NEWS FROM SCOTLAND
Reports by Joe Murphy
Request for Help
Received an email of help as follows ‘Dear Mr Murphy, I am a Fine Art student studying at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee. I am in my final year and in the process of creating my degree show. At the moment I am doing a project on the process of transforming the elements (i.e. earth to wind). I am in the process of making my own paper and would like to make it air born by attaching a small piece to a pigeon and photographing the process of the pigeon taking off. This may be a bizarre request and I am not sure if it is possible, but I am writing to ask if you could put me in contact with anyone who would be willing to help me with my project? Yours sincerely, Lydia Hiorns’ With Kevin’s birds not homing to the new location just yet I contacted Willie Donachie in Dundee to see if he would help Lydia out and he said he would and she replied ‘Thank you, that is very helpful and I look forward to hearing from Mr Willie Donachie’. I will keep you informed of the outcome if Lydia comes back to me.
Good SNFC Birds
Since I highlighted the very good pigeon of George & Brian Hunter Dunfermline whose blue hen SU07F 7021 Kingdom Spirit has won a Double Silver SNFC Award in 2014 to add to her SNFC Gold Award, I have been asked to give more details on this wonderful hen especially the breeding. George Hunter informed me. The partners went to a well-established racing loft with good national and international performance achieved in recent times and Geoff Kirkland fitted the bill.
George & Brian Hunter of Dunfermline
The major bloodlines which form the family of pigeons are from Geoff Kirkland (Alfon Bauwens), the Midland national great; these are bred down from his famous ‘The Pest’, 1st open BBC Nantes and 1st open Midland National Flying Club Angouleme when he was paired to daughter of 1st National winner Bishops Pride. The material grand dam of the Kirkland pigeon is a direct daughter of the Alfons Bauwens Cock, sire of 2 x 1st national winners, ‘Jackpot’ and ‘Blue Panda’. He is also the sire of 3rd open national winner from a distance of 495 miles when he was mated to the dam of 4th national winner - outstanding winning national lines. This family has provided the partnership with outstanding pigeons with these originating from a small group of 6 purchased from Bob Cook of Colchester and their No 1 stock pair came from this group. Another pair of stock pigeons to do well for them is the Stoffel-Ophoff of Germany (top national and international fliers) these were purchased with the help of Bill Woodall of Dover whom they met at Blackpool show a few years ago. George informed me that they now only introduce 1 or 2 individual pigeons to test them out and see if they have any impact on their loft before introducing their bloodlines into their gene pool. Staying on this subject I asked how they had evolved this particular type of bird to suit their methods. They both agreed this was with natural selection and racing and they have produced a type of pigeon that is well balanced, has good feathering and is of a quiet disposition. Obviously these are all major reflections but ultimately they have to be tested out in the race basket. George expressed to me ‘As you know, Joe, very few pigeons have the intelligence or determination for racing from France a distance of 500-600 mile into Scotland and I’m sorry to say that quite a few are lost during this process’. There have been a few others strains added including some Deweerdts from Kevin Hitchcock of Windsor which have started to make their mark at SNFC level. ‘Kingdom Anna’ is down from this family (more about her later). Both George and Brian are very grateful to the above-named fanciers who have inspired and influenced them to improve their performances on a yearly basis.
Going back to Kingdom Spirit, she has already won the SHU Bird of the Year in 2010 when she won the Dewar Trophy and was runner-up for this prestigious award in 2011. She also won my last Joe Murphy / BHW Sporting Challenge in 2012 however she continues to excel in Scottish National races as seen below.
Year Race Section C Open Miles Birds
2010 Reims 7th 26th 567 1187
2010 Clermont 2nd 30th 524 1102
2011 Messac 2nd 32nd 573 1159
2011 Clermont 31st 67th 524 1741
2012 Alencon 4th 36th 547 1250
2013 Alencon 8th 22nd 547 1355
2013 Clermont 41st 90th 524 1500
2014 Alencon 18th 120th 547 1427
She is without doubt a truly magnificent pigeon and raced by a very devoted father and son partnership of George & Brian Hunter who appreciate the excellence of this great pigeon. From the 8 national races she has covered 4353 miles and when you consider that only 415 birds have beaten her from a total birdage of 10,721 birds over this 4-year period, it is a truly remarkable accomplishment. Had she been a Dutch-Belgian or German pigeon she would be worth a fortune and maybe one of the most expensive pigeon in the world today. Believe me, some of the birds sold on auction sites today do not have performances to compare with this hen. I, like many others, thought after she had won her Gold Award in the SNFC that she would be stopped and put into the stock loft but the partners do not keep a lot of pigeons and try to keep quality more than quantity. With this in mind I think if she continues to keep good health they may try to achieve winning a 2nd Gold Award in the National. If she did achieve this goal then Kingdom Spirit would become only the second pigeon in the history of the Scottish National Flying Club to win a double Gold Award. The only other pigeon to do so was the wonderful hen, Fortune Lady, raced by Mr & Mrs Smith of Elphinstone in East Lothian.
