Newsletter
24th Aug 08
With the heavy rain last night we have only seen 3 birds return home today, we've added them on to the Towlaw results and will keep doing so as they return, The pools results are below and the full result along with the pools breakdown will be posted out early this week.
Morris Bros abcde £47.25
Mr & Mrs Kinder h £36.00
Alhezeimers Trust abcde £37.80
Mr Boxall fg £47.70
Dyynamite fi Nom £76.50
23rd August 08 cont.
We have had a good race with 41 birds before 2pm the results can be seen on the Towlaw page, it will be updated later with all the birds home today and tomorrow.
23rd August 08
The birds were liberated along with the Renfrewshire Federation at 9.15am in a south east wind. In good weather. The ring numbers of the birds not sent to the race were. SU08 3590, SU08 3571, NL08 1930783, SU08A 1726, SU08 3600, SU08R 330, SU08R 326 AND SU08 3580
22nd August 08
We have marked 67 birds for tomorrows race, With a further 8 birds that we felt shouldn't race this week. We are expecting an early race if the weather is as forecasted. Good luck to you all.
22nd August 08
The weather wasn't great on wednesday so we didn't train the birds. but we managed to train the birds from 34 miles yesterday with good returns, we are hoping that our race from Towlaw will be going ahead tomorrow along with the Rehfrewshire Federations. We will mark the birds tonight and weather permitting we should race tomorrow. I will update the site later with total number of birds away.
21st AUgust 08
Please find the pools results from Otterburn race to follow:
Mr A Boxalo abcdefghi £142.65
Mr & Mrs Kinder f £13.50
Mr Mick Bray abcde £40.05
Beggs & Hall abc £3.15
18th August 08 Cont.
We have now added the full results of the Otterburn Race to the Otterburn page. As you will see it was not a great race with a total of 66 birds home to date out of the 112 sent. We have heard reports from other federations that we were not the only ones to get slaughtered, But we are hopeful of birds returning or being reported so check the Otterburn page for updates as we have also shown birds that arrived today and will continue to update this page for you to see if your bird arrives back, We have also shown at the very bottom of this page any birds which were not fit for the race, which will be able to race future races. So everthing is listed there on the Otterburn page.
We are working out he pools and will update the site with the pools results tomorrow. We will not be racing the birds on Wednesday and the next race will be from towlaw approx 125 miles on Saturday the 23rd of Aug and then from Ripon 165miles on the 30th of Aug. We have decided with the numbers of birds that we have that we will liberate with the local federation to give the birds the best chance of a safe journey home. it will also give them training for the main race where they will be liberated with the Scottish National. Your result will be posted out tomorrow alone with a pools summary. We are also looking to find out how many people will be coming to the loft for the final race so please inform us by email, phone or letter if your are coming along. Many Thanks. I'll be in touch.
I'd also like to Thank Jeremy from the Rpra one loft race for getting in touch with me to tell me how to get the information from Unikon onto the website. I am awaiting the software from Unikon hopefully I'll have it installed for next week and I can add all the marked birds and the results with ease. Thanks also to Mr A Frame from the Lanarkshire federation who got in touch to give me help with this problem also.
18th August 08
The race was not great we had 54 home on the night with a further 11 home this morning. We will post the results, later today and at the bottom of the results we will list any birds left in the loft which were not away so you can see if your bird is there. if any more return we will add them at the bottom of the results.
17th August 08
The Birds were liberated this morning at 11.15am in a south east wind from Ottersburn, We will update the site with the results as soon we can.
16th August 08
We have maked 113 birds for tomorrows race from Ottersburn, We had to remove one from the basket as he'd been pecked in the eye nothing to serious but we'll keep him from racing this week. Ring no. SU08L13869, so the total going to the race was 112, The weather is looking not to bad for tomorrow. So good luck to everyone and fingers crossed the weather stays dry.
14th August 08 Cont.
We have now updated the Kelso Race results, we will do a head count tomorrow and will add any new arrivals to the bottom of the results. If anyone knows a quicker way to transfer the data from unikon software to the website please get in touch . Thank you.
14th August 08
We had a good race yesterday with the bird count at 105 at last count, The results in full are being typed up at the moment for the Kelso race to be upload to the site,We have posted by mail the arrival times first class so you should get them in the morning, We can however confirm that the pools money were won by the following: further details of the pools are in your letter which should be received tomorrow.
