In that case be better to close up for the year
Spend what time he has with the youngsters
Glastonbury FC
Well I have repaired the widowers. They all seem quite happy. Had them on open loft yesterday afternoon and all day today. I will continue to race them for the last 4 races on natural. We do have a couple of members in the club that do race natural and on open loft that are in the mix most weeks. It is a shame as I was enjoying doing widowhood again and will again next year. It’s just that other issues have made it very difficult for me to continue with it this year. I don’t have to much of a problem with hawks around here although do lose the odd ones. I have found though that on open loft they seem much more alert to the threat and I have often seen in the past when I used to race natural all the time the birds get into a tight batch fly high and chase the hawks away.
I only have 14 youngsters to race and half of those are still fairly young. So not many but the ones I have will have most of the young bird races. I will breed a few late breds from the widowhood cocks.
I only have 14 youngsters to race and half of those are still fairly young. So not many but the ones I have will have most of the young bird races. I will breed a few late breds from the widowhood cocks.
Back just enjoying club racing for the time being.
I know I probably won’t get the best out of them but I am happy to keep them going. We have a very sociable club and will be great just to go to the club still on a Friday and Saturday evening.
Back just enjoying club racing for the time being.
Good luck Andy, hopefully you'll be able to to enjoy the last 4 races bruv.
Good man yourself, Andy.
It's a difficult time you are going through just now, but it will pass. This way you can keep the pigeons busy and have something to enjoy.
Best of luck with them on the natural.
It's a difficult time you are going through just now, but it will pass. This way you can keep the pigeons busy and have something to enjoy.
Best of luck with them on the natural.
Greetings from the land down under. 
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
Andy wrote: ↑Sat Jul 27, 2024 12:45 pm
Our birds were liberated this morning at 9.30. The first report is that they took a couple of minutes to clear. Straight away that knocks 50ypm off my birds and being one of the shortest flyers at just 34 miles puts us at a big disadvantage.
Neil asked:
How did it go Andy
Not brilliant Neil. I’ll put it on the Glastonbury post.
So this week we had our first young bird race. This was from Stoney Cross 34 miles to me. This is always a lottery especially from such a short distance and us being one of the shortest fliers in the combine.
I sent my whole team of 13 youngsters. They were liberated at 9.30am in a light SW. I thought I should get one around 10.15. We had already heard that they had taken a couple of minutes to leave the liberation site so really meant that we were going to be out of contention from the start. I roughly worked out that 2 minutes reduced my velocity by 50ypm.
Our club had 12 members sending 364 birds. The combine sent 1423. At around 10.19am I had 2 birds come together out of the North. This is the wrong direction for me so knew straight away that they were going through North of us. They were a bit jumpy when they landed and took off again going around a couple of times before coming down and trapping at 10.21.55 and 10.22.02. First bird to trap was a mealy cock out of Busters Mealy and a blue hen of Busters. The second was a grizzle cock bred by Trev out of birds from Alan Still. I had to wait over an hour for the third bird. A blue pied cock bred out of the blue pied cock from Buster who had been my best old bird racer this season before being taken from around the loft a couple of weeks ago. I only had 6/13 yesterday. I had one more back this morning and had to pick one up from Radstock near Bristol which is obviously where the birds went as Bristol topped the combine. So my small team of 13 is now down to just 8. They will still go every week.
This is our club result.
