Hawks / peregrine lost birds

[NeilA]

Hello NeilA, myself & Andy fly in the WOESRC, so we've started off at Stoney Cross ×3 this week we are at Chale, Littlehampton, Brighton, again Stoney Cross, Chale, Littlehampton ×2 Brighton, Littlehampton. That's are obird program.
Ybs Stoney Cross, Chale, Littlehampton, Stoney Cross Chale, Littlehampton×2 Brighton to finish, we did go out as far as Ramsgate last year, Andy will correct me if I'm wrong, if we don't have this program we go down the leg into Cornwall that not much better with distance 130 miles or so down to Sennen Cove & peregrine territory yet again & you got to ask yourself why keep on going to these site's knowing full well your going to get hit. Your relying on common sense & this isn't, this is going to be financial suicide come the end of the season & that's not sustainable. Sorry it's been a bit long winded NeilA.
Regards Dave.

Cheers Dave
Would Norfolk not give you a bit more distance
You could go blandfird / St Albans / Reed / rivenhall then to Norfolk or Suffolk

[Andy]

Hello NeilA, myself & Andy fly in the WOESRC, so we've started off at Stoney Cross ×3 this week we are at Chale, Littlehampton, Brighton, again Stoney Cross, Chale, Littlehampton ×2 Brighton, Littlehampton. That's are obird program.
Ybs Stoney Cross, Chale, Littlehampton, Stoney Cross Chale, Littlehampton×2 Brighton to finish, we did go out as far as Ramsgate last year, Andy will correct me if I'm wrong, if we don't have this program we go down the leg into Cornwall that not much better with distance 130 miles or so down to Sennen Cove & peregrine territory yet again & you got to ask yourself why keep on going to these site's knowing full well your going to get hit. Your relying on common sense & this isn't, this is going to be financial suicide come the end of the season & that's not sustainable. Sorry it's been a bit long winded NeilA.
Regards Dave.

Cheers Dave
Would Norfolk not give you a bit more distance
You could go blandfird / St Albans / Reed / rivenhall then to Norfolk or Suffolk

You try telling that to the Bristol lot that don’t want to go past Brighton and the National and International flyers that don’t want to go inland, just along the coast.

[king]

There is NO solution to this problem. As fanciers numbers reduce the problem for those left will only get worse. WE the fancier didn't help the situation. As fanciers bred more birds to cover losses, this just PROVIDED the BOP with a bigger food source. Changing routes to avoid them may work short term, but these BOP are EVERYWHERE. And changing route is pointless if you have a BOP problem at the home end. Whilst Buster was right in saying not all losses are down to BOP many are including birds getting injured trying to evade an attack. I once had 3 birds return from the same race hawked.
Many will remember the post on Pigeon Chat that listed over 100 KNOWN nesting sites here in the UK. One of those is less than 2 miles from me.
As somebody has already said. It's now part of pigeon racing. And without sounding negative, you either live with it, or pack in.

I believe the problem could be reduced by keeping and racing LESS pigeons. Instead of this big is best approach, I believe small is better. Bird limits/2B, 5B or whatever is proposed would result in LESS birds going to the races, and less birds attract less attention from BOP so result in LESS attacks. Training in small groups has proven this. This is only my opinion, I'm sure others will think different.
You could just carry on as before. Keep more birds and lose more birds.

[NeilA]

Hello NeilA, myself & Andy fly in the WOESRC, so we've started off at Stoney Cross ×3 this week we are at Chale, Littlehampton, Brighton, again Stoney Cross, Chale, Littlehampton ×2 Brighton, Littlehampton. That's are obird program.
Ybs Stoney Cross, Chale, Littlehampton, Stoney Cross Chale, Littlehampton×2 Brighton to finish, we did go out as far as Ramsgate last year, Andy will correct me if I'm wrong, if we don't have this program we go down the leg into Cornwall that not much better with distance 130 miles or so down to Sennen Cove & peregrine territory yet again & you got to ask yourself why keep on going to these site's knowing full well your going to get hit. Your relying on common sense & this isn't, this is going to be financial suicide come the end of the season & that's not sustainable. Sorry it's been a bit long winded NeilA.
Regards Dave.

Cheers Dave
Would Norfolk not give you a bit more distance
You could go blandfird / St Albans / Reed / rivenhall then to Norfolk or Suffolk

You try telling that to the Bristol lot that don’t want to go past Brighton and the National and International flyers that don’t want to go inland, just along the coast.

Oh I see that’s a shame

[Andy]

Hello NeilA, myself & Andy fly in the WOESRC, so we've started off at Stoney Cross ×3 this week we are at Chale, Littlehampton, Brighton, again Stoney Cross, Chale, Littlehampton ×2 Brighton, Littlehampton. That's are obird program.
Ybs Stoney Cross, Chale, Littlehampton, Stoney Cross Chale, Littlehampton×2 Brighton to finish, we did go out as far as Ramsgate last year, Andy will correct me if I'm wrong, if we don't have this program we go down the leg into Cornwall that not much better with distance 130 miles or so down to Sennen Cove & peregrine territory yet again & you got to ask yourself why keep on going to these site's knowing full well your going to get hit. Your relying on common sense & this isn't, this is going to be financial suicide come the end of the season & that's not sustainable. Sorry it's been a bit long winded NeilA.
Regards Dave.