Mr I Hutchinson abcdefghi Nom £196.65
Mr Gilchrist abcde £47.25
Beggs and Hall abcdef £60.75
Mr A Kyle abc £9.45
Mr Kinder f £9.00
13th August 08 Cont.
We have added the top 23 results onto the Kelso 13 8 08 page this will be updated with the full results and pools results when the race closes later. We had a fair race with 2/3rds of the birds back for 6pm. We think some of them hit a bit of rain on the way home. we'll update you later when we know more.
13th August 08
The birds have been liberated at 12.44pm in a light north west wind, we took advise from our Race controller Jim Hannah and liberated the birds 9 miles from Kelso just outside Gordon, as low cloud and poor visability in the Kelso area was causing concern. We'd like to thank Mark Renwick at Kelso, Gordon Geddes and Angie from Galashields for thier help with the weather. We will update the site with the results later. Good luck.
12th August 08
We have marked 131 birds which we thought were fit to race and are looking forward to an early race tomorrow. Weather permitting. There was however an error with the Unikon Clock which can be confirmed by Mr Dougie Bald, Who as usual has been more than patient and spent ages on the phone with me this evening rectifiying the problems. The only problem which we could not rectify tonight due to the clock being locked in race mode. is that three birds will be flying under different ring numbers for this race only. If we can fixed this in the results we will do so to save any confusion. However at present electronic ring number GB08L04963 will actually be bird GB08L04947, also Electronic ring number GB08Z92075 will actually be bird GB08Z92085, and SU083571 wil actually be SU083569. I am sorry for this. But we will sort it out as soon as possible. So good luck to everyone.
10th Aug 08
We're looking forward to the First race on Wednesday, the weather forecast is looking not to bad, so we'll train the birds tomorrow and then rest them tueday for the race from Kelso on Wednesday, We will send you the full results from the race and we'll also add a page to the website with the results. Remember if you've any questions then please contact me. by email or phone.
7th Aug 08
We have now updated our birds list and everybird in the loft has been highlighted in white. Any bird shown in red was not in the loft tonight when the loft closed. We are still hopeful that birds will return, and we will update the list every friday. The race programme has been revised with the first race due for wednesday weather permitting. pools sheets are in the post. We will also send the new bird list to you along with the first page of the last six training toss. All the inactive birds have now been allocated by a draw of names. We shall continue to alocated any inactive birds that return again by drawing names from a hat.
We have also decided that our main race will now liberate with the Scottish National Young bird race, We feel that it is necessary if we wish to follow our race programme and go to 260miles, It was not what we had wanted to do. but with so lttle entrants. It will be the best way for making sure they come home. It also means we can compete with the best in Scotland.
5th Aug 08
With this good weather we have been able to continue training the birds and they're not at 20miles with minimal losses. They'll have the day off tomorrow as the weather forecast isn't good and weather permmitting we'll get them going again thursday. We will update the birds list on friday. and we'll post out the first page of every training toss along with pools sheets and birds list to every entrant on friday we will also confirm the race points.
2nd Aug 08
To explain The birds list is made up of all the birds that were in the loft on Wednesday the 23rd of July, Before we started training. The ring numbers of the birds actually in the loft on the 31st of July after four training tosses are sown in white, the ring numbers of birds not in the loft on the 31st are shown in red. As we are training the fit birds very good day, the birds in the loft is constantly changing. So to simplify things we have decided to update the ring list once a week. We shall post this list on the website and through the post every friday. We shall also send you the first page of every training toss printed through unikon in the post.
1st Aug 08
We have eventually uploaded the birds page to the site. We have also updated the donated birds page. These pages combined are all the birds in the loft on thursday the 31st July. I am hoping more will arrive over the coming days. We will update the bird/donated birds page every friday. To let you know where your bird is.
As you will be able to see, we will not have enough birds as it stands at the moment to give everyone an inactive bird. So I think we will allocate them with a lottery draw. We will have to postpone the first race as the weather has been bad here since wednesday and the birds will not be ready. We don't want to take any chances. If you have any comments please get in touch with me at any time. by phone or email. The newsletters will be posted today.
31st July 08
Sorry for the delay we are working on the ring list and we will post the list tomorrow. The delay is caused with birds returning either from being reported or on it's own steam. also we continue to train so the numbers are going up and down. Thank you to everyone who has contacted me for there support.
