The Joe Murphy Column
I came across an article written by Major A Neilson Hutton in 1968 - which I found interesting and may use some of his thoughts over the next few weeks; as we are coming to the end of the old bird season. ‘Once young bird racing is over, in the majority of lofts, the sexes are separated and we have entered into what some regard as the quiet season. This may appear to be so in so far as the physical activities of the birds themselves are concerned. However, there are visible signs of great activity in this period in which nature provides the means of refurbish by the casting of the old feathers and regrown of replacements. The decreasing hours of daylight increases the period of quiet rest. This compensates for any additional strain which otherwise might arise in the growing of the new feathers and by mid-December healthy pigeons are sleek and shining in their new coat of feathers. Thus, equipped and having put on weight they can stand up to the cold weather we experience in January and February braced and ready for the breeding and racing season which follows. The habits of their owners have also changed. They spend less time in their lofts and have more time to do a bit of serious thinking and planning free of the stress, strain and disappointments in the hurly-burly of racing. Now is the time to try honestly to find the reasons for the disappointments suffered. Do not mislead your-self with excuses which no doubt seem plausible enough to you, but readily recognised for what they are by others. Pigeon racing is no different from any other competitive sport in that it is the man who makes the fewest mistakes who wins. Let your successes take care of themselves. Seek out the mistakes you have made. Write them down and take care they do not happen again. It is all up to you.
Every fancier has the kind of pigeons he deserves as it is he who does the planning and choosing. He thus sets his own standard and bit it he either succeeds or falls. Money can buy apparently good pigeons, but it is the man and his management which brings success. I may be howled down when I say that successful fanciers may have at times no better pigeons than some of their less successful rivals. The differences lies in the management of ‘Know How’.
I have known so many fancier friends and acquaintances past and present, who were nice follows and keen in their way, but a flaw -or shall I call it an attitude of mind- prevented them time and time again from reaching the top. The devil of it is that your friends are afraid to tell you from fear of giving offence. If a friend has the moral courage to mention quietly what he thinks is the trouble, it is rarely it is taken to heart.
I am sure no one will disagree with me how important the performance of pigeons he has sold to others is to a fancier’s reputation. Fairly recently this fact was brought home to me in a rather startling fashion. While listening to a general conversation at a show, the name of an old established and successful fancier cropped up. Immediately one of those present declared he would not take one of this fancier’s pigeons as a gift. He then proceeded to tell of a fancier who had bought quite a number of birds old and young from the fancier whose name had been mentioned but they were just a lot of rubbish. It so happened that I knew this individual who had bought these pigeons and a more haphazard and careless fancier I have yet to meet. It was rarely that his birds had any training before the first race. He had been known to forget it was marking night, or to feed his birds and to fall asleep in a deck chair while waiting for his birds on race days. Believe it or not on one occasion he let his birds out for their exercise one evening, threw some food on the floor, and went into the house for his evening meal. Next morning he discovered that he had omitted to open the traps and that his birds had been locked out all night; result spoiled eggs and dead youngsters.
While listening to this tirade two questions occurred to me. What reason had the had the speaker to denigrate the successful fancier and how well did he know the man who bought the pigeons??
I discovered right away that the speaker’s name to the successful fancier, I was told that some years previously the speaker had visited this fancier to buy pigeons, but wanted them for next to nothing so went off empty handed. To my way of thinking taking care that the birds, you sell get into good capable hands is just as important as the money you get for them. Part Two next week.
Irish Eyes Are Smiling
Received a phone call from Christopher Tweed informing me that he had timed his good hen ‘Tommy’s Dream’ for the 4th time from St Mallo. Her positions won in the NIPA are as follows; in 2021 she won 5th section B 43rd open recoding a velocity of 578 flying 488 miles. In 2022 she won 7th section B 71st open with a velocity of 280 to win a Bronze Award. Then last year she won 3rd section B 30th open doing a velocity 625 from an entry of 1309 birds and this year 2024 she wins 4th section 61st open with a velocity 798.