I must also stress that this is not a ONE bird loft as the partnership has other outstanding Superstars being raced at the present time namely: A full sister to Kingdom Spirit named Kingdom Kate, which has won the following prizes.
She was runner up for the SHU Dewar Trophy for Champion Bird of the Year in 2012 winning the following positions:
2012 SNFC Ypres 2nd section C 45th open 445 miles 2100 birds
2012 SNFC Clermont 24th section C 34th open 524 miles 1700 birds
Then there is Kingdom Anna a chequer hen who won a SNFC Silver Award in 2013. She was runner up for the Dewar Trophy for Champion Bird of the Year in 2013. Her performances are as follows:
2011 SNFC Tours 2nd section C 13th open 626 miles 280 birds
2013 SNFC Ancenis 2nd section C 6th open 609 miles 268 birds
2013 SNFC Clermont 37th section C 85th open 524 miles 1500 birds
2013 SNFC Newbury 16th section C 158th open 334 miles 3328 birds
2014 SNFC Ancenis 2nd section C 24th open 609 miles 288 birds
So you will see the outstanding consistency this partnership has achieved over a 4-year period, being either winner or runner up for the Dewar Trophy for Champion Bird of the Year in the whole of Scotland. When you consider that Spirit won it, was runner up the following year, then her sister Kate was runner up and now Anna has been runner up for this prestigious award. So readers will see that there are indeed some tremendous top quality pigeons housed in this small back garden loft in Dunfermline. I have included a few pictures to go with this short tribute to a dedicated partnership and their wonderful pigeons.
Kingdom Spirit
Sire of Kingdom Spirit
Dam of Kingdom Spirit
Kingdom Anna
Kingdom Kate
Joe’s Jokes
Hot and Cold Sex: After his exam the doctor asked the elderly man: ‘You appear to be in good health. Do you have any medical concerns you would like to ask me about?’ ‘In fact, I do,’ said the old man. ‘After I have sex with my wife, I am usually cold and chilly, and then, after I have sex with her the second time, I am usually hot and sweaty’. Later, after examining the man's elderly wife, the doctor said: ’Everything appears to be fine. Do you have any medical concerns that you would like to discuss with me?’ She replied that she had no questions or concerns.
The doctor then said to her: ‘Your husband had an unusual concern. He claims that he is usually cold and chilly after having sex with you the first time, and then hot and sweaty after the second time. Do you know why?’ ‘Oh that crazy old bugger’, she replied. ‘That's because the first time is usually in January and the second time is in August’.
And another one...
My Italian Mama, Mrs Ravioli comes to visit her son Anthony for dinner. He lives with a female roommate, Maria. During the course of the meal, his mother couldn't help but notice how pretty Anthony's roommate is. Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she started to wonder if there was more between Anthony and his roommate than met the eye. Reading his mom's thoughts, Anthony volunteered, ‘I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you, Maria and I are just roommates’. About a week later, Maria came to Anthony saying, ‘Ever since your mother came to dinner, I've been unable to find the silver sugar bowl. You don't suppose she took it, do you?’ ‘Well, I doubt it, but I'll email her, just to be sure.’ So he sat down and wrote an email: Dear Mama, I'm not saying that you ‘did’ take the sugar bowl from my house; I'm not saying that you ‘did not’ take it. But the fact remains that it has been missing ever since you were here for dinner. Your loving son Anthony: Several days later, Anthony received a response email from his Mama which read: Dear son, I'm not saying that you ‘do’ sleep with Maria, and I'm not saying that you ‘do not’ sleep with her. But the fact remains that if she was sleeping in her OWN bed, she would have found the sugar bowl by now. Your Loving Mama.
Moral: Never Bulla Shita you Mama.
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.
© Compiled by Joe Murphy
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