“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT. 

Congratulations to George Tytler of Rosewell in Scotland.

Congratulation to young George Tytler for winning Class 37 at the BHW Blackpool ‘Show of the Year’ in January 2022. What a fantastic performance for a young lad of only 12 years of age! George’s Blackpool winner was his mosaic hen, ‘Mischief’, which was bred by John and Alice Bell of Catrine in Scotland.  ‘Mischief’ is a daughter of ‘Mervanic’, the winner of ‘Best in Show’ RPRA Southern Region Show for Nicole Bell in 2016 and she is sister to ‘Gracie’ winner of ‘Supreme Champion’ and ‘Alice’s Dream Girl’ winner of ‘Best in Show, both at the BHW Blackpool Show in 2022. What a brilliant family of pigeons!

George grew up with pigeons, with his grandfather and father both being successful pigeon racers. Young George likes the racing, but prefers the show birds and he is as keen as mustard, going to all the open shows in Scotland, and is a valued member of the Scottish East Show Society. He has done exceptionally well for his young age, with the Show Racers, winning first prizes and numerous cards at the Scottish East Show Society and open shows in the last couple of years, also beating his great rival and mentor John Bell. George has a share of his dad's racing loft for his show birds and keeps 20 pairs of Show Racers and breeds around 30/40 young birds each year. George would like to thank John and Alice for all there help and advice over the last few years and especially for the birds they let him have. Well done to young George on his wonderful Blackpool success!

Premier pigeon loft visits in Dorset. 

I visited the Ponderosa UK Stud twice in 2014. The first time was to organize an article on the Stud’s new premises and the second was while I was on holiday in July, and that was to visit two now late premier Dorset fanciers, Charlie Riley and Tony Swain, who had won premier National and Classic positions with the Ponderosa pigeons. The original plan was to visit the new Ponderosa UK Stud for the first time in February, but with high winds and flooding at the time, the day out in Weymouth had to be canceled. We were to meet up with Mike and Edna Shepherd, who were down on the south coast for a few days for a break and I was to take photos for this article. I finally made the 130 mile drive down to Dorset for the first visit with my ol’ mates, Peter Taylor and Terry Haley, at the back end of March and the wait was well worth it, as the weather was brilliant. I have had a great relationship with the Stud owners, Tony Hayne and Mary Bartlett, since the early 1990’s and was looking forward to the visit very much, as it had been a number of years since I had seen these two very nice people. The Ponderosa UK Stud moved ‘lock stock and barrel’ into a new facility in September 2009 and the brand new complete must be described as fantastic. The new site was just along the lane from the old Ponderosa site and the new pigeon living quarters were a carbon copy of the old. The original 26 breeding sections, including automatic cleaning nest box were relocated in the new site, as was the 20 holding flights which house the birds for sale. The only new facility in the pigeon breeding quarters was the under floor cleaning, which were deep pits under a wooden slatted floor, and this was cleaned out at regular times. The ventilation in the whole Stud was brilliant and the inmates looked in ‘mint’ condition and wonderful health.

The late Tony Swain of Dorchester.

The Ponderosa had a very long list top winners with their bloodlines over many years and the latest was put up by Tony Swain of Dorchester in the 2014 racing season. He recorded 1^st open Central Southern Classic Flying Club Yearling Derby from Messac with his good blue hen ‘Elaine’ and she was bred at the Ponderosa UK Stud, from their Ad Schaerlaeckens bloodlines.

Her dam ‘6374248’ was full sister to a cock that was responsible for 1^st open BBC National Vire in 2010. A great line of Schaerlaeckens stock birds breeding National and Classic winners in the UK. As a young bird in 2013, ‘Elaine’ flew her first race from Maggotsfield on the north road and a week later flew Guernsey on the south road with Central Southern Classic Flying Club. This game little hen was one of a small batch of youngsters obtained from the Ponderosa UK Stud and she has won several prizes, with the highlights being: 1^st open CSCFC Yearling Derby Messac, 10^th section, 22^nd open CSCFC Messac (2641 birds). I visited Tony’s loft in Dorchester and he describes his set up as ‘eco’, with the lofts being very basic and set in a very rural area of Dorset. We went out of the back door of the Swain’s farm type house and had the walk 100 yards through a field containing pigs, sheep and chickens, too reach his lofts, which were sited against the back brick wall of the village church.