Tommys Dream see text
Her sire is Black Cock from R Cage x with the famous distance fancier Robin Duddy (who needs no introduction to the Irish Fanciers). The dam of ‘Tommy’s Dream’ was bred by yours truly Joe Murphy being a daughter from ‘JS’ a gift from my dear friends Jock & Willie Strang of California in the North West federation. Jock phoned me up to say that he had some youngsters for Kevin and would I go and meet his brother ‘Wull’ (short for Willie) to collect these babies. He had a couple of young bird races and was still there at the end of the season so we named it ‘JS’ after Jock Strang. He had a good moult and was put on the road as a yearling where he did very well. He was timed on the day from Eastbourne (only bird in the Arbroath club on the day) winning 26th section C 130th open flying a distance of 419 miles. He was then sent over the channel to the SNFC Ypres race a distance of 452 miles and he won 11th section C 65th open flying 454 miles. He was then sent to the SNFC Clermont race and he won 15th section C 36th open. Not bad going for a yearling. Needless to say, we phoned Jock & Willie every time we timed him in; and they were as happy as us that the bird was doing so well. Then as a 2-year-old he was entered into the inland Cheltenham race and won 23rd section C 213th open flying 321 miles. He was then entered into the SNFC Clermont race a distance of 539 miles and he won 107th open but no section prize card. He was then set up for the SNFC Ypres race going for his SNFC Silver Award; unfortunately, he never made it home. To say we were devastated was an understatement. However, a youngster from ‘JS’ when paired to a chequer pied hen ‘326’. She won 2nd club Hexham as a young bird and had 5 races to Wakefield. She had 8 races as a yearling and won 6th club Eastbourne and was then stopped as she was paired to ‘JS’ as Kevin wished her to be at home for ‘JS’ returning from a race. She was off the road for 2 years and then put back into the racing team in 2014 and she flew the channel from the Clermont race. Her sire was bred from a Jim Cullen of Uddingston cock; his sire won 60th section 185th open Eastbourne & 16th section 138th open Ypres. He also turned out to be a top stock cock for Jim. Dam of ‘326’ was a Willie & Barry Kinnear hen; she was a ½ sister to their famous pigeon ‘Auld Reekie’ the winner of 1st 2nd 11th & 24th open SNFC races. He was the BEST COCK in Scotland over a 2-year period in fact he was also a DOUBLE DEWAR TROPHY WINNER – which is awarded to Scotland’s Bird of the Year. As a matter of significance, Auld Reekie was also a double grandson of the Kinnear’s partnerships ‘Back to Basic’s’ their Runner Up for the Dewar Trophy in 1995. (You can read more about these wonderful birds in my book on ‘The Dewar Trophy The First 50 Years’ Which you can obtain direct from me. Let’s go back to Anne, Tommy and Christopher Tweed of Rasharkin good hen ‘Tommy Dream’ (see photo) she has now won the following positions in the NIPA. In 2021 she won 5th section 43rd open St Mallo a distance of 488 miles. The following year she won 7th section B 71st open to gain a Bronze Award plus winning over £1000. Last year she won 3rd section B 30th open from an entry of 1309 birds and now wins 4th section 61st open flying a distance of 470 miles. A winner of 4 times St Mallo is exceptional; and to say I am over the moon for the Tweed family would be an understatement plus the fact that I’m happy to be part of their wonderful success and I thank Christopher for phoning to tell me she was timed for the 4th time; Well Done one and all.
