"The Cobbler"
Northamptonshire
Ramblings
January 2011
Ramblings
January 2011
"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
This bitterly cold winter weather certainly tests the resolve for keeping any animal that is housed outside, even alone pigeons. I am so glad I never took up the boyhood dream to be a farmer, as it must be a nightmare for sheep farmers dealing with their lambing season in snow drifts and temperatures well below freezing point. In fact I’m glad I never took up any job or profession that was reliant on our fickle English weather. I can almost hear the anguished cries of sympathy that will ring-out as you read this, as I am just back from holiday where I’ve been enjoying temperatures in the mid thirties centigrade, and was smug enough to believe I’d missed all the snow and ice.
Tasmania
I have been fortunate to spend all of November and a good part of December in Australia, and whilst “Down-Under” toured for some ten days in Tasmania. It is an island separated by some 200 miles of open water (depending on the angle one takes), from the Australian mainland, and to the south of Tassie (as it is fondly known by all Australians) there is nothing other than inhospitable ocean before eventually hitting Antarctica; a thousand miles or so further south. The world famous Sydney-Hobart yacht race, reputedly one of the toughest yacht races in the world, starts from Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day, and it takes the biggest boats in the race ~ the huge Maxi yachts upwards of two to three days solid non-stop sailing to cross the Bass Straight and reach Hobart. Tasmania is an island very roughly the size of southern Ireland but with a population of only half a million people, with four fifths of those living in and around Hobart, and furthermore simply huge tracts of land in the south west that are complete wilderness, so I neither expected to find, nor indeed was even aware that pigeon racing existed there. Thus I was amazed to come across by sheer accident on a Sunday lunch time an auction being held ~outside in the sunshine of course ~ by the Moonah club (near Hobart) to raise money for club funds. Seems from one side of the world to the other, pigeon clubs still need to raise finance! The Moonah club is one of (some) ten clubs that exist in Tasmania, with four clubs in and around Hobart totalling about 45 members between them; another two clubs in the second largest town further north called Launceston with around 25 members, and finally four more clubs up on the north coastal areas, with a further 40 odd fanciers; a sum total of just over a hundred pigeon fanciers on the entire island. My first picture shows the auctioneer Ex-President of the Moonah club Jimmy Wood conducting the sale, and prices obtained ranged from around 10 Aussie Dollars to a top price of $48 - roughly about £5.00 to £30.00.
Tasmania
I have been fortunate to spend all of November and a good part of December in Australia, and whilst “Down-Under” toured for some ten days in Tasmania. It is an island separated by some 200 miles of open water (depending on the angle one takes), from the Australian mainland, and to the south of Tassie (as it is fondly known by all Australians) there is nothing other than inhospitable ocean before eventually hitting Antarctica; a thousand miles or so further south. The world famous Sydney-Hobart yacht race, reputedly one of the toughest yacht races in the world, starts from Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day, and it takes the biggest boats in the race ~ the huge Maxi yachts upwards of two to three days solid non-stop sailing to cross the Bass Straight and reach Hobart. Tasmania is an island very roughly the size of southern Ireland but with a population of only half a million people, with four fifths of those living in and around Hobart, and furthermore simply huge tracts of land in the south west that are complete wilderness, so I neither expected to find, nor indeed was even aware that pigeon racing existed there. Thus I was amazed to come across by sheer accident on a Sunday lunch time an auction being held ~outside in the sunshine of course ~ by the Moonah club (near Hobart) to raise money for club funds. Seems from one side of the world to the other, pigeon clubs still need to raise finance! The Moonah club is one of (some) ten clubs that exist in Tasmania, with four clubs in and around Hobart totalling about 45 members between them; another two clubs in the second largest town further north called Launceston with around 25 members, and finally four more clubs up on the north coastal areas, with a further 40 odd fanciers; a sum total of just over a hundred pigeon fanciers on the entire island. My first picture shows the auctioneer Ex-President of the Moonah club Jimmy Wood conducting the sale, and prices obtained ranged from around 10 Aussie Dollars to a top price of $48 - roughly about £5.00 to £30.00.