Tony was a long distance enthusiast and had won many prizes through the years from all the main race points including, Barcelona, Pau and Tarbes. One of Tony’s best pigeons in recent years was his good blue chequer cock, ‘Reliable’, and his wonderful performances must give him a champion status, winning: 2009: 1^st Weydor SFC, 1^st section, 87^th open NFC Tarbes 529 miles (3,808 birds): 2010: 6^th Weydor SFC, 20^th section, 56^th open CSCFC Tarbes (606 birds): 2011: 1^st Weydor SFC, 4^th section, 401^st open NFC Tarbes (3,290 birds), 1^st Weydor SFC, 3^rd section, 18^th open BBC Bordeaux 410 miles (935 birds), 1^st Weydor SFC, 2^nd section, 263^rd open NFC Saintes 352miles (4,131 birds).

The late Charlie Riley of Blandford Forum.

Another fancier who had been very successful with the Ponderosa UK Stud bloodlines in recent seasons was Charlie Riley of Dorchester and he recorded 1^st, 2^nd section, 1^st, 2^nd open NFC Fougeres (7,054 birds) in 2012. Charlie’s Fougeres National winner was his champion blue cock, ‘Olympic Flame’, and he was down from the very successful De Klak / ‘Bartoli’ bloodlines, and this wonderful cock had  been retired to the stock loft. The second bird on the ETS from Fougeres was the blue cock, ‘Maggie’s Boy’, and he was bred from Ponderosa De Klak / ‘Bartoli’ stock birds. This game cock had a won several premier positions for the Riley loft including: 2012: 2^nd Weydor SFC, 2^nd section, 2^nd open NFC Fougeres, 3^rd Weydor SFC, 9^th section, 78^th open NFC Cholet: 2013: 5th section, 121^st open BBC Le Mans. Charlie said at the time that winning 1^st and 2^nd National was his biggest thrill in his 40 years in the sport of pigeon racing. Two wonderful De Klak racing cocks!

When visiting Charlie’s home in Blandford Forum I was amazed to see his old bird racing loft in his front garden and the stock and young bird lofts in the back yard. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone’s loft in their front garden! Needless to say the Riley loft set up was very smart, with the 30ft old bird loft being completely close down with Perspex windows for the widowhood system. Charlie told me, good ventilation is paramount in good loft design and he had never used deep litter on the loft floors. He raced twenty cocks on a basic widowhood system and these racers were mated up at the end of January, with National and Classic racing in mind. The cocks only got two or three 20 mile training tosses to kick the season off and they were never broken down during the racing season. Charlie told me he never showed the hens on marking night and the length of time the cocks get their mates on their return on race day, depended on the length of the race, the longer the race, the longer the hens stay in the nest boxes. The cocks raced the whole of the early programme in preparation for the later races and then they raced every two weeks up to 350 miles. The racers were fed on mostly Versalaga ‘Super Widowhood’ mixture and got the normal grit and minerals. Three other premier racing cocks at the Blandford loft were: the blue cock, ‘219’ who was also bred from Ponderosa UK Stud stock birds and he recorded in the 2014 racing season: 1^st section, 10^th open NFC Messac. The handsome blue pied cock, ‘926’, has won: 2014: 1^st section, 3^rd open CSCFC Messac, 3^rd section, 69^th open NFC Saintes: 2013: 8^th section, 109^th open NFC Carentan, 20^th section, 247^th open NFC Saintes, 19^th section, 115^th open BBC Niort, plus other positions and the blue cock, ‘514’, was the winner of five top prizes including: 2013: 3^rd section, 10^th open CSCFC Messac: 11^th section, 98^th open NFC Cholet.

Charlie had 24 pairs of stock birds and these were mostly De Klak bloodlines, with a couple of pairs of Delbars and Kirkpatricks for the long distance. The breeders were paired up in December and were housed in a big brick built loft with flight at the back of the property. They were fed on low maintenance food, purchased from the Ponderosa Stud and Charlie told me, one of his top stock pairs had bred four separate section winners. He bred between 50 and 100 young birds to race each year and they were fed on a general mixture. The babies were put on the ‘darkness’ system and got about five training tosses up to 30 miles before the first race. When they come off the ‘dark’ in June they were raced naturally to the perch. Charlie was not into inbreeding his family of birds and told me the moult period is very important and calls for special feeding once the birds are split for the winter.