Christopher Anne & Tommy see text
While going on about Jock Strang please read the following on this year’s SNFC Gold Cup race flown from Alencon this week the 28th June with the 778 birds liberated at 06-00am with no wind at the race point. Winning 1st region B 1st east section 1st open is John Bosworth of Elphinstone with a mealy hen. First region A 1st south section 2nd open are the S & L Trodden of Gretna partnership with the same pigeon that won 15th region 16th open last year. Continuing on this same topic the winner of 1st region C 2nd east section 6th open is Rory Cook of Leslie in Fife flying 554 miles with the same blue bar hen who won 1st region C 4th east section 4th open last year flying to Rosyth a distance of 546 miles when Rory lived there. This blue hen is a very good pigeon to win the Fife Federation and Region C twice from the SNFC Gold Cup race is quite exceptional, nevertheless to do so racing to two different locations within a year is outstanding. I will try and obtain more information on this hen for my next column. Charlie & Glen Cameron of Arbroath win 2nd region C 7th open and win the Kevin J Murphy Trophy for the first bird north of the River Tay on the open result. This is very fitting as Charlie & Glen were club mates of Kevin and I know how much they wanted to win his trophy, well done lads.
First region D 15th open is my dear old friend Jock Strang of California with his 2-year-old blue hen whom he has named ‘Lady Betty’ after his dear wife who passed away in April, I have added a photograph of ‘Lady Betty’ to go with this column. This blue hen was a gift to Jock from a friend whom he had done a favour for, Jock would not take any money for the job he did. So, the person purchased 6 babies from Royal Oak Lofts and gifted them to Jock. One of these is the blue hen whom Jock timed in. However, there is a story attached to this hen, she was sitting 12 days when her cock failed to return from the Thirsk federation race. She sat the eggs and Jock kept a keen eye on her, when she was getting restless, he slipped a young bird under her. She took to it no problem; however, as she did not have soft milk to feed the baby, Jock would take her out of the section and then put the baby back under its mother/father to be fed. Later on, he would put the baby back in the nest pan and let the blue hen back into the loft. She was so keen on the baby that she would have taken Jock’s hand off every time he went to take the baby away from her to put it under its parents. On the day of basketing for the SNFC Gold Cup from Alencon she was still sitting the baby and was going ‘mad’ as Jock put her in the basket to take her to the national marking station. The baby was put back under the parent’s while she was away to the race point. The convoy were liberated at 06-00 hours and with a journey of 551 miles back to her home loft and she was timed at 21-39-55 to record a velocity of 1032 to win 1st region D 15th open. Needless to say, Jock slipped the baby back under her after he had timed in. To say that Jock was over the moon would be an understatement. He has now named this winning blue hen; ‘Lady Betty’ after his dear wife. Regarding her breeding this is a story in itself; Jock assister a near neighbour Jock McMullen who was doing a job near him to put a roof onto a shed. When the job was complete Jock McMullen wanted to pay Jock for his time and assistance however refused. So, Jock McMullen purchased some young birds from Mike Brennan of Royal Oak Lofts for Jock Strang as a thank you for his help. One of these babies is the blue hen who has now won 1st region D 15th open SNFC Alencon flying 551 miles on the day. As Jock did not know the breeding of the hen, he asked me to contact Mike Brennan via email to obtain the details which are as follows. Mike informs me her sire is a self-bred Zwols from his stock loft he was a winner of 1st club 2nd federation & 2nd club 2nd federation. His bloodlines are from Dutch Prince x De Diament lines. Frans Zwols also had a super hen called ‘Chinese Lady’ who bred De Diament the hen that produced Frans famous 3 Musketeers and the seven sisters. Musketeer 1 scored 1st Maasiek 6226b, 2nd Boxtel 12,595b, 2nd Boxtel 4571b, 3rd St Quentin 5071b, Musketeer 2 won 2nd Beek 14,940b, 2nd Hannut 12,455b and 2nd Maasiek 6926b and Musketeer 3 won 2nd Chimay 8042b. I thank Mike Brennan of Royal Oak Lofts for supplying these details.
