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Scotland Do

 

SCOTLAND

The home of the long distance 'do' - Part 1

by Keith Mott

I was sorting through some old photos last week and found several that were taken when I did my first week-long tour of premier lofts in Scotland in the mid 1990s. I travelled from the south-west corner of Scotland across to the north-east corner and then right down the east side, and visited some of the legends in pigeon racing north of the border. In the coming weeks I’m going to feature one or two of the very best lofts we visited in Scotland, the home of the long distance ‘do’.

 

My late great friend, Albert Taylor of Eastwood, rode ‘shot gun’ on the Scotland trips and I must say we had some brilliant times together in the mid 1990s. Albert was a good friend and we travelled great distances together around UK whilst making my 'Many Miles with Mott' pigeon videos. I first met him in 1995 when he rang to congratulate me on my first two 'Many Miles with Mott' videos, saying in his blunt way that they were the best pigeon tapes he had seen. He said they had one thing wrong with them - they didn't feature any north road fanciers. My reply was that if he could arrange some premier Midlands north road loft visits, I would come up to Nottingham for a week and feature them on our No. 3 video. The result was Albert arranging that video tour plus several other 'Many Miles with Mott' video projects and we became great friends. We had some great times together, going on several long video tours of Cumbria, Scotland and the Up North Combine areas together and we enjoyed every minute, of them. He had a big influence on the production of several of the videos and, when I finished after video Number 18, I know he really wanted us to carry on and produce even more.

 

Albert raced very successfully in partnership with his brother Dennis and the 1990 season saw the Taylor Brothers win one of the greatest races in north road racing, the North Road Championship Club Lerwick King's Cup event. The brothers were new members of the NRCC in 1990 and their winning pigeon, which they called ‘Tame Red’, won the King's Cup at their first attempt. This was after one of the longest holdovers since the early 1930s from this race point, some ten days in the basket. ‘Tame Red’, one of a batch of 28 young birds bred for the brothers by Larry & Michael Gaunt of Heage, was clocked after just over 13 hours on the wing. This champion cock was quite a character and was so tame he walked up Albert's arm and stood on his shoulder. ‘Tame Red’ bred many premier winners and only died a few years ago at 14 years of age. Albert always said his biggest thrill in his time in the sport was seeing the NRCC secretaries, Ian & Marie Johnson, walking up the garden to verify ‘Tame Red’ as he was probably going to be the outright King's Cup winner. ‘Tame Red’ proved to be a champion at stock, breeding countless premier racers, including the blue cock 03040, which won in 1997: 72nd open NRCC Lerwick and in 1998: 18th open NRCC Lerwick, 1st Federation Lerwick, winning over £1,200. A wonderful pigeon!

 

One of highlights of the 2008 racing season for me was when I saw Dennis Taylor in the BHW, to read the news that he had won 1st and 2nd open NRCC Perth with 3,374 birds competing. We go back a lot of years and to read that news was just brilliant! In recent years Dennis has raced his pigeons on his own after his brother, pigeon partner and best friend, Albert, passed away. In recent seasons Dennis has won many 1st Federations and has been premier prize winner several times, but to win the North Road Championship Club for the second time is the icing on the success cake. It would have been great if our Albert was here for the win and it’s nice that Dennis has named his latest NRCC National winner ‘Albi’ after his late brother. Albert Taylor was a great lad and a 100% pigeon man. He was a great friend and is being sorely missed. Dennis is still racing without outstanding success, recording many firsts in the club and Federation every season.

 

Jim Donaldson of Peterhead

 

I made the long drive up to Peterhead on the north-east corner of Scotland with my good late friends Albert Taylor and Ian Gray of Forfar, to visit the Scottish National Flying Club ace Jim Donaldson. Jim is a master at long-distance pigeon racing, winning countless prizes over the years. 1995 was his best season when he recorded 1st Section in all four Scottish National Flying Club Old Bird races and 1st Open Scottish National Flying Club Sartilly (2). A fantastic performance! Jim was flying 605 miles from Sartilly, 650 miles from Rennes and 775 miles from Niort. In the 1995 season the Donaldson loft also won 2nd Open Federation from Sartilly, just for good measure.

 

Jim started in the sport in 1980 when his son had a few birds and got fed up with them, so he took them over. The family of pigeons at the Peterhead Lofts was 90% Davey Scott of Brechin and down from two pairs of Kirkpatricks obtained from Sid Beard of Hemel Hempstead in 1980. Jim races his birds on the natural system and uses the Federation races for training. He pairs the birds on 15th February, and feeds a heavy mixture when they are rearing, but changes the feeding to a light widowhood mixture for racing. The corn is never 'beefed up' for the long distance and Jim said his pigeons eat hardly anything when they are right for the long-distance races. He reckons hens are his best long distance racers, his Scottish National Flying Club Section winners have all been hens feeding small youngsters. Jim is only interested in long-distance racing and his team goes through to Niort. The Sartilly National winner was a nice apple-bodied blue chequer hen sent to the race on chipping eggs; she had previously won 7th Open Federation Sartilly. Her dam, also a blue chequer, was an outstanding racer, recording 1st and 3rd Section Rennes (both Scottish National Flying Club) and had bred many champion racers. Jim's favourite pigeon was his good mealy hen, who has won many prizes in long-distance events, including 1st Section, 48th Open Niort and 2nd Section, 15th Open Sartilly (again, both Scottish National Flying Club). Jim said this wonderful hen has never let him down and she always sat tight and never exercises around the loft for the week before the main National races.

 

The racing loft at Peterhead is a very smart affair, 30 feet long, with four sections and open-door trapping for the old birds. Ten pairs of stock birds are housed in the main loft, paired up at the beginning of February. The stock team is mainly made up of latebreds taken from the very best racers and Jim hopper-feeds them with a heavy mixture. The best stock cock was the red pied 'Circus Boy', which has bred four 1st Scottish National Flying Club Section winners and his blood runs right through the whole Donaldson team. 'Circus Boy' was bred in 1981 from Scott and Beard stock birds. Jim is very keen on eye sign in the stock loft and said that he always pairs opposite colours, but maintains it means nothing in the race loft. He bred 70 young birds to race each season and they all had to race through to 230 miles, with six or eight picked out to fly the 300 miles Young Bird National race. The first training toss was from 40 miles and the trainers were fed heavily with high quality mixture. The Peterhead loft of Jim Donaldson, one of the best long distance set ups north of the border!

 

John Ellis of Wellbank near Dundee in Scotland

 

I was very happy when my good friend, Ian ‘Smokey’ Gray, told me he had arranged a loft visit to the great John Ellis, as John is a fancier I have admired since I started up in the sport 45 years ago. Back in the 1960s, when I was learning the 'trade', I read about John's long-distance performances and his champions, ‘Wellbank Endurance’, winner of 1st, 2nd section, 27th, 82nd open British Barcelona Club Palamos (1,044 mile) and ‘Wellbank Pride’, winner of 1st section, 8th open Rennes in the Scottish National Flying Club, flying 583 miles and so on.

 

John started in the sport in 1958, with only long-distance racing in mind. His loft has won countless positions in the first ten of the Scottish National Flying Club Open results over the years and recorded 1st and 2nd section, 27th and 28th open BBC Palamos (1,044 miles) in the 1970s. If a pigeon wins from 400 miles he is looking for it to win from 600 miles. John has been in the Scottish National Flying Club results every year since 1962, apart from the season when his father died. One of his most recent champions is the blue chequer hen, 'Wellbank Reliable' who won the Gold Award in the Scottish National Flying Club; by the time she was three years old, winning five times from 540 miles or over. Her best position was 8th open Sartilly Scottish National Flying Club, 540 miles and she likes to be sent sitting week-old eggs or feeding a small youngster. At the start John obtained birds from several top long-distance fanciers in the north and blended his own family. Crosses are brought in from time to time and he says Stichelbauts obtained from his late friend, Bernard Miles, have produced outstanding birds when put into his own pigeons. He has a grandson of the 'Tee' and a Pol Bostyn hen which are breeding well at the present time. Some more of John’s great racers are: ‘Wellbank Endurance’, 1st, 2nd section E. 27th, 82nd open B.B.C. Palamos (1,044 miles): ‘Star’, 2nd section, 5th open Nantes: ‘Paris Cock’, 11th open Nantes, 30th open Paris (smash): ‘Faithful’, Gold Award winner: ‘The Mealy Pied Hen’, 21st open Nantes (643 miles on the day): ‘Patricia’, 9th open Beauvais.

 

John has a very smart 40-foot loft with landing board and drop hole trapping and the old birds are raced on the natural system. John's 30 pairs of old birds are paired up the first week in March and are given about three 250-mile races in the local Dundee and District Club before being entered in the National events. The best racers are consistently paired to stock birds, so their mates are always there in the box on their return from the races. Old birds may be asked to fly in two or three long distance races in one season. John feeds a first-class mixture, based on beans and maize and says he is a very heavy feeder. Because of the extremely bad hawk problem around John’s Wellbank home, he breeds a good team of about 50 or 60 young birds each season. He says they are not raced heavily, but he likes them to have a few races to set them up for later life. His local Federation is very slow getting the birds down to the distance, so John has to jump his youngsters 200 miles into the Young Bird National. They are fed on first class mixtures and get plenty of it. We had a great day out at John’s loft and handled some of the best long distance ‘doos’ in Scotland.

 

Well that’s it for this week! Next time we will have Scotland number two and look at the wonderful long distance performances of the late great John Traill of Thornton. I can be contacted with any pigeon ‘banter’ on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

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

 

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