News Update - July 2014
Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 11:02 am
Leinster North Road Federation 17.
After all the excitement of last weeks National race, its back to the Bread & Butter stuff this week, and it looks like another change is on the cards for this race, as it is the opinion of the federation committee that there will not be enough birds on board to justify the long haul up to Malin Head, but instead, a shorter race from Carrigmacross is planned. Marking for Frazerburgh will probably take place on Wednesday and I believe that most serious minded fanciers will be concentrating on their preparations for that one, however, as usual, there will be people looking forward to this weeks race, which gives them an opportunity to get another race into their birds before the season ends.
Young bird training seems to have got underway in the past week or so, and with the weather so fine it was a great opportunity to get them up an running. Thankfully I have not heard any tales of woe as yet, but as everybody knows, young bird training can be a nightmare, obviously the most important thing is to make sure that your birds are as healthy as can be, ever before, putting them in a basket, and also to make sure that the stress of the early training spins doesn’t bring on any ailments, try to be observant, the first signs of stress and the birds should be stopped for a day or two, just to make sure everything is ok, better to be safe than sorry, it is now acknowledged that the out break of decease can be so rapid, as to catch a fancier unawares, no use realising that they are not at their best when liberating them twenty or thirty miles down the road, at that stage it will be too late.
The weather has changed slightly over the last twenty four hours, its still warm but the rain has been falling, albeit softly, with no real heavy showers, rather they are just strong enough to water the crops and keep the farmers happy, I expect that if its fine again over the next few days that the growth will be tremendous. The corn fields in our area are starting to turn colour and harvesting will start within the month and certainly before the young bird racing starts. There is a field of Linseed growing just beside us, and the beautiful Blue/purple colour of it is quite striking, as it happens its in the same field as Green peas and beans, all these crops are thriving, having been sowed after the ground was prepared last year with a game crop put in over the winter, that effectively brought in every Pheasant and other wild bird in the area, which, although was not the original idea, certainly had the desired effect as far as I was concerned, just goes to show that if any effort is made by the likes of farmers or gamekeepers in any particular area, wildlife in general will definitely benefit from it.
Now on to this weeks results from Carrigmacross, a town just on the border with Northern Ireland, a distance of between 80 / 120 Miles to Fed members, and which provided a very successful race with practically 100% returns.
Wexford RPC,
News again this week provided by Thomas Walsh.
Hi Francis ,Race results for Carrigmacross on June 29th.
Taking, 1st and 3rd positions was Joe Sinnott, his first bird on a velocity of 1647ypm. In 2nd position its that man again Lyn Griffiths and son with a velocity of 1636ypm.
The winning bird for Joe, was a blue cock bred down from his Leo Dobbs bloodlines.
Leo's birds are flying very well for Joe at the moment. All our members are looking
forward to the Fraserburgh Old Bird National and would like to wish all competitors the best of luck in this event.
Looking at those velocities I would imagine that Joe’s bird might well be good enough to win the Fed, Francis
NewRoss RPC.
Looking at the result this week for the Newross club shows a brilliant race for Keith Gardiner who took ,1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th & 6th Positions. Best one doing 1636ypm
,He got 6 birds on the drop this week from 13 sent. His first over the pad was a 2 year old blue Gaby Vandenabeele cock. 2nd bird was a good yearing cock, a Janssen X Jan Aarden that has been very consistent all year and won the Federation from Cookstown two weeks ago. 3rd bird in the clock, is a yearling cheq Busschaert hen. and the 4th bird over the pad is a Staf van Reet cock. 5th is another Gaby Vandenabeele, this time a blue hen. 6th bird is a mealy Staf van Reet cock . The six birds were all clocked within 6 seconds. Fabulous flying by any standards, well done Keith.
Following his wins at club level in the previous two National races from Mauchline and Hamilton in Scotland, I have received the following report from Pat Ronan, NewRoss RPC.
Hi frank,
The family of birds that I am flying at the moment are a bit of a mixture. In 2005 while feeding my young birds in after been flying out, I noticed a stray among them, this bird was stamped and was racing from France. I rang the number and found that the bird belonged to a man called Ernest Logan from Ballyclare in Northern Ireland . He asked me to release the bird asap, as the race was still on, so I did so at about 4pm . Later that night, about 8pm, Ernest rang me back to say he had clocked the bird and that it had taken a nice position in the result He said I was to send him 4 rings, so that he could breed me some young birds the fallowing year . Well one of these birds turned out to be a real star, winning a number of 1st prizes including 1st open from the inland National. This cock is now the father of my loft and is the Sire of both club winners from Mauchline and Hamilton. I also race some Busschaert pigeons that I have crossed with the above mentioned cock . I honestly think that this is the luckiest bird I have ever owned.
Well Pat, it certainly proves the point that a lot of people make, and that is , the best pigeons are often obtained as gifts, given in goodwill, and not as a result of parting with your hard earned. The Photo included is of Pat Ronan with the Sire of his loft, a good winner on the road, and an even better Breeder in the stock loft, bred by Ernest Logan of Ballyclare and raced by Pat Ronan, NewRoss RPC.
Cill Cheannaigh RPC.
Edward Holden had another excellent race from Carrigmacross, clocking two hens on Vels of 1639 & 1638ypm. Both birds had been in the clock only last week from Hamilton when they won 2nd & 4th Open National. This time they take 1st & 2nd Club and will be well up there in the federation result. First bird was the Soontjen Blue hen, a two year old and now the winner of 5 x 1st prizes and a 2nd Open National, from Hamilton last week. Next bird was the two year old Busschaert Cheq hen, a very consistent winner including a 4th Open National from Hamilton last week. Edward is obviously not afraid to race his pigeons and is up for racing on any given day and can compete with the best in all races. Taking 3rd position was the partnership of Conran & Cullen with their very good cheq pied hen, this one from their Gerry Marley x Mickey Croskery bloodlines. Others to clock in the Cill Cheannaigh club and having the first birds into the city of Kilkenny is Pat o Shea taking 7th position, David Doheny had five drop together and Harry Beale also clocked well, all these, clocked in close proximity to the winners.
Barrow Valley RPC.
David Hurley takes the first three here , top velocity of 1628ypm, followed by Roly & Rocca with the next couple, then “No Darkness Joe” completing the top six.
A bit of late news just in, is that the Frazerburgh race has been postponed for a few day’s owing to weather conditions deteriorating over the next few days, hopefully we will get away soon, although with the old bird racing just finished and most not starting the young birds for a couple of weeks, there is no real pressure, apart perhaps, for those that had their candidates in certain nesting conditions, all I can say there is that everybody is in the same boat as regards the changes.
Well that about wraps it up for this week, only to say that when we get this Last old bird National race out of the way, we can start concentrating on the youngsters.
Any news to 00353999145419 or e-mail Francis Corcoran@alpinelofts.net
No Darkness Joe
Roger fantastic yearling cock for Roly & Rocca.
Pat O'Shea of Cill Chainnigh RPC.
Keith Gardiner holding his winner from Carricmacross.
Pat Ronan New Ross winner from Mauchlin and Hamilton.
After all the excitement of last weeks National race, its back to the Bread & Butter stuff this week, and it looks like another change is on the cards for this race, as it is the opinion of the federation committee that there will not be enough birds on board to justify the long haul up to Malin Head, but instead, a shorter race from Carrigmacross is planned. Marking for Frazerburgh will probably take place on Wednesday and I believe that most serious minded fanciers will be concentrating on their preparations for that one, however, as usual, there will be people looking forward to this weeks race, which gives them an opportunity to get another race into their birds before the season ends.
Young bird training seems to have got underway in the past week or so, and with the weather so fine it was a great opportunity to get them up an running. Thankfully I have not heard any tales of woe as yet, but as everybody knows, young bird training can be a nightmare, obviously the most important thing is to make sure that your birds are as healthy as can be, ever before, putting them in a basket, and also to make sure that the stress of the early training spins doesn’t bring on any ailments, try to be observant, the first signs of stress and the birds should be stopped for a day or two, just to make sure everything is ok, better to be safe than sorry, it is now acknowledged that the out break of decease can be so rapid, as to catch a fancier unawares, no use realising that they are not at their best when liberating them twenty or thirty miles down the road, at that stage it will be too late.
The weather has changed slightly over the last twenty four hours, its still warm but the rain has been falling, albeit softly, with no real heavy showers, rather they are just strong enough to water the crops and keep the farmers happy, I expect that if its fine again over the next few days that the growth will be tremendous. The corn fields in our area are starting to turn colour and harvesting will start within the month and certainly before the young bird racing starts. There is a field of Linseed growing just beside us, and the beautiful Blue/purple colour of it is quite striking, as it happens its in the same field as Green peas and beans, all these crops are thriving, having been sowed after the ground was prepared last year with a game crop put in over the winter, that effectively brought in every Pheasant and other wild bird in the area, which, although was not the original idea, certainly had the desired effect as far as I was concerned, just goes to show that if any effort is made by the likes of farmers or gamekeepers in any particular area, wildlife in general will definitely benefit from it.
Now on to this weeks results from Carrigmacross, a town just on the border with Northern Ireland, a distance of between 80 / 120 Miles to Fed members, and which provided a very successful race with practically 100% returns.
Wexford RPC,
News again this week provided by Thomas Walsh.
Hi Francis ,Race results for Carrigmacross on June 29th.
Taking, 1st and 3rd positions was Joe Sinnott, his first bird on a velocity of 1647ypm. In 2nd position its that man again Lyn Griffiths and son with a velocity of 1636ypm.
The winning bird for Joe, was a blue cock bred down from his Leo Dobbs bloodlines.
Leo's birds are flying very well for Joe at the moment. All our members are looking
forward to the Fraserburgh Old Bird National and would like to wish all competitors the best of luck in this event.
Looking at those velocities I would imagine that Joe’s bird might well be good enough to win the Fed, Francis
NewRoss RPC.
Looking at the result this week for the Newross club shows a brilliant race for Keith Gardiner who took ,1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th & 6th Positions. Best one doing 1636ypm
,He got 6 birds on the drop this week from 13 sent. His first over the pad was a 2 year old blue Gaby Vandenabeele cock. 2nd bird was a good yearing cock, a Janssen X Jan Aarden that has been very consistent all year and won the Federation from Cookstown two weeks ago. 3rd bird in the clock, is a yearling cheq Busschaert hen. and the 4th bird over the pad is a Staf van Reet cock. 5th is another Gaby Vandenabeele, this time a blue hen. 6th bird is a mealy Staf van Reet cock . The six birds were all clocked within 6 seconds. Fabulous flying by any standards, well done Keith.
Following his wins at club level in the previous two National races from Mauchline and Hamilton in Scotland, I have received the following report from Pat Ronan, NewRoss RPC.
Hi frank,
The family of birds that I am flying at the moment are a bit of a mixture. In 2005 while feeding my young birds in after been flying out, I noticed a stray among them, this bird was stamped and was racing from France. I rang the number and found that the bird belonged to a man called Ernest Logan from Ballyclare in Northern Ireland . He asked me to release the bird asap, as the race was still on, so I did so at about 4pm . Later that night, about 8pm, Ernest rang me back to say he had clocked the bird and that it had taken a nice position in the result He said I was to send him 4 rings, so that he could breed me some young birds the fallowing year . Well one of these birds turned out to be a real star, winning a number of 1st prizes including 1st open from the inland National. This cock is now the father of my loft and is the Sire of both club winners from Mauchline and Hamilton. I also race some Busschaert pigeons that I have crossed with the above mentioned cock . I honestly think that this is the luckiest bird I have ever owned.
Well Pat, it certainly proves the point that a lot of people make, and that is , the best pigeons are often obtained as gifts, given in goodwill, and not as a result of parting with your hard earned. The Photo included is of Pat Ronan with the Sire of his loft, a good winner on the road, and an even better Breeder in the stock loft, bred by Ernest Logan of Ballyclare and raced by Pat Ronan, NewRoss RPC.
Cill Cheannaigh RPC.
Edward Holden had another excellent race from Carrigmacross, clocking two hens on Vels of 1639 & 1638ypm. Both birds had been in the clock only last week from Hamilton when they won 2nd & 4th Open National. This time they take 1st & 2nd Club and will be well up there in the federation result. First bird was the Soontjen Blue hen, a two year old and now the winner of 5 x 1st prizes and a 2nd Open National, from Hamilton last week. Next bird was the two year old Busschaert Cheq hen, a very consistent winner including a 4th Open National from Hamilton last week. Edward is obviously not afraid to race his pigeons and is up for racing on any given day and can compete with the best in all races. Taking 3rd position was the partnership of Conran & Cullen with their very good cheq pied hen, this one from their Gerry Marley x Mickey Croskery bloodlines. Others to clock in the Cill Cheannaigh club and having the first birds into the city of Kilkenny is Pat o Shea taking 7th position, David Doheny had five drop together and Harry Beale also clocked well, all these, clocked in close proximity to the winners.
Barrow Valley RPC.
David Hurley takes the first three here , top velocity of 1628ypm, followed by Roly & Rocca with the next couple, then “No Darkness Joe” completing the top six.
A bit of late news just in, is that the Frazerburgh race has been postponed for a few day’s owing to weather conditions deteriorating over the next few days, hopefully we will get away soon, although with the old bird racing just finished and most not starting the young birds for a couple of weeks, there is no real pressure, apart perhaps, for those that had their candidates in certain nesting conditions, all I can say there is that everybody is in the same boat as regards the changes.
Well that about wraps it up for this week, only to say that when we get this Last old bird National race out of the way, we can start concentrating on the youngsters.
Any news to 00353999145419 or e-mail Francis Corcoran@alpinelofts.net
No Darkness Joe
Roger fantastic yearling cock for Roly & Rocca.
Pat O'Shea of Cill Chainnigh RPC.
Keith Gardiner holding his winner from Carricmacross.
Pat Ronan New Ross winner from Mauchlin and Hamilton.