28th July 08
We've not received as many birds back as we'd have liked. But thier still being reported. We shall be updating the site later tonight with the birds that are still in the loft. We shall be sending out a letter to people who have lost birds along with the newsletters some time this week.
But with positive news we managed to get the remaining birds away this morning training. and all returned in a healthy batch. we held back any that we're injured or well down in body from last week. So that was good news.
26th July 08
We think the cause of the bad toss was a hawk attack as some of the birds are injured or missing feathers. We continue to wait for returns we'll wait till monday before confirming. All the local clubs and feds have been good helping us track down the missing birds But I fear we have lost alot of birds. If for any reason your bird is reported to you please let us know. We'll be in touch soon
25th July 08
Disaster, the pigeons were taken 4-5 miles up the road in good weather, not much wind. to a clear spot and liberated at 3pm yesterday, The birds started coming back in ones in twos about 50 minutes later, Bad sign. They continued like this till 9.30pm with only 78 returning on the night (this includes some inactivated birds, we have a further 85 birds still in the loft as the were just a bit younger than the others.) We had a further 30 arrive in today. There are no words to describe how we feel. We are still waiting for around 120 pigeons. They are being reported in the area and we are retrieving them. We have contact all the surronding feds and club secretary's asking them to inform members if birds are reported to please contact us. We will do what every we can to get as many as possible back. If your bird is not transfered please get in touch. We'll notify you if your bird is lost , we'll give another couple of days for returns.
24rth July 08
A provisional race programme has been agreed awaiting clearance, and is posted on the race programme page. We have also agreed on the prize money. As we have just under the quater of the entrants (236 in total) we expected. We have quatered the prize money as this is the fairest way. A list of the prize money will be posted to every entrant along with this months newsletter and pools sheets. also a ring list of all pigeons at the beginning of training giving electronic ring numbers. We are hoping to train the pigeons later today as the weather is good. fingers crossed.
23rd July 08
The birds are all well and If you haven't heard from me personally then you bird is still in the loft. We have not started training as yet due to poor weather with a local Club losing half there young birds in sundays race, also fanciers have lost whole teams of young birds in training, So we have posponed training until the weather improves which we feel is in the best interest of the birds. That said The weather looks good for the next couple of days so we'll get them started then. The ring lists will be sent to everyone personally, through the post next week along with this months newsletter. The race programme and prize details are also still being decided and hope to add that also to the newsletter.
15th July
I am sorry I have not updated the site in a while but it's been experiencing some problems. I think we will need to try a different site next year. as I am not happy with the service we have received here.
Anyway the Birds are all well. The unikon system has arrived and we should be inputting the rings this week. So you should receive details of your electronic rings within the next week or two.
We now have section 1-7 out together, we shall split them Hens and Cocks this weekend when we put the electronic rings on them. Section 8 and 9 are still finding there wings. we will add them to the main loft as soon as we think there ready. The darkness has been lifted since the 21st July. Unfortuantley training hasn't statred yet as we want them to have there electronic rings on first. So training should start early next week. fingers crossed.
16th June 08
We now have section six out with the other five sections, Today was there first day and we're happy to say they were all flying well not quite as long as usual but we'll give section six a chance to fit in with the others. They also all trapped well. Not long now before we get section 7 in there aswell. we'll be lifting the darkness come the weekend. Then we'll start training two weeks after that. It's getting quite exciting. We shall also be agreeing our race programme shortly. I shall let you know as soon as we do.
9th June 08
The loft is now closed we are very grateful to everyone who entered birds, also to everyone who donated birds. We have nine sections of birds. The final figures will be posted shortly, we are awaiting our Unikon system, I have been assured it is in the post so we shouldn't have to wait to long now. We shall do all the transfers at once as soon as the unikon system is in.
All the birds are fit and well and are enjoying the fine weather, We are now letting the first five sections out together, as they are strong on the wing now. sections six are getting there shouldn't be long before we can start getting them out with the others. section seven are still hopping about from the roof to the landing board so a bit longer for them. Sections eight and nine are all very young and are still getting to grips with finding their perches these birds all arrived last weekend. And are settling in well. We shall wait a bit longer before letting them out.
I know I keep saying it but I will keep trying to upload pictures. The sites helpline are looking into the problem. So we'll see how long that takes.
The video clips can be viewed by downloading adobe reader. It is a free programme. if you click on the link below it will bring you to a page where you can download it.
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
26th May 08
All is well with the birds, still trying to get pictures online. I'll keep trying.