Jimmy Wood of the Moonah Club near Hobart auctioning the last of the pigeons
I also met with Philip Hay the secretary of the club, and was fascinated to learn how they race pigeons into, and on the island. Tasmania is very approximately about 200 miles by 200 miles, so the opportunity for Distance" racing as we know it, is severely limited, given that to race the distance there is this massive leap from fifty or so miles to several hundred. The two big distance races are from either Melbourne, which is more or less due north at around 350 miles - remembering the 200 miles of the Bass Straight - or even more staggeringly they fly from Adelaide, which is north west at around 500 miles and even more open water if the birds fly straight. Needless to say they consider these to be hard and difficult races and loose many pigeons attempting these races. Consequently an alternative form of pigeon racing has developed in Tasmania, which is probably similar to our old "miler" events of times past. The Moonah club caters for both the distance racing mentioned above and also sprint racing, but sprint racing (by our standards) with a huge difference. The club which was formed in 1926 is unique in Tasmania, in that it organises 5 Km races (about 3miles) where up to 30 birds are liberated individually at three minute intervals and timed separately. This has created super fast speed machines where no import blood has been introduced for over 100 years. My second picture is of one of Philip Hay s sprint birds, and he tells me that the mosaic colour in these super sprint pigeons is common as the blood is more or less unique now in Tasmania.
A Super Sprint Racer belonging to Philip Hay in Tasmania
Much as in England, the mining industry is a shadow of what it used to be, and no different in Tasmania. We visited the west coast and in particular Queenstown, which was, and still is albeit much reduced, a place that through open cast mining for silver; copper and zinc has created this huge blight on a fantastic landscape, but where in the 1930’s through to the 1980’s there were up to fifty fanciers racing these sprint affairs with thousands of dollars up for grabs. With the decline in mining all this has come to an end, and the Queenstown clubs have now gone. A comment made to me by one of the Moonah club members I met, seems to have a certain echo here in the UK as well, and that was that they knew Hobart to be ringed by at least twenty pairs of breeding hawks. Unfortunately we were pressed for time and had to depart after little over an hour spent with a very welcoming bunch of guys who I would like to have spent more time with (certainly there were immediate loft visits on offer), finding out how they overcome such massive problems to succeed ~ as they clearly do ~ with their pigeon racing.
The bird and wildlife that we came across was as exotic and awesome as some of the names. Every one has heard of the Kookaburra and this friendly bird is known as The Laughing Jackass because of its raucous call that echoes through any woodland. The early settlers must have been in dread of this terrible cackle before they came to realise it was just another bird. Galahs were everywhere and it is not uncommon for Australians to call people they perceive as stupid; ‘Galahs’, which would at least identify them as one of life’s more colourful types. Another picture included is of a sulphur crested cockatoo, and it was possible to get within a few feet of this one in the back garden who clearly wasn’t camera shy.
In the heart of Sydney in the botanical gardens they have a huge problem with massive fruit bats or flying foxes, and these smelly animals are protected by law, whilst their droppings are killing the plants below. Watching thousands of these bats fly out each evening at dusk is a really remarkable sight. The last picture is of my Wife getting up ‘close and personal’ with a wallaby on one of the fantastic Tasmanian beaches.
The bird and wildlife that we came across was as exotic and awesome as some of the names. Every one has heard of the Kookaburra and this friendly bird is known as The Laughing Jackass because of its raucous call that echoes through any woodland. The early settlers must have been in dread of this terrible cackle before they came to realise it was just another bird. Galahs were everywhere and it is not uncommon for Australians to call people they perceive as stupid; ‘Galahs’, which would at least identify them as one of life’s more colourful types. Another picture included is of a sulphur crested cockatoo, and it was possible to get within a few feet of this one in the back garden who clearly wasn’t camera shy.
In the heart of Sydney in the botanical gardens they have a huge problem with massive fruit bats or flying foxes, and these smelly animals are protected by law, whilst their droppings are killing the plants below. Watching thousands of these bats fly out each evening at dusk is a really remarkable sight. The last picture is of my Wife getting up ‘close and personal’ with a wallaby on one of the fantastic Tasmanian beaches.