Not even as good as that Dave. Littlehampton is unavailable as a liberation site because of a big wheel being put up on the sea front.
Kim from our club along with Stewart Wilcox did manage to get them to agree to a couple of Eastbourne’s.
So as you say we have had 3 x Stoney cross 34 miles for me. This week we have Chale 57 mls, Brighton 102mls, Stoney Cross, Eastbourne 118 mls, Stoney Cross, Chale, Brighton, Stoney Cross, Eastbourne, Stoney Cross.
Young birds. 2 x Stoney Cross, Chale, Brighton, 2 x Stoney Cross, Chale, Brighton.
They have said though if the numbers at Brighton aren’t enough the Eastbourne’s will be replaced with Stoney Cross

[NeilA]

Hello NeilA, myself & Andy fly in the WOESRC, so we've started off at Stoney Cross ×3 this week we are at Chale, Littlehampton, Brighton, again Stoney Cross, Chale, Littlehampton ×2 Brighton, Littlehampton. That's are obird program.
Ybs Stoney Cross, Chale, Littlehampton, Stoney Cross Chale, Littlehampton×2 Brighton to finish, we did go out as far as Ramsgate last year, Andy will correct me if I'm wrong, if we don't have this program we go down the leg into Cornwall that not much better with distance 130 miles or so down to Sennen Cove & peregrine territory yet again & you got to ask yourself why keep on going to these site's knowing full well your going to get hit. Your relying on common sense & this isn't, this is going to be financial suicide come the end of the season & that's not sustainable. Sorry it's been a bit long winded NeilA.
Regards Dave.

Not even as good as that Dave. Littlehampton is unavailable as a liberation site because of a big wheel being put up on the sea front.
Kim from our club along with Stewart Wilcox did manage to get them to agree to a couple of Eastbourne’s.
So as you say we have had 3 x Stoney cross 34 miles for me. This week we have Chale 57 mls, Brighton 102mls, Stoney Cross, Eastbourne 118 mls, Stoney Cross, Chale, Brighton, Stoney Cross, Eastbourne, Stoney Cross.
Young birds. 2 x Stoney Cross, Chale, Brighton, 2 x Stoney Cross, Chale, Brighton.
They have said though if the numbers at Brighton aren’t enough the Eastbourne’s will be replaced with Stoney Cross

That’s awful
So is it more a fed set up to service national fliers training or was it to be a fed in its own right

[Andy]

Hello NeilA, myself & Andy fly in the WOESRC, so we've started off at Stoney Cross ×3 this week we are at Chale, Littlehampton, Brighton, again Stoney Cross, Chale, Littlehampton ×2 Brighton, Littlehampton. That's are obird program.
Ybs Stoney Cross, Chale, Littlehampton, Stoney Cross Chale, Littlehampton×2 Brighton to finish, we did go out as far as Ramsgate last year, Andy will correct me if I'm wrong, if we don't have this program we go down the leg into Cornwall that not much better with distance 130 miles or so down to Sennen Cove & peregrine territory yet again & you got to ask yourself why keep on going to these site's knowing full well your going to get hit. Your relying on common sense & this isn't, this is going to be financial suicide come the end of the season & that's not sustainable. Sorry it's been a bit long winded NeilA.
Regards Dave.

Not even as good as that Dave. Littlehampton is unavailable as a liberation site because of a big wheel being put up on the sea front.
Kim from our club along with Stewart Wilcox did manage to get them to agree to a couple of Eastbourne’s.
So as you say we have had 3 x Stoney cross 34 miles for me. This week we have Chale 57 mls, Brighton 102mls, Stoney Cross, Eastbourne 118 mls, Stoney Cross, Chale, Brighton, Stoney Cross, Eastbourne, Stoney Cross.
Young birds. 2 x Stoney Cross, Chale, Brighton, 2 x Stoney Cross, Chale, Brighton.
They have said though if the numbers at Brighton aren’t enough the Eastbourne’s will be replaced with Stoney Cross

That’s awful
So is it more a fed set up to service national fliers training or was it to be a fed in its own right

It used to be a very strong combine. Looking back in 2016 there were 26 clubs sending 5,000 plus birds a week. We are now down to 11 clubs sending about 1,300. They used to have a good program with channel races included. But since the need for vet’s etc there are no channel races so just used by many to train for the nationals. There are the odd channel races alongside the inland program but only for those who wish to nominate back from the Nationals or have all the relevant paper work and can get their birds to the marking stations.
So in answer to your question it should be a combine in its own right.

[NeilA]

So it should really cater for all with a race program of interest to its members

[CHARLTON34]

So it should really cater for all with a race program of interest to its members

Yes & this doesn't, it's not been fit for purpose for a long time, too set in it's way of thinking I've got nothing against any members that want to fly the Channel but it's always going to have a detrimental effect when the vast majority don't want anything to do with DEFRA,Vet etc so the Combine will suffer. This was a chance to offer a different route not down the leg as been done before, join up with another Fed Combine to fill the transporter & have big birdage also go a different direction all together, just try to do something to make change. Time will tell or should I say running out, I don't think there has been any forward thinking at all in the closed season last winter with this program I know it's down to the clubs involved to agree,I've only got a very small team & enjoy my pigeons but being asked to support this the same old thing year in year out I must be mad.
Regards Dave.

[NeilA]

To be honest Dave with Andy’s 34 mile races I don’t think I could support it snd would have to pack in or look to France
One or two a year I can understand due to the size but not the amount on tne program
Our fed has a open boundary west it’s a bit of a drive for you but your get to Scotland , although your be driving to mark further than your pigeons are currently racing