 bird yearling classic from Carentan to be held on the 4th June and the closing date for entries was April the 30th so I hope you all remembered to get your entries in on time ,the entry fee was £10 per bird with a maximum of 5 entries and last year the race paid out over £3,000 in prize and pool money and with entries being increased to 5 birds per member the prize fund should be even greater this time round.,there is also the breeder buyer race which is provisionally being held from Poole on the 3rd of September,you can view all the birds on the website,there is also the 5 bird ,young bird classic being held from Carentan on the 10th of September and entries are only £10 per bird and the closing date for entries is on the 23rd of July and no late entries will be accepted so remember to be on time because there is plenty money to be won here with the same race last year paying out over £4,000 well worth entering. Also the young bird moot race will be held on 13th of August from Hullavington.This year the old bird chanel races are being convoyed with the North Staffordshire Fed so this could make for some better races with a lot more birds coming in to roughly the same areas so it will be interesting to see how the races turn out this year with this joint convoying.
I have a few club results for the first race and starting with Ipstones where 8 members sent 149 birds and first and third was A Mace on 1506 and 1503,second were Burton & Jones on 1504 and the fourth spot was taken by R & J Goodwin and son on 1502.
Blyth Bridge where 5 members sent 100 birds and his first red card of the season went to L Champ[ and I doubt if it will be his last ] on 1533,second and fourth was K Pettit on 1528 and 1524 and third were Mr & Mrs A Hargreaves on 1527 and these are the members I think you will see fighting for most of the prizes this year but there has to be other members who can step up to the mark and try and better them,not an easy thing to do but you have to just keep trying. Meir now where 10 members sent 133 birds and taking threee out of the first four places were Adams Brs on 1535, 1517 and 1515 only being prevented from a clean sweep by A Stewart taking second place on 1529 and I would like to thank Roy Jones who sends both these results. Macclesfield next where 10 members sent 208 birds and taking the first red card of the season was the clubs PO, Kev Bowers on 1525 clocking a yearling w/hood cock which he purchased at last years fed moot sale and the bird was bred by Bradbury & Barnes from Hazel Grove, taking the next three places wre the partnership of Rick and Simon Geary on 1516, 1514 and 1508 and their first bird was a 2 year old w/hood cock,a Rietvink x Soontjen which has already had 2 first places plus other cards, their second bird was a yearling w/hood cock taking it's first card and their next bird was a 3 year old w'hood cock, a Soontjen which had carded for them previously and they bred the birds themselves and the club would like to thank M Fox Plumbing who sponsored this race.

Final club result was from Hayfield and coming as a complete surprise[I think not ] taking the first two places was C J Mourne on 1457 and 1455 and taking the next two places was our very absent minded senior citizen J L Gibb on 1440 and 1436,the reason I say Jim is absent minded is because when his first bird arrived he duly took the rubber off and placed it in to his T3 thimble but he was desperately trying to put the thimble in the clock and it would not go in any way shape or form and it took Jim a bit of head scratching to work out the reason why the thimble would not go in the clock was because he had forgotten that he had put the click and clock inserts in and that he no longer needed a thimble !!never mind Jim things get worse with old age creeping up on you but remember next week you DO NOT need thimbles.

Nearly forgot to mention that the fed is using it's new transporter this year and that should certainly be of benefit to the birds.

HULLAVINGTON 1

Well after a glorious sunny day for the fed's first race we have moved on to Hullavington for the second race of the season and it was yet another gorgeous morning, two warm sunny weekends in a row which to say the least is most unusual in mid April but we can't complain, well not unless that is our summer over but it does make it more pleasant to sit out and enjoy the birds coming back and in the last two weeks we have had more barbecues than I think we had the whole of last year and in the garden a whole load of flowers are blooming early and we actually have a lot of geraniums in full flower but there is still plenty of time for frost where we live because of the height and that could set a lot of things back a bit but back to pigeons and we have finally got the last of our young birds seperated,but there was only three which were still in the nest while we were racing but I feel better when they are all away from the parents so they can concentrate on using their energy flying instead of feeding youngsters and the birds are certainly enjoying flying out in the sun and this year I have found our birds are flying extremely well around the lofts since they were first allowed out because in past years I have found they struggled a bit at the start but this year they have just took to the skies from the off and the only thing we have done different is changing the food a bit and a few other tweaks here and there and it certainly seems to be working so we will take note and see how we do at other times. In the last article I wrote that we had been plagued by hawks and that we had lost a few birds around the loft just before racing commenced and as if we needed any proof as to where they had gone one of the customers on the stables was down the field bringing his horses up when he saw a big pile of feathers and when he went and looked he found what was left of a pigeon but he picked up the ring and brought it up to me to see if I could identify who it belonged to and when I saw the ring I knew straight away that it was off a chequer pied hen that had went missing on the Monday before the racing began, you hear and read about all the cock and bull stories that are spouted from certain bodies that hawks do not kill the pigeons but everybody that keeps pigeons knows different because we have all witnessed what happens when a sparrowhawk catches a bird and starts ripping the flesh from the back of the neck and we all see the terror that is inflicted when a peregrine swoops in to a batch of flying birds,okay it does usually just take one but it is the aftermath that does most damage when the birds are struck with terror and scatter everywhere flying in to anything in their path,I can recall one such attack when I lived in Scotland and a peregrine attacked and the lady in the house over the back of mine called me  over as there were two birds in her kitchen as they had flown through the open door to try and get away and I just picked them up as they were too scared to move so it is not just the birds they catch in flight but the ones that are killed flying in to objects in their path.