20th May 08
Everthing is well at the loft, we now have section 6 out and about some of this section is young and they just sit around on the landing board, some of the others are fluttering around. However there is not enough hours in the day, by the time 1 & 2 do an hour or so then we let out 3 & 4 they also fly for around the hour. section 5 are still finding there wings so we let them out for around an hour then call them in. by the time we get round to letting Section 6 out they are hungry and don't want to fly so we have decided to allow sections 1, 2, 3 & 4. all out together this way we can get section 6 out before they become to hungry. It seems to be working out ok. Ideally when they are all up and flying well, we shall split them hens and cocks and let them out hens and cocks. to allow them to get the same execrise at the same time every day. We are expecting the Unikon timing system any day now.
11th May 08
The birds have all been out today except section 6, We are taking advantage of the good weather. Section 5 were fluttering about the roof, I took this picture. of this bird keeping an eye on me.
7th May 08
Been having problems updating lately so sorry about that, I will try and put as much information as I can on today to give you as much of an update as I can. Not sure when this thing will work again. I've added some video clips I hope you enjoy them.
The birds in Sections 1,2,3,4,& 5 are getting out almost every day at the moment with the good weather, except on race days where we like to keep them. Section 6 are still a bit young we will try them out over the next week. All the birds are on the darkness from 6pm till 10am and we let them out in section from 10am onwards.
Sections 1 & 2 are running together as one big section now, they all go out together and the most of them like to fly for just over the hour. We will be spliting these two sections into hens and cocks once the darkness is lifted. Which is the main reason we have them together now as they are all going in and out of the two traps and it should make it easier for them to be split. They are starting to come through the end of the moult and I can say there is some good looking pigeons here. See video clips below.
http://scottishclassiconeloftrace.com/doc/section12.MP4
http://scottishclassiconeloftrace.com/doc/trapping12.MP4
Sections 3 & 4 are also out every day and fly for between 45mins to a hour, we have just put these sections together, again to make it easier for the birds when they are being split later on. they are all looking a bit bald with the moult, but within a few more weeks I'm sure they'll be looking good. I have added a video clip below of these two sections.
http://scottishclassiconeloftrace.com/doc/section34.MP4
http://scottishclassiconeloftrace.com/doc/section34trap.MP4
Section 5 are the newest section to be getting out so they are still fluttering around finding there wings. The moult is beginning with these birds and the feathers are starting to gather round the loft.
http://scottishclassiconeloftrace.com/doc/section5.MP4
Section 6 are still looking out at the others through the traps and are not showing much sign of the moult at he moment there are some young birds in this section so we'll wait another week before letting these ones out.
17th April 08
I'm sorry I have not updated the site in the past while; now that the shows are over I hope to keep you more informed. The Birds are doing well; The Loft is also starting to fill up well. We are now well into the fifth section. We have been sectioning the birds by their arrival date so that each section has birds the same age in it, give or take a week or so. We also exercising the birds in there separate sections
Section 1: This is our oldest section; they shall soon be split into hens and Cocks. They have found their wings and are kitting up well, they've even started to range, which is good to see if not just a wee bit worrying.
Section 2: This section are well up on the wing, They are also kitting up and exploring the local area, but they have not went away yet, not long though before they also start to range.
Section 3: These birds are still finding their wings some days they kit up the next they don't, some of the youngest birds are still sitting on the roof. A few more weeks for these birds.
Section 4: This section is younger again and enjoys getting onto the roof and having a good look around. Some of them enjoy a flutter around. But mostly they're sitting in the sun, when we get some.
Section 5 : This section has not been out yet, we like to close a section before we let them out. Should be early next week before we let these guys out.
The winds and cold temperatures are stopping us getting the birds out every day, but this seems to make them all the keener when they do get out.
On "The Birds” page I will put the section number next to your birds ring number so you can find out which section your bird is in. I will be adding pictures of the birds in each section over the next few days. This will allow you a chance to maybe see your bird. I am also looking into ways of adding video clips to the site which again will give you a chance to see your birds.
The Loft itself is looking good. We changed all the perches inside each section to box perches as we felt there was not enough room for the birds to get around as we had it. They seem to prefer their new box perches.
We have also now finished the treatment of the loft giving two coats of wood preserver, which should keep it water tight. Also the decking along the front of the loft is now more than half way completed with the last four sections being completed this weekend. Liam has been quite busy with all this DIY.