California Lady Betty see text
The winner of 1st region E 25th open is G Harrison of Lesmahagow; with the F1 winner securing 43rd open position are Cowan & Findlay of Ardrossan. John Hodgson of Annan had a great race timing in 9 birds in the top 33 open positions. With his 4th open winner having already won 57th open Alencon last year; his 14th open winner won 28th open last year from Alencon; and his 4th open won 57th open last year. W F Van Nuil of Gretna blue bar cock who won 8th open last year; won the same 8th open position this year; not bad going when you think of a pigeon that has been in the top 10 twice in 2 Gold Cup races. Fife’s Joe Mullen has a blue chequer hen who won 11th open last year now wins 42nd open in 2024. I have only had a quick look at the open result as it is just out so will have a good look once I have forwarded this article away to the BHW.
Results
Almond Valley Federation
Received the Billericay result from Lynn who informs us that the 216 birds were liberated at 07:15 hours. Winning 1st open is Geordie Harris of Bonnybridge club, he is also 2nd & 3rd club 5th & 19th open. John Bird of West Calder is 1st & 5th club & 2nd & 18th open. C Smillie wins 1st 3rd 6th & 7th Fauldhouse club, 3rd 8th 13th & 15th open. T Gavin is 2nd 4th & 5th Fauldhouse 4th 10th & 12th open. Freddie Jamieson & son win 1st East Calder 6th open with Colin Ross of Balerno wins 2nd 3rd & 4th club 7th 16th & 17th open. John Hadfield of Armadale wins 2nd 3rd & 4th club 9th 11th & 14th open. D Hay of Bonnybridge club wins 4th club 20th open. Summary list of money winners; members; amount; McArdle & Thomson C/W £ 120.00; J Bird W/C £ 68.50; F Jamieson & Son, E/C £ 67.50. C Ross BAL £ 27.00; the total was £283.00
Ayrshire Fed Maidstone SNFC
New from Bas Nicol who wrote; Hi Joe a quick catch up while I am on holiday this week from work and I can do a short round up on recent results. From the Maidstone OB (SNFC) 37 members sent 186 birds
North Section 92 birds; winner and 1st open is Robert “Speedy” Reid of Dalry HS - topping the fed clear by over an hour and half on a superb velocity of 1310. Robert’s winner took 1st section 13th open in the SNFC. He is also 4th federation with his 2nd pigeon. The 3rd & 4th section places go to Cowan & Findlay who are 5/6th federation for good measure. Ian Cameron makes up the top 5 in the North. A fantastic effort and supported by Matt Smith 48th open and Cree & Cuthbert in 49th place. Well done all, superb.
Centre Section had 36 birds; the winner of 1st & 3rd Centre section is Rob Donegan who is 8th open federation. 2nd is Irvines Harvey Pollock followed by Jim Meikle in 4th & Andy McKenna of Irvine NTHS in 5th.
South section 56 birds this week’s winner is Matt Smith with another gallant day bird on 1052 for 2nd federation. Cree & Cuthbert of Whitletts are 2nd & 3rd in the federation just behind Matt. Eben Stewart is 3rd section with J & A McDougall 4th & Boyd & Son in 5th. Well done all.
Club Winners; Robert Reid tops the Dalry result. Kilmarnock Invitation is won by Jim Meikle. Irvine New Town is H Pollock; Whittlets winner is Matt Smith; Ardeer winner is Hughes & Donald; Cumnock winner J & A McDougall; Mauchline is won by E Stewart; Darvel winners are Cowan & Findlay.
Hunter & Duignan Points Trophy - Leader Board; 1st Ardeer HS 12 points; 2nd Dalry HS 7 points; 3rd Kilmarnock Inv HS 4 points; 4th Kilwinning 4 points; 4th Irvine NTHS 4 points; 6th Darvel HS 3 points; 7th Cumnock 1 point; Whitletts 1 point.
Race Points; Lauder; Wooler; Appleby; Appleton; Stafford; Kettering; Wooler; Maidstone; Appleton; Appleby; Guernsey; Lauder; Lauder; Wooler; Wooler; Appleby & Appleby.