But enough about that and we shall get back to what it is all about and that is racing our birds and on a glorious morning the 3,246 were liberated at 09-00 in a light east wind and we were anticipating a good race with the birds going to be tumbling in but like all our club members we found that not to be the case as for some reason they were very spread out with the birds arriving in either ones or two's but we had all our birds back in so that was the main thing and they did not look tired out or anything they just were spread out so we were happy with that because with our plans this year we need to get as many back as possible because we are just trying to get a good established team of birds after my move from Scotland and we have, I think, got some decent two year olds and a nice kit of yearlings but this is the year they will all have to prove themselves worthy of a perch for next year and this is where my wife and I differ as she sees some of the birds as pets whereas I see them as birds that we have bred to do a job after we care for them and feed them to the best of my ability and they are expected to perform after such care and already she has picked out a couple of birds which she says "look pretty"but one in particular she has named Badger[because it is black and white] and she says I need to take care of him and break him in gently but I pointed out he is now two years old and he has to do the same work as the rest or unfortunately he will not be here but Liz is a real softy with the birds and she has been caught going in to the loft and feeding the birds after I have fed them but that soon stopped and now she stays away from the racers because she gets too attattched to them but having said that she now loves going to the club on basketing nights [but I think this is just to catch up on any gossip that the other ladies may share] and she loves waiting on the birds arriving back home and she is always on edge till they are back safely but up to now we have not dropped any and I know she will be upset sooner or later because they are not all always going to return.

Congratulations must go to A Stewart from Berryhill on topping the fed and the top ten in the fed are as follows with as I said A Sewart on 1430 followed by Team Stopka from Stafford on 1425 and the next two places went to  M Webb from Poynton with both birds on 1424,then Leigh & Musgreaves from Dukinfield taking the next two spots on 1422 and 1421.3,closely followed by Holdway & Tansley from Milton on 1421,C Kemp from Meir was next on 1420.6 and hot on his heels were Rick Geary &Son from Macclesfield on 1420 and taking the tenth place were the partnership of Mr & Mrs A Hargreaves from Blythe Bridge on 1419 so well done to these fine flyers[but well done to everybody who flies in the fed]. The birdage from the east section was 673 birds and this was won by Mr & Mrs Hargreaves who are a formidable partnership and their name is never far away from the top spot,the west section sent 712 birds and this section was won by M Webb and the north section sent 1861 birds and this was won by A Stewart so well done on wining against the largest birdage and before I move on to some club news I just hope all the members have got all their birds entered in to the feds special races as time has already ran out for the first one so don't leave it too late for the rest and everybody should know all the dates and closing dates so their is really no excuse if you miss out and the first club. Ipstones had 10 members sending 163 birds and taking three out of the four first positions with three cocks was A Mace and his first bird which was an 09 pigeon on a velocity of 1404 winning him a large share of the pools and his third and fourth birds ,also 09 pigeons had velocities of 1389 and 1380 and the clean sweep was only broken by the partnership of Burton & Jones second on 1390 with a yearling cock and moving on to Macclesfield where 10 members sent 219 birds [probably most of them Rick Geary's,only joking Rick] and Rick and his son took the first two places and their first bird a widowhood cock was on 1420 and this bird is a 2 year old Soontjen X Vandenbeele and they have named this their Cherbourge cock which is a winner of the Middlewich 2 bird open and the Cheshire 2 bird and the Cheshire combine winning them over £2,500 [remember a pair of youngsters off this one for me in the future Rick],their second bird a 3 year old widowhood cock a Soontjen X Rietvink on 1400 has had 5 firsts  and was bre d from stock off John Keywood and taking third place after his great start was Kev Bowers on 1399 clocking a home bred Staf Van Reet widowhood cock and in fourth spot was Rodger Bowers on 1384 with a yearling roundabout hen and is a Jansen hen bred by Jeremy Davies which was from a kit of six purchased last year, the members would like to thank M Fox Plumbing for sponsoring the race. Blythe Bridge now with 6 members sending 137 pigeons and not surprisingly taking 3 out the first 4 positions were Mr & Mrs Andrew Hargreaves and his first two birds were yearling hens on 1419 and 1415 and his third bird was a yearling cock on 1401 and breaking him up from a clean sweep was K Pettitt in third with a two year old hen on 1403,Roy says he never sent all the birds results as it was too painful and swiftly moving on to Meir now where 14 members sent 223 birds and taking the red cars was C Kemp on 1420 and in second spot was A Stewart on 1406.5,third were Adams Brs on 1406.4 and fourth were the partnership of Challinger & Collett on 1406 and I have to thank Roy Jones for sending this result as well as his own clubs. Last but not least is Hayfield and in their first race of the season taking the first two places was Mrs Jean Ashby  and her junior partner David with 2 year old birds on velocities of 1327 and 1324 and they are still racing an 03 bred bird which is a bit of a feat in itself getting a bird still alive to race at that age so well done to the both of you but mostly to Jean who has to do all the work because of late David has been ill but it great that they can still carry on together but the only thing with Jean being in attendance more is Liz and her spend too much time yakking instead of getting on with the birds [ but this is just a woman thing as you never get the men gossipping]and in third spot was our old timer J L Gibb on 1318 so obviously this time he remembered their was no thimble and just dropped the rubber in and in fourth spot was Liz and myself with a yearling chequer cock which was sent driving his hen and he was our second bird in the first race so he looks promising but only time will tell.

HULLAVINGTON 2

Well time is marching on quickly as we have moved on to our third race already and it is the second Hullavington in a row and what a difference compared to the previous two weeks when the weather was warm but for this race the wind had turned to a very strong easterly and when I say strong I mean that as the trees at our farm were nearly bent in two first thing in the morning and it was just getting stronger as the morning went on and when the birds were held till noon we then realised the birds were going to find it extremely tough going as the wind was just increasing by the hour and the 3,232 birds were released in a strong east wind and it was no surprise that in the first 30 fed positions there were no east club members on the result and it was not surprisingly a west section member namely W Burgess from Packmoor that topped the fed with a velocity of 1384 and he had another on 1382 so well done on an extremely hard day,the other positions in the fed were M Webb from Poynton on 1383.4 followed by Bradbury & Barnes from the same club on 1383 ,nextv were Leigh & Musgreaves from Dukinfield on 1375.8 then R Geary & Son from Macclesfield on 1375.3 and J&R Roberts from Packmoor on 1373,P Stanway from Poynton was next on 1370 followed by P Beck from Longdendale on 1369 and the tenth spot went to J Woolrich & Son from Packmoor on 1368 good flying on a very difficult day.

The west section sent 2,022 birds and was of course won by fed topper W Burgess,the north section sent 662 birds and was won by M Webb from Poynton and the east section  sending 548 birds,who found it hard going was won by K Pettitt from Blythe bridge on 1348 so you can see the drop in velocity but well done to everybody and I hope there were good returns.

Some brief news from some clubs now and the first being Ipstones where 9 members sent 167 birds and first was K Champ with a velocity of 1330 with a yearling cock and taking the next three places were R&J Goodwin & Son with velocities of 1315,1314 and 1309 and their first bird was a yearling hen as was there third bird but I had to look again at their second pigeon which is an 8 year old cock obviously a bird that is a lot faster and more clever than both the peregrine and sparrowhawk.
Blythe Bridge had 6 members sending 104 birds and taking a clean sweeo of the first four places was K Pettitt  on 1348,1347,1340 and 1338 a great race for Ken.
Meir had 12 members sending 194 and taking the first two places and fourth place were Adams brs on 1358 with a blue hen and 1357 with a cheq cock and 1342 with a grizzle hen,and stopping the clean sweep were Challengir & Collett in third with a blue white flighted hen on 1345.
Hayfield now and first was JL Gibb who now knows there are no thimbles on 1312 with a four year old cock and he was also fourth on 1265 with a yearling cock and in between on second and third was CJ  Mourne on 1272 and 1271 with two year old cocks.

FROME

Before I write about the fed racing I would just like to bring up a problem which we have just encountered regarding stray birds. At present we have two strays which we duly reported to the Reddings and they gave us the contact details for the owners. My wife tried to ring up both numbers and they were both unobtainable so are fanciers giving wrong numbers or are they not updating them if they have new ones ? but in any case they will get the letters telling them we have their birds but it is a nuisance and a waste of time trying to ring them if they no longer use that number and it is near impossible to read the wing stamps. We shall see what happens in due course but we don't mind looking after stray birds as long as they can be repatriated as soon as possible because we hope that anybody that gets in one of our birds would report it and look after it and we would get it back as soon as possible. Whether we pick it up or arrange a courier, we always get them back but we all know the old cliche when you report birds sometimes the owner does not want it back and it will be the best bird ever bred or any excuse rather than either drive for it or pick it up. The simple reality is that if you are sending birds to a race then you should know that you might have to pay to get back some birds and it happens to everybody at some point in time. If you are not going to have birds back then the simple answer is do not send them.