29th Mar 08
We were at the Sobell Centre, Aberdare today, Again a great turn out. We were able to hold a raffle with first prize being a free entry into the race. Mr Mike Willis was the lucky winner. He has decided to use an inactivated bird for his entry. The picture below shows the boys with my daughter Shannon at the show drawing the raffle. Thanks for all your help.
23-24 Mar 08
With this being the Bank holiday weekend and the weather being fine, even if it's a bit on the chilly side. We've been able to get the repairs to the roof felt done and also start the treatment of the loft. This good weather has been good for the birds as they've been enjoying finding the wings. they're starting to circle now. not quite in a batch but they're getting there. long may this good weather continue. Happy Easter to you all. Hope you didn't eat to many easter eggs.
22 Mar 08
We enjoyed a great day at the Doncaster dome, What a great show. We'd like to thank Ray Knight for all his help. We had a great turn out with people entering birds into the Race and also from people donating birds. Thank you to everyone who donated birds. you can see who donated birds by clicking on the "Donated Birds" link at the side of this page. You can donate a bird to, just get in touch and we'll arrange to collect it.
20th Mar 08
With the break in the weather the birds are getting out more often. Which is giving them more confidience around the loft.
18th Mar 08
We've have purchased our very own transporter from the Merseyside Federation, It can hold up to 1200 birds so we're sorted. Thanks to John Schofield the Secretary of the Merseyside fed for all his help and to all the lads in the fed who made us the new creates to go with it.
15th Mar 08
We're at the Black Country Spring Fayre, In Walsall Stadium. Thanks to Mark Evans for all his help.
14th Mar 08
The birds were out all day today, They're starting to feel comfortable outside of the loft now.
11th Mar 08
Not had the Birds back out again, due to the weather. The day was spent preparing the loft for the 80mph winds that are due tonight. We have added some extra tie straps on to the base to give extra strengh. Fingers crossed.
9th Mar 08
With a break in the weather this morning we eventually got the birds out today, They were a bit nervous at first to leave the loft but as soon as one ventured out, it wasn't long before the rest followed.
The first bird makes it to the roof, The others wonder were it went!
The Birds start to find thier wings
After a long day out, all the birds are back in the loft.
8th Mar 08
We had some main stream publicity today in The Sun newspaper, We origionally hoped they would give some news about the race in order to encourage non fanciers to enter, But I think the article supports what we are all about and why we started the race in the first place. Which is to give the Pigeon Racing a bit of of publicity and if one person takes an interest in the Racing Pigeon Sport from reading this article, then that fantastic. Let us know if you read it and your thoughts on it.
7th Mar 08
More new arrivals came today, The sections are starting to fill up now. Hopefully the birds will be out tomorrow.
3rd Mar 08
The Birds didn't get out over the weekend, We've had Quite a bit of snow. Lets hope it clears soon. The birds are enjoying watching it from inside the loft.
1st Mar 08
What a Night !!! The weather was terrible with heavy rain and gael force winds. A tree at the back of the pigeon loft has been blown over. But the loft is in tack. Just some roof felt torn. Which can be easily replaced.
The Birds don't seem to be affected by the weather at all.
29th Feb 08
The Birds have now been in the loft a week and I'm hoping to let them out at the weekend, but with the extreme weather were having it might have to wait a bit longer.
28th Feb 08
There was a rainbow over the loft yesterday evening Hopefully it will bring us all luck.
26th Feb 08
Having some difficulties in using the website have now lost all previous newsletters, Not an expert at this website malarky I'm afraid. They do say you learn from your mistakes and I now know what not to do, So I have started the newsletter page again. sorry for any delay of updates.
22nd Feb 08
The first of the birds go into the newly completed loft, they seem to have settled in well.
21st Feb 08
The loft is now up and a great big Thank you to the boys at Blakes as they had there work cut out for them as the scottish weather was at it's worst. Gael force winds and heavy rain didn't stop them they put they're head down and got on with it and a fantastic job they did to. Many Thanks to Blakes Lofts.
The Boys at Blakes putting the loft up during a break in the rain.
8th Feb 08
The First of the birds arrive, They are feeding and drinking well. They will be kept in the quaratine loft till the loft is in place
18 -19 Jan 08
BHW Show, Blackpool. A fantastic weekend, Thanks for everyone who came over to see us.
Veronica and Angela at our stand in Blackpool.