Charlie was born in Bridgewater, Somerset and his mother was a keen pigeon fancier.  When he was a lad he was interested in athletics, particularly cross country running and won prizes running for the school and county. He had always liked pigeon all his life and got his first racing birds in 1974, and these were a pair from Colin Garth of Shaftesbury and a pair from Bill Hands of Shillingstone. The two Crossways club members, George Dench and Reggie Isles helped him get started and his first big prize was 2^nd Berwick in the big young bird open race. Charlie’s first birds were Kirkpatrick, which he housed in a 8ft x 6ft shed and won prizes racing up to Thurso in the Dorchester club. He said his early mistakes were the normal ones, bad training and over feeding.

He was a self-employed gardener / maintenance man and said his partner, Maggie, was very keen and was a great help with the pigeons, including the training. Sprint / middle distance racing was preferred and Maggie said their family’s raced well up to about 270 miles, with most of their racing being from France. Charlie said he has no real opinion on the eyesign theory and had shown, and won prizes at the local club event, but dedicates himself to racing his pigeons. He told me he thinks the sport has definitely improved in the last 20 years and if he could he would stop mid-day liberations, and introduce control on birds of prey. He maintains ‘you only get out want you put in’ and said the partnership who did it best is Bill and Bryan Woods of Shaftsbury, who he rated as the best local fanciers.

Bill Woods of Shaftsbury. 

Bill Woods was a very rare breed of pigeon fancier, as he raced only the widowhood system yet won top positions in long distance races year after year. The loft only raced cocks and was full of champions, with some cocks winning eight firsts in channel races. In 1994 the loft won: 12^th section, 258^th open N.F.C. Nantes, 1^st section, 11^th open N.F.C. Saintes, 1^st section, 10^th open N.F.C. Pau, 2^nd section, 4^th open B.B.C. Nantes, 10^th, 12^th section, 26^th, 30^th open Central Southern Classic Bergerac. This great fancier lifted the National Flying Club ‘S. G. Biss Trophy’ for Best Average all old bird races.

Bill was 100% widowhood and was living proof that the longer races can be won with unpaired cocks. He sent only a small team to the Nationals and very rarely sent to the young bird classic races. The loft had two sections which house the 32 widowhood cocks and was painted throughout in a nice light blue, which I thought was very restful for the inmates. The widowhood racers were paired up on 14^th February and the hens were taken away when their babies were 15 days old and then the cocks were trained. Bill said widowhood was a great system for holding the birds' condition. The cocks never saw the hens on marking nights and only got the hen for about two hours on arrival home from the races. In Bill’s opinion feeding was the most important factor in widowhood racing and the longer the race, the shorter the break down period.

At the time of my visit to his loft, Bill was a very fit 65 years of age and was born and bred in Dorset. His garden was very small and the 20ft x 6ft loft almost filled it. The location was not the best for a pigeon loft, being less than 6ft away from the house and netted around with telephone wires. The main families raced were Wildemeersch from Mitchell Bros and Louella, Matthys of Geoff Kirkland, Verheye and Busschaerts from Louella and distance birds from Nigel Llewellyn of Southampton. One of the stars in the Woods loft at that time was the blue pied Wildemeersch widowhood cock, which was ‘Champion Yearling’ in West of England Combine in 1994, winning 1^st open Combine (6,000 birds) Plymouth and 6^th open Combine Plymouth. This cock was of Mitchell Brothers / Louella lines and handled above medium, with very silky feathering.

Bill had been a pigeon fancier for 40 years and had won countless top prizes including 3^rd open Pau (NFC), 10^th open Pau (NFC), 6^th open Palamos (BBC), 6^th, 14^th, 16^th open Nantes (NFC), 11^th open Saintes (NFC), 29^th open Bordeaux (NFC), and three times 1^st open in the mighty West of England Combine, to list just a few. Bill said his most thrilling experience in his time in the sport was when he won 3^rd open Pau National. He bred between 40 and 50 young birds each season and never sent them over the channel. He trained up to 35 miles and the hens raced the whole card, with the cock only getting one or two races. For Bill the moult was the important factor for good success the following year.