Now that I have got that off my chest it is back to racing and this week the fed were at Frome and the 3,504 birds were released at 12-15 in a south south east wind and I have to say that Roy Jones and the race control team are doing a splendid job in adverse weather conditions when it is hard to pick the right time to liberate and I have heard one or two grumbles about the birds being held but you only have to lok at the returns of our fed and the returns of other feds who liberated early and you will see why it was correct to hold them till they did so keep up the good work team and long may it continue.
We have to congratulate Roberts Brs of Packmoor who were at the top of the fed with a velocity of 1872 and another one on 1861 and the next places were as follows-Adams Brs from Meir on 1867.8,Mcgraw/Clegg/Preece from Berryhill on 1867.1,A Whieldon from Meir on 1856,A & J Pike from Berryhill on 1863,M Mcgraw and Son from Berryhill on 1851,J Hamplet from Stafford on 1844.7,K Pettitt from BlytheBridge on 1844.08 and taking the tenth spot were L Khan and Sons from Dog and Partridge on 1844 so well done to these fliers and to all the fliers who try each and every week.
Making up the convoy were the east section sending 711 birds and this was won by K Pettitt,ther west section sent  2,170 birds and this was won by fed toppers Roberts Brs and finally the north section sent 623 birds and this section was won by M Webb from Poynton on 1831.

Some club news now and firstly I would like to apologise to Macclesfield club for missing out the result of the second Hullavington race which was an oversight because the results are sent to me every week and I over looked the e-mail so here is the result of the Macclesfield second Hullavington race and ten members sent 250 birds and taking the first two places were Rick and Simon Geary and their first pigeon on 1375 is a two year old Soontjen x Hybrecht cock on widowhood and this bird has carded before for the pair and their second bird is a two year old Soontjen x Rietvink cock also on widowhod which was also second in the first race and has two first prizes to it's name already and this bird is bred through their good cock Shy Boy,in third place was Kevin Moore on 1365 with a two year old Soontjen x Koopman widowhood cock which was bred for him by Bradbury and Barnes from Hazel Grove and this bird has only had five races so far and has taken a first,second and a third place so surely one worth watching and taking fourth place was the clubs PO Kev Bowers on 1363 with a three year old widowhood cock and the parents of this bird were bred by Kevs brother Rodger and the club would like to thank N Pegg plumbers for sponsoring this race and staying with club they had 11 members sending 280 birds to Frome and taking the red card was Kev  Moore on 1864 with a six year old cock flying roundabout and it is  a Soontjen which has had five firsts and two section wins plus a second fed,a very good pigeon indeed and one to look after,second and third were Rick and Simon Geary and their first bird on 1806 was a two year old Delbar which was bred for them by Phil [the potter ]Hall and it has also been second Saintes for the lads and their second bird on 1805 was a two year old widowhood cock ,a Soontjen x Rietvink which has had two first prizes and this year so far it has had three seconds to it's credit and the pair bred this bird themselves and taking fourth spot was Kev Moore on 1803 with a roundabout cock,a Soontjen x Vandenabeele which was also a previous card winner and members would like to thank J Spooner for sponsoring the race.
Ipstones now where 7 members sent 151 birds and taking first spot were R & J Goodwin and Son on 1797 with a yearling cock second were Burton & Jones on 1792 also with a yearling cock,third place went to D Glover 1791 with a two year old cock and fourth in the club was K Champ 1788 with a yearling cock..
Blythe Bridge had 7 members send 150 birds and taking a clean sweep of the first four places was K Pettitt with velocities of 1844 with a two year old cock,next bird on 1819 was a yearling hen,then on 1809 was a yearling cock and his fourth bird on 1806 was a four year old hen and unless I have missed it Roy has not sent me the result for Meir for this race.
Last but not least are Hayfield and taking the honours again is JL Gibb on 1755 with a yearling cock[he has now mastered the thimbleless clocking system and look at the difference it has made]second place were the parnership of David and Jean Ashby [Jean of course is the senior partner] and their bird was was a four year old on 1742 and in third place was Jimmy Gibb on 1735 with a five year old cock and also in fourth were Jean and David on 1719 with a two year old.

That is all for now so if you have anything to send the e mail and phone number are on the fed website and I hope the clubs are sending their results to the fed website. It is certainly worth a look and before I go I would just like to add that we have had our birds away at Carentan with the NMCC and we are pleased with the returns with us getting nine birds back from the ten sent, which is not bad considering it is the first time they have been across the water so we are more than happy. So for now that's all from TG.