Crested Cockatoo (just in-the-garden) in Sydney
Fruit Bats that are protected in the centre of Sydney
A wallaby searching for food on one of the fabulous beaches in Tasmania
Northamptonshire Championship Club
The club held its last meeting before Christmas and the AGM on January 11th next year, and various issues concerning 2011 were further discussed and agreed on. The NCC Channel program in 2011 will be with the National Flying Club and not the BICC. The general feeling towards the BICC was that it starts too early for us (although it is understood why) and the NFC commences that little bit later, but more importantly there is a degree of disappointment that the BICC committee has yet again changed the north section threshold, which for most members is the fourth change in three (or is it four) years. With an income turnover just above £5,000 and a prize pay-out in 2010 of nearly two and a half thousand pounds, it is important that all members feel they have a fair chance of picking up some of the available loot in 2011. Consequently over and above the normal 1st; 2nd, & 3rd, prizes, which will stand on, there is to be a single bird nom introduced with a very decent amount of money available to the member who can pick the right pigeon to be his first on the race result. It is felt that this will help the smaller team player against the guys who regularly send upwards of twenty or more pigeons, so for the member who can pick a nominated bird and win a race, there will be the opportunity to dip BOTH hands into the prize kitty. Although this is still to be voted on at the AGM as it entails a small rule change the two tier system of club subscriptions will also be retained in 2011 enabling members to pay either £75.00 with no entitlement to the prize pot, and a £150.00 subscription to have a crack at all the prize money up for grabs. By the time this article is printed gold rings will be available at £5.00 each and can be bought by members or non members of the NCC, providing they live within the county to compete in the 2011 YB gold ring race.
Garvo Pigeon Food
Our club sponsors; Grahams Pet Foods in Rushden are having their first order of Garvo corn into the warehouse very shortly, which from reading the various adverts I gather requires nothing else in the way of supplements etc to be put in front of the birds, whilst feeding Garvo. The prices being quoted by Grahams range from £12.10 for ‘Resting’, to £14.00 for ‘Breeding’, and all the food comes in 20Kg bags. It will be interesting to see how well the sales go.
The club held its last meeting before Christmas and the AGM on January 11th next year, and various issues concerning 2011 were further discussed and agreed on. The NCC Channel program in 2011 will be with the National Flying Club and not the BICC. The general feeling towards the BICC was that it starts too early for us (although it is understood why) and the NFC commences that little bit later, but more importantly there is a degree of disappointment that the BICC committee has yet again changed the north section threshold, which for most members is the fourth change in three (or is it four) years. With an income turnover just above £5,000 and a prize pay-out in 2010 of nearly two and a half thousand pounds, it is important that all members feel they have a fair chance of picking up some of the available loot in 2011. Consequently over and above the normal 1st; 2nd, & 3rd, prizes, which will stand on, there is to be a single bird nom introduced with a very decent amount of money available to the member who can pick the right pigeon to be his first on the race result. It is felt that this will help the smaller team player against the guys who regularly send upwards of twenty or more pigeons, so for the member who can pick a nominated bird and win a race, there will be the opportunity to dip BOTH hands into the prize kitty. Although this is still to be voted on at the AGM as it entails a small rule change the two tier system of club subscriptions will also be retained in 2011 enabling members to pay either £75.00 with no entitlement to the prize pot, and a £150.00 subscription to have a crack at all the prize money up for grabs. By the time this article is printed gold rings will be available at £5.00 each and can be bought by members or non members of the NCC, providing they live within the county to compete in the 2011 YB gold ring race.
Garvo Pigeon Food
Our club sponsors; Grahams Pet Foods in Rushden are having their first order of Garvo corn into the warehouse very shortly, which from reading the various adverts I gather requires nothing else in the way of supplements etc to be put in front of the birds, whilst feeding Garvo. The prices being quoted by Grahams range from £12.10 for ‘Resting’, to £14.00 for ‘Breeding’, and all the food comes in 20Kg bags. It will be interesting to see how well the sales go.