Peter Lovell of Shaftesbury.

Peter Lovell had a good racing season in 1992, winning every Channel race at club level and 1^st section NFC Pau. Peter’s full performance for 1992 reads: 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd club Rennes (1), 1^st, 2^nd club Picauville (1), 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th club Picauville (2), 1^st, 2^nd club Rennes (2), 1sy, 4^th club Nantes, 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th club Dover, 13^th section, 120^th open NFC Nantes, 1^st section, 36^th open NFC Pau, 3^rd Dorset 2 bird Championship Club Nantes, 1^st Dorset 2 bird Championship club Pau (550 miles). A fantastic performance! Before moving down to Dorset in 1988, Peter lived in Acton, London and flew his team of natural pigeons with outstanding success on the south and north road. The loft’s top performance in London was put up by his red chequer Busschaert cock, ‘Buckles’, which recorded: 1^st club, 1^st West Middlesex Federation, 1^st SMT Combine Rennes (3,394 birds) in 1986.

Peter was born in Notting Hill, London, one of ten children. He became involved in pigeons when the local lads started building sheds, using the wood from orange boxes, to house the pigeons they obtained from the local market. The birds that they kept in those early days were all shapes and sizes, the prettier the pigeon the higher they were valued as far as the lads were concerned. Around this time Peter’s sister was courting Nap Perry. Nap was one of six brothers all of them well known being top class amateur boxers, but the bonus, as far as the young Peter was concerned was that Nap kept and raced pigeons. Peter was the envy of all of his friends, when he was allowed to scrape Nap’s loft out. Nap and Peter’s sister eventually married and at the time of my loft visit in Shaftesbury, Nap was still racing pigeons in the Oxhey club. Peter’s dad, who was a good carpenter, took exception to the building Peter had erected in the garden, that he proudly called ‘his loft’, hid dad called it an ‘eye sore’. Using the front room of their home as a workshop Peter’s dad built him a new loft. Peter said when that loft was erected in his garden he was the proudest boy in the district. In those early days Peter was a pest to the racing men; he was for ever knocking on their doors and asking to see their pigeons.

One fancier, who really took to him and in his opinion was the best fancier in West London, was the late Danny Fisher. He said Danny never sent many pigeons to a race and on the majority of occasions it was one or two birds. Danny hardly ever worked and at any time you could go to his loft and buy any pigeon in it, no matter how many wins it had to its credit. Peter purchased Danny’s famous black pies cock for £10 and Danny based his price on £1 for every race it had won. Peter also purchased six young birds from him for £3 and four of them won races for him. One of the four, a hen called ‘Smart Eyes’, should have won the Western Home Counties Combine from Berwick, but after sitting out for several minutes ended up 4^th open Combine. Another fancier who had a great influence the young Peter was Alf Weston of Tonbridge. Peter said, Alf advised him on how to race pigeons; he also gave and lent him some of his best birds. In later years Stan Towers was also a great help to Peter. Whilst Peter freely admitted that he had had a lot of help from other good fanciers, he did say that one of the best teachers is ‘mistakes’. He believed that all fanciers make mistakes, it is what is learnt from them that is important. Some fanciers blame the pigeons for letting them down, but possibly the pigeons should not have been sent in the first place and the fancier has let the bird down.

When Peter lived in Acton the birds he raced were mainly derived from Ned Leonard & son of the Up North Combine fame and West Brothers of Stonebridge. I visited Peter’s London loft several years before he moved to Shaftesbury and he had two lofts there, one 18ft x 12ft divided in to five sections, two at the rear and three at the front. The other was a standard ‘Kidby’ one with three sections. Trapping arrangements for both lofts was via the open door. Deep litter was used in both lofts: consisting of sharp sand with a sprinkling of lime added. Ten pairs of stock birds were kept, along with 25 pairs of natural racers. Although some 50 youngsters were reared every year, Peter kept around 30 to race and the rest were given away to friends. Peter’s best racers at that time in Acton were: ‘Buckles’, winner of 1^st club, 1^st West Middlesex Federation, 1^st SMT Combine Rennes (3,394 birds), 1^st club Exeter: ‘The Ugly Cock’ winner of 1^st club, 1^st Federation Northallerton (1,264 birds), 1^st club, 6^th Federation Doncaster (1,878 birds), 3^rd club, 4^th Federation Doncaster (977 birds): ‘Wattles’ winner of 1^st club, 1^st Federation Northallerton: ‘The Show Cock’ winner of 2^nd club, 2^nd Federation Wetherby: ‘The Big Hen’ winner of 1^st club, 1^st Federation Wetherby, 1^st club, 4^th Federation Wetherby and the dam of ‘The Ugly Cock’.