This is the combine result
WEST OF ENGLAND SOUTH ROAD COMBINE STONEY CROSS (7) 27TH JULY 2024
63 MEMBERS 11 CLUBS 1432 BIRDS LIBERATED AT 9.30 IN LIGHT WESTERLY WIND
NAME CLUB RING NUMBER COLOUR SEX DISTANCE AFT VELOCITY
1 R HERBERT BRISTOL WEST GB24B55249 BLWF H 54.0633 01:06:51 1431.159
2 N TEMPLAR TOWERS GB24N58975 BL H 53.1077 01:06:13 1424.974
3 N TEMPLAR TOWERS GB24N35716 BL H 53.1077 01:06:19 1422.825
4 M HATHWAY TOWERS GB24C63377 BL C 53.1067 01:07:12 1403.973
5 A & D COLLINS BRISTOL WEST GB24B55373 BL C 53.1580 01:07:55 1396.712
6 K HUDD TOWERS GB24N21981 BL C 54.0682 01:08:35 1395.572
7 K HUDD TOWERS GB24N21994 CHEQ C 54.0682 01:08:41 1393.541
8 A JONES TOWERS GB24S45896 CHEQ C 55.0092 01:09:53 1386.354
9 R HERBERT BRISTOL WEST GB24B55257 BL H 54.0633 01:09:38 1373.954
10 A & D COLLINS BRISTOL WEST GB24B55381 DRD C 53.1580 01:09:06 1372.793
11 D & J STADDON GLASTONBURY GB24N20703 BLPD H 41.0086 00:52:54 1365.709
12 D & J STADDON GLASTONBURY GB24N20715 BL H 41.0086 00:52:54 1365.709
13 MR P HARKNESS AVON GB24A28208 CHPD C 59.1537 01:17:11 1365.282
14 D & J STADDON GLASTONBURY GB24N20741 CHEQ C 41.0086 00:52:55 1365.279
15 D & J STADDON GLASTONBURY GB24N20704 GPD H 41.0086 00:52:56 1364.849
16 D & J STADDON GLASTONBURY GB24N20724 CHEQ C 41.0086 00:52:57 1364.419
17 D & J STADDON GLASTONBURY GB24N20711 BL C 41.0086 00:52:58 1363.990
18 MR P HARKNESS AVON GB24V36411 CHEQ H 59.1539 01:17:17 1363.515
19 D & J STADDON GLASTONBURY GB24C82442 BL H 41.0086 00:53:01 1362.704
20 JOSEPH THOMPSON TOWERS GB24N40035 BL H 56.0056 01:12:28 1360.941
21 N TEMPLAR TOWERS GB24N35688 BL C 53.1077 01:09:34 1356.354
22 MR & MRS N NUTT GLASTONBURY GB24V65315 CHEQ C 49.1492 01:04:49 1353.541
23 MR & MRS N NUTT GLASTONBURY GB24V65307 BL H 49.1492 01:04:50 1353.193
24 MR & MRS N NUTT GLASTONBURY GB24V65295 LTCH H 49.1492 01:04:51 1352.845
25 MR & MRS N NUTT GLASTONBURY GB24V65297 LTCH C 49.1492 01:04:53 1352.150
26 MR & MRS N NUTT GLASTONBURY GB24V65302 CHEQ C 49.1492 01:04:54 1351.803
27 MR & MRS N NUTT GLASTONBURY GB24V65304 BL C 49.1492 01:04:58 1350.416
28 N TEMPLAR TOWERS GB24X25998 BLPD C 53.1077 01:10:27 1339.347
29 N TEMPLAR TOWERS GB24N35694 BLPD H 53.1077 01:10:27 1339.347
30 N TEMPLAR TOWERS GB24N56602 CHEQ H 53.1077 01:10:29 1338.714
31 N TEMPLAR TOWERS GB24N58976 CHEQ H 53.1077 01:10:30 1338.397
32 A SHIELDS CARLINGCOTT GB24A39487 BL C 45.0136 00:59:27 1334.500
33 M & M FARIFAX & LIAM MEADEN GLASTONBURY GB24S52124 CHWF H 51.1641 01:08:30 1334.439
34 JOSEPH THOMPSON TOWERS NEHU24NP277 CHEQ C 56.0056 01:13:57 1333.641
35 R TAYLOR & SONS BRISTOL WEST GB24B54811 DKPD H 54.1559 01:12:57 1324.181
36 G & C COOPER PAULTON GB24C14269 CHEQ C 53.1309 00:58:11 1323.214
37 MR & MRS BEDFORD BRISTOL WEST GB24B55321 GRIZ H 53.1468 01:11:40 1322.065
38 MR & MRS BEDFORD BRISTOL WEST GB24B55326 CHEQ C 53.1468 01:11:42 1321.450
39 MR P HARKNESS AVON GB24N07082 CHWF C 59.1539 01:19:48 1320.514
40 MR P HARKNESS AVON GB24A28216 DKCH C 59.1539 01:19:54 1318.861
41 MR P HARKNESS AVON GB24N07089 CHEQ H 59.1539 01:19:55 1318.586
42 MR P HARKNESS AVON GB24A28196 SMOK H 59.1539 01:19:57 1318.036