Points currently top 3: D Howie 76 points; A Barbour 64 points; R Reid 60 points; Kins regards Baz Nicol
North of Scotland Federation
News from George Duthie with the Maidstone result which had 35 members sending 320 birds; there were liberated in a very light wind. East Section 17 members sent 190 birds, topping the east section and open is Colin McRae of Fraserburgh & District club with 2 birds together to win 1st & 2nd places both on velocities of 1318 for the 458 miles. Colin is also 4th & 8th east section 4th & 10th open. R Bain of Fraserburgh & District club wins 3rd east section 3rd open with N Holt of Peterhead & District club wins 5th east section and open. S Witherspoon of Inverurie club is 6th east section and open with Peterhead & District’s member S Glue winning 7th east section and open. C Donaldson of Fraserburgh West End timed 5 birds to win 9th 10th 13th 14th & 15th east section 11th 12th 16th 18th & 19th open. R Barclay of Fraserburgh West End club winning 11th & 12th east section 14th& 15th open. The west section had 18 members sending 130 birds; with R Wilson of Keith winning
We now have 2 birds arrive together to the town of Keith with R Wilson winning 1st & 5th west section 8th & 26th open with club mates Duncan & Thomson winning 2nd west section 9th open. Devern Valley A Fulton wins 3rd west section 13th open with A Flett of Keith wins 4th & 8th west section 17th & 33rd open position. A Wilson of Devern Valley is 6th west section 31st open with P Thomson of Elgin & District club winning 7th section 32nd open with a NWHU rung bird. P Thomson of Elgin & District club is 7th west section 32nd open with Keith’s A J Reid winning 9th west section 34th open. A Hay of Devern Valley wins 10th west section 35th open. Well done to Colin McRae on topping the federation.
Clubs First Bird Winners are as follows; C McRae wins Fraserburgh & District velocity 1318.753; Peterhead & District winner is N Holt velocity 1294.687; Inverurie winner is S Witherspoon velocity 1288.154; Keith winner is R Wilson velocity 1279.847; Fraserburgh West End winner is C Donaldson velocity 1270.137; Devern Valley winner is A Fulton velocity 1260.747; Elgin & District winner is P Thomson velocity 1065.704
27 Day Space Weather Outlook Table.
Issued: 1st July 2024 at 02-20 UTC
UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest
Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index
2024 Jul 01 180 15 5
2024 Jul 02 180 12 4
2024 Jul 03 175 12 4
2024 Jul 04 170 10 3
2024 Jul 05 170 5 2
2024 Jul 06 170 5 2
2024 Jul 07 170 5 2
2024 Jul 08 170 5 2
2024 Jul 09 170 5 2
2024 Jul 10 170 5 2
2024 Jul 11 170 5 2
2024 Jul 12 170 5 2
2024 Jul 13 170 5 2
2024 Jul 14 180 10 3
2024 Jul 15 175 10 3
2024 Jul 16 175 8 3
2024 Jul 17 175 5 2
2024 Jul 18 180 5 2
2024 Jul 19 180 5 2
2024 Jul 20 180 10 3
2024 Jul 21 180 8 3
2024 Jul 22 185 5 2
2024 Jul 23 180 5 2
2024 Jul 24 180 5 2
2024 Jul 25 180 5 2
2024 Jul 26 180 5 2
2024 Jul 27 180 5 2
© Compiled by Joe Murphy
Please continue to keep the news flowing; to Joe Murphy Mystical Rose Cottage 2 Flutorum Avenue Thornton by Kirkcaldy KY1 4BD or phone 01592 770331 or Email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. REMEMBER THE J IN THE MIDDLE or you can also view online editions on: www.elimarpigeons.com www.fancierchat.co.uk www.pigeon-chat.co.uk - www.Pigeonbasics.com - Pigeon Racing the Basics! - thecanadianpigeoninternational.com www.internationalracingpigeon.com Who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland?