"The Cobbler"
Northamptonshire
Ramblings
July 2010
Ramblings
July 2010
"The Cobbler"
Any views on Pigeon Racing in Northamptonshire to
Tel: 01933 410322 or
Email: russellbradford@talktalk.net
Copyright, all rights reserved, Russell Bradford 2010
Ramblers Itinerary Racing Pigeon Post RPP Index to Articles
Any views on Pigeon Racing in Northamptonshire to
Tel: 01933 410322 or
Email: russellbradford@talktalk.net
Copyright, all rights reserved, Russell Bradford 2010
Ramblers Itinerary Racing Pigeon Post RPP Index to Articles
An interesting story was passed to me following on from the recent publication in the British Homing World by the RPRA President Les Blacklock, detailing his displeasure in a letter to the RSPB at the further release of hawks in Cumbria. Personally I think his remarks will be treated with contempt by the RSPB and very probably totally disregarded, but at least he is putting his concerns on record. Anyway the story……
Canabalism
One of the Northamptonshire Championship Club members who lives in the north of the county, namely Jan Czarnota has a very large garden with probably around two acres given over to a mass of trees and is a natural home to all sorts of wildlife. He recently has watched a pair of red kites building a nest and rearing their young high up in one of these trees, and not more than a hundred metres from his pigeon loft. (More about his loft in another report for another time.) Not sure how, but the RSPB became aware of the nest and youngsters in it, but they wanted to band them, which he agreed to. A representative from the Forestry Commission was going to rig some form of rope and pulley system to get a person safely up to the nest, probably in the region of 18-20 metres above ground, and a meeting was arranged with Jan and the other two in his garden to discuss. That very day the red kite’s young were taken by a sparrow hawk, albeit with the RSPB man hotly denying that a sparrow hawk could possibly be the culprit. Unfortunately for him the Forestry commission chap spotted the feather evidence of a sparrow hawk around the remains and left the RSPB on this occasion completely lost for words and excuses. It of course begs the question that with the song bird population being so badly depleted by sparrow hawks, are they now having to turn on other birds of prey, to feed themselves?
Strays
It is perhaps understandable when birds that are racing across the Channel, don’t want to face the water crossing and then fly on up the Belgian and the Dutch coast, especially with strong westerly winds blowing. These birds then find themselves a day or so later facing at least a one hundred or more mile stretch of the North Sea, probably into a head wind and probably on their own. I know of at least four pigeons that have been reported to local fanciers from places in Norfolk virtually on the coast after the Saran (BICC) race and I myself had one to collect from Sheringham, that had taken a detour from Messac racing with the NFC, and for sure must have come across a pretty wide and inhospitable stretch of water. Thought it would prove an enjoyable day out at the sea-side but when we got there after a three hour drive in the rain, we found the flags almost being ripped off the masts in a cold north wind, with unsurprisingly not a living soul on the beach. We parked for all of five minutes looking at a very uninviting sea before heading back to Northamptonshire and another two hours of drizzle before arriving back in the county when naturally the sun decided to come out!! For European birds to finish up in central England though demands other reasoning, and can only suggest they have clashed somewhere in France with one of our National races. I have a Dutch bird in at the moment from near Amsterdam, and amazingly I know of two other Dutch strays currently with local fanciers. I’ve recently had a Scottish bird in as well racing from France to Edinburgh in the Scottish National, and was amazed when I had a phone call from the courier instructed to take the pigeon to Edinburgh, advising me he would collect at three AM. Needless to say the bird was left out overnight. Sadly not all couriers are that thoughtful and a bird being sent back to Doncaster recently had a courier (coast2coast) ringing my doorbell at six AM waking Grandchildren and everyone else. The courtesy of a phone call was clearly beyond him and one wonders how long he will survive in business with that level of customer service.
Canabalism
One of the Northamptonshire Championship Club members who lives in the north of the county, namely Jan Czarnota has a very large garden with probably around two acres given over to a mass of trees and is a natural home to all sorts of wildlife. He recently has watched a pair of red kites building a nest and rearing their young high up in one of these trees, and not more than a hundred metres from his pigeon loft. (More about his loft in another report for another time.) Not sure how, but the RSPB became aware of the nest and youngsters in it, but they wanted to band them, which he agreed to. A representative from the Forestry Commission was going to rig some form of rope and pulley system to get a person safely up to the nest, probably in the region of 18-20 metres above ground, and a meeting was arranged with Jan and the other two in his garden to discuss. That very day the red kite’s young were taken by a sparrow hawk, albeit with the RSPB man hotly denying that a sparrow hawk could possibly be the culprit. Unfortunately for him the Forestry commission chap spotted the feather evidence of a sparrow hawk around the remains and left the RSPB on this occasion completely lost for words and excuses. It of course begs the question that with the song bird population being so badly depleted by sparrow hawks, are they now having to turn on other birds of prey, to feed themselves?