After moving down to Shaftesbury, Peter was very lucky to have the late Ron Wasey’s two champion hens, ‘Nancy’, winner of 1^st open NFC Pau Grand National 1981, and her sister, ‘Lulu’, winner of 4^th open NFC Pau Grand National1982, on loan to breed from. Ron had been a great friend of Peter’s for many years and he was a regular visitor to the Dorset loft. When Ronnie had his clearance sale, on retirement from the sport, several of his best racers were far too old to sell so they were kept to live their time out in New Addington. Peter told me, in her last breeding season, which was in 1990, ‘Nancy’ bred a handsome blue cock, ‘74’, and he was the Lovell’s star racer in 1992. This great cock’s performance in 1992, must give him champion status, recording: 1^st club Rennes, 4^th club Eastbourne, 13^th section, 120 the open NFC Nantes, 1^st clock station by over two hours (only two birds on the day), 1^st section, 36^th open NFC Pau Grand National, 3^rd Dorset 2 bird Championship Club Nantes, 1^st Dorset 2 birds Championship Club Pau, winning over £1,000. After ‘Nancy’ and ‘Lulu’ finished breeding they returned to Ronnie’s New Addington loft that they loved so much. When Ronnie packed up his pigeons he sold Peter his Benzing Quartz clock and in its life it had only been set three times for the Pau National and had three time recorded 1^st section winners. What a clock! Peter said he got an extra ‘buzz’ from the 1992 Pau National, as Ron Wasey was in the garden to see the son of his Champion ‘Nancy’ win the section. The Lovell loft sent seven birds to the very hard Pau Grand National and got all seven, including four in race time. Peter said at that time, that Ron Wasey left the sport to early and could have been one of the ‘all time greats’ of National racing.

Sporting activities had dominated Peter’s life and from an early age he played football, signing amateur forms with West Bromwich Albion. He was also a very keen boxer, reaching   the National Schools finals, where he boxed at Wembley in front of an audience of 10,000 people. He went on to have 100 bouts and represented the British Army, boxing for Southern Command. Peter reckoned that one of his downfalls was trying two sports at once, instead of concentrating on one. He said, the same sort of mistake that can be found in pigeon racing, where fanciers try to win both long and short distance races with the same pigeons.

Peter had a very nice 200ft long garden, overlooking the Dorset county side in Shaftesbury, which contained his two smart lofts, one 36ft x 6ft and a 28ft Petron loft. He raced the natural system, because he liked the long distance races and bred about 60 youngsters to race each year. Peter said, he had always fancied trying a few cocks on widowhood, but had never got around to setting them up. He bred a few youngsters for friends and many winners were reported to him every year. Fred Roberts of West Ewell had his top two widowhood cocks, winners of many inland races, bred at the Lovell loft. Peter was a great trainer of pigeons and they went down the road most days.

He said he was privileged to be able to call the late Ronnie Wasey his friend and was very grateful to have had Ron’s great champions to breed from for three seasons. Peter’s wife did not share his interest in pigeons and he said that she once took 34 young birds on their first training toss, and he only ever saw four of those birds again. She was sacked on the spot! His ambition was to win the NFC Pau National with Ron Wasey in the garden when the bird arrived and it being bred from his birds. Ron Wasey was a close Mott family friend since the late 1970’s and he was a credit to our sport, and his performances in the long distance events with the National Flying Club were second to none.

Well that’s it for this week! I hope my readers have enjoyed this look back at these Dorset winning champions of yester year. If you win and want a write up in this space, contact me on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email me on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)