Strays
It is perhaps understandable when birds that are racing across the Channel, don’t want to face the water crossing and then fly on up the Belgian and the Dutch coast, especially with strong westerly winds blowing. These birds then find themselves a day or so later facing at least a one hundred or more mile stretch of the North Sea, probably into a head wind and probably on their own. I know of at least four pigeons that have been reported to local fanciers from places in Norfolk virtually on the coast after the Saran (BICC) race and I myself had one to collect from Sheringham, that had taken a detour from Messac racing with the NFC, and for sure must have come across a pretty wide and inhospitable stretch of water. Thought it would prove an enjoyable day out at the sea-side but when we got there after a three hour drive in the rain, we found the flags almost being ripped off the masts in a cold north wind, with unsurprisingly not a living soul on the beach. We parked for all of five minutes looking at a very uninviting sea before heading back to Northamptonshire and another two hours of drizzle before arriving back in the county when naturally the sun decided to come out!! For European birds to finish up in central England though demands other reasoning, and can only suggest they have clashed somewhere in France with one of our National races. I have a Dutch bird in at the moment from near Amsterdam, and amazingly I know of two other Dutch strays currently with local fanciers. I’ve recently had a Scottish bird in as well racing from France to Edinburgh in the Scottish National, and was amazed when I had a phone call from the courier instructed to take the pigeon to Edinburgh, advising me he would collect at three AM. Needless to say the bird was left out overnight. Sadly not all couriers are that thoughtful and a bird being sent back to Doncaster recently had a courier (coast2coast) ringing my doorbell at six AM waking Grandchildren and everyone else. The courtesy of a phone call was clearly beyond him and one wonders how long he will survive in business with that level of customer service.
Northamptonshire Championship Club & The Nationals
It cannot have gone unnoticed how well NCC members have performed in the Nationals, and must show how the club is clearly getting something right. The general consensus of opinion is that mid week racing from the coast has a lot to do with these results, and of course that aside it has taken away the individual need to train mid week with all the associated costs. As I said to one of the members the other day, I managed to get £73.00 of fuel into my car at a single filling, and running down the road thirty miles with pigeons soon sees that disappear. An individual trainer can never be as good as training (and racing) with several hundred other birds, and conceivably accounts for the NCC members results.
In the recent Midland National from Tours, Rodney Oakes took a superb 4th, Open plus the south east section win flying 352 miles, albeit sadly this 2008 cock was sent back to Bordeaux and is still en route. In the same race Graham Groom took 19th Open and third section with a 3 yr old hen. He also clocked a 2007 cock to take 30th Open from 3,500 birds and congratulations to both of them. I was chatting to Rodney a day or so ago and he said he was intending to take his young bird team to Spec Savers, as he had no less than eight youngsters in his loft with broken bones of one sort or another after hitting various objects.
In the National Flying Club, which for some reason is not hugely supported in Northamptonshire, (high mileage to marking stations could of course be the answer), the Messac race gave NCC members seven positions in section ‘H’. Mr/Mrs Bradford took 3rd, 5th, & 12th section whilst Mel Errington the clubs’ President claimed 9th, 26th, 27th, & 47th section, and in a race where the winners in the north west were notching up some 300-350 YPM quicker. At St. Malo Russell & Clare Bradford were 9th and 21st section whilst Mel Errington took 18th, & 19th section. At Poitiers in the NFC Mel Errington again recorded a bird to take 4th section ‘H’ along with two more at 25th & 26th section from nearly four hundred miles. Her Majesty The Queen was three places below Mel at 29th section, so his chances of an invite to any of the Palace Garden Parties has probably taken a bit of a dip!!
The club adopts the BICC National race program and in the first of this year’s Channel races at Falaise Andy Smith managed 9th, & 10th north section with just over 3,000 birds competing. Albert Farrow was 23rd north section. This in a race where the north section now extends down to Ipswich in the east, and south Wales on the other side of the country, and requires a line down the centre of the country to make any sense of a section some three hundred plus miles wide. Next up was Alencon with not far short of 4,000 pigeons and Andy Smith took first north section and an excellent 72nd Open. Just a few section places further down were fanciers in Blaenavon and Great Yarmouth, (one side of the country to the other), which only goes to show what first-rate pigeons one needs to race at this level Nationally. 10th section and 133rd Open were Barry and Troy Hobbs, and what a season they’ve had in the Burton Latimer club with something like eight club wins to their credit ~ Must be all that mid week training!! Andy did it again at the disastrous Saran race with two of the only four day birds into the county, in a race where simply thouands of birds went missing to boot. Squeezed between his first and second clocking was Graham Stafford, who raced with us in 2009, and has already said how much he would like to rejoin the club next year. I am sure you would be welcomed back Graham as competition clearly raises the bar. The final BICC National race for the club was at Poitiers, and Yours Truly Russell Bradford claimed 1st north section and 4th, Open at 396 miles and the longest flying pigeon in the top twenty or so. This was to be his last race before Tarbes International before retiring the bird to stock, but sadly a second visit to Tarbes where he was 2nd north section and 22nd Open last year proved one last race too far, and his return is still awaited
Each of course to his own as the expression goes, and everyone is wholly entitled to set their stall out for what ever sort of pigeon racing rings their bell, but seemingly the interest in National racing into Northamptonshire is increasing, and with two NCC members being so close this season to an outright proper National win, it’s not hard to see why. I am firmly of the opinion that the buzz obtainable from a really good National position, far outweighs club and sprint racing, and again a personal opinion, but I think it is sad to see clubs producing results where only a handful of members are competing (if that), with sometimes less than twenty birds.
Finally although not a Championship club member may I take the opportunity to congratulate Richard Howey on yet another splendid season racing in the National Flying Club. 2nd & 4th section at Messac; 2nd section at Poitiers; 5th section at Tarbes shows he is the NFC member to beat in this county. Well Done Richard and all the others who have achieved some excellent National results in a year that has given us some extremely hard races.
It cannot have gone unnoticed how well NCC members have performed in the Nationals, and must show how the club is clearly getting something right. The general consensus of opinion is that mid week racing from the coast has a lot to do with these results, and of course that aside it has taken away the individual need to train mid week with all the associated costs. As I said to one of the members the other day, I managed to get £73.00 of fuel into my car at a single filling, and running down the road thirty miles with pigeons soon sees that disappear. An individual trainer can never be as good as training (and racing) with several hundred other birds, and conceivably accounts for the NCC members results.
In the recent Midland National from Tours, Rodney Oakes took a superb 4th, Open plus the south east section win flying 352 miles, albeit sadly this 2008 cock was sent back to Bordeaux and is still en route. In the same race Graham Groom took 19th Open and third section with a 3 yr old hen. He also clocked a 2007 cock to take 30th Open from 3,500 birds and congratulations to both of them. I was chatting to Rodney a day or so ago and he said he was intending to take his young bird team to Spec Savers, as he had no less than eight youngsters in his loft with broken bones of one sort or another after hitting various objects.
In the National Flying Club, which for some reason is not hugely supported in Northamptonshire, (high mileage to marking stations could of course be the answer), the Messac race gave NCC members seven positions in section ‘H’. Mr/Mrs Bradford took 3rd, 5th, & 12th section whilst Mel Errington the clubs’ President claimed 9th, 26th, 27th, & 47th section, and in a race where the winners in the north west were notching up some 300-350 YPM quicker. At St. Malo Russell & Clare Bradford were 9th and 21st section whilst Mel Errington took 18th, & 19th section. At Poitiers in the NFC Mel Errington again recorded a bird to take 4th section ‘H’ along with two more at 25th & 26th section from nearly four hundred miles. Her Majesty The Queen was three places below Mel at 29th section, so his chances of an invite to any of the Palace Garden Parties has probably taken a bit of a dip!!
The club adopts the BICC National race program and in the first of this year’s Channel races at Falaise Andy Smith managed 9th, & 10th north section with just over 3,000 birds competing. Albert Farrow was 23rd north section. This in a race where the north section now extends down to Ipswich in the east, and south Wales on the other side of the country, and requires a line down the centre of the country to make any sense of a section some three hundred plus miles wide. Next up was Alencon with not far short of 4,000 pigeons and Andy Smith took first north section and an excellent 72nd Open. Just a few section places further down were fanciers in Blaenavon and Great Yarmouth, (one side of the country to the other), which only goes to show what first-rate pigeons one needs to race at this level Nationally. 10th section and 133rd Open were Barry and Troy Hobbs, and what a season they’ve had in the Burton Latimer club with something like eight club wins to their credit ~ Must be all that mid week training!! Andy did it again at the disastrous Saran race with two of the only four day birds into the county, in a race where simply thouands of birds went missing to boot. Squeezed between his first and second clocking was Graham Stafford, who raced with us in 2009, and has already said how much he would like to rejoin the club next year. I am sure you would be welcomed back Graham as competition clearly raises the bar. The final BICC National race for the club was at Poitiers, and Yours Truly Russell Bradford claimed 1st north section and 4th, Open at 396 miles and the longest flying pigeon in the top twenty or so. This was to be his last race before Tarbes International before retiring the bird to stock, but sadly a second visit to Tarbes where he was 2nd north section and 22nd Open last year proved one last race too far, and his return is still awaited
Each of course to his own as the expression goes, and everyone is wholly entitled to set their stall out for what ever sort of pigeon racing rings their bell, but seemingly the interest in National racing into Northamptonshire is increasing, and with two NCC members being so close this season to an outright proper National win, it’s not hard to see why. I am firmly of the opinion that the buzz obtainable from a really good National position, far outweighs club and sprint racing, and again a personal opinion, but I think it is sad to see clubs producing results where only a handful of members are competing (if that), with sometimes less than twenty birds.
Finally although not a Championship club member may I take the opportunity to congratulate Richard Howey on yet another splendid season racing in the National Flying Club. 2nd & 4th section at Messac; 2nd section at Poitiers; 5th section at Tarbes shows he is the NFC member to beat in this county. Well Done Richard and all the others who have achieved some excellent National results in a year that has given us some extremely hard races.
The picture shows the next generation of convoyer’s (our Grandson Oliver) being trained along with this year’s young birds.