43 C & J ROGERS & N SALES PAULTON GB24A35694 BLWF C 42.1446 00:57:12 1317.587
44 MR P HARKNESS AVON GB24A28193 SMOK H 59.1539 01:20:00 1317.212
45 MR P HARKNESS AVON GB24N07092 BLPD C 59.1539 01:20:03 1316.390
46 MR & MRS BEDFORD BRISTOL WEST GB24B55332 BL H 53.1468 01:12:02 1315.335
47 A SHIELDS CARLINGCOTT GB24X13248 BL H 45.0136 01:00:20 1314.961
48 JOSEPH THOMPSON TOWERS GB24N40027 BL C 56.0056 01:15:13 1311.180
49 A LEWIS GLASTONBURY GB24S64927 CHEQ C 50.1042 01:08:13 1305.282
50 M GEORGE BRISTOL WEST GB24V16320 BL C 53.1587 01:12:44 1304.313
Our birds were liberated this morning at 9.30. The first report is that they took a couple of minutes to clear. Straight away that knocks 50ypm off my birds and being one of the shortest flyers at just 34 miles puts us at a big disadvantage.
Neil asked:
How did it go Andy
Not brilliant Neil. I’ll put it on the Glastonbury post.
So this week we had our first young bird race. This was from Stoney Cross 34 miles to me. This is always a lottery especially from such a short distance and us being one of the shortest fliers in the combine.
I sent my whole team of 13 youngsters. They were liberated at 9.30am in a light SW. I thought I should get one around 10.15. We had already heard that they had taken a couple of minutes to leave the liberation site so really meant that we were going to be out of contention from the start. I roughly worked out that 2 minutes reduced my velocity by 50ypm.
Our club had 12 members sending 364 birds. The combine sent 1423. At around 10.19am I had 2 birds come together out of the North. This is the wrong direction for me so knew straight away that they were going through North of us. They were a bit jumpy when they landed and took off again going around a couple of times before coming down and trapping at 10.21.55 and 10.22.02. First bird to trap was a mealy cock out of Busters Mealy and a blue hen of Busters. The second was a grizzle cock bred by Trev out of birds from Alan Still. I had to wait over an hour for the third bird. A blue pied cock bred out of the blue pied cock from Buster who had been my best old bird racer this season before being taken from around the loft a couple of weeks ago. I only had 6/13 yesterday. I had one more back this morning and had to pick one up from Radstock near Bristol which is obviously where the birds went as Bristol topped the combine. So my small team of 13 is now down to just 8. They will still go every week.
This is our club result.
WEST OF ENGLAND SOUTH ROAD COMBINE STONEY CROSS (7) 27TH JULY 2024
63 MEMBERS 11 CLUBS 1432 BIRDS LIBERATED AT 9.30 IN LIGHT WESTERLY WIND
NAME CLUB RING NUMBER COLOUR SEX DISTANCE AFT VELOCITY
1 R HERBERT BRISTOL WEST GB24B55249 BLWF H 54.0633 01:06:51 1431.159
2 N TEMPLAR TOWERS GB24N58975 BL H 53.1077 01:06:13 1424.974
3 N TEMPLAR TOWERS GB24N35716 BL H 53.1077 01:06:19 1422.825
4 M HATHWAY TOWERS GB24C63377 BL C 53.1067 01:07:12 1403.973
5 A & D COLLINS BRISTOL WEST GB24B55373 BL C 53.1580 01:07:55 1396.712
6 K HUDD TOWERS GB24N21981 BL C 54.0682 01:08:35 1395.572
7 K HUDD TOWERS GB24N21994 CHEQ C 54.0682 01:08:41 1393.541
8 A JONES TOWERS GB24S45896 CHEQ C 55.0092 01:09:53 1386.354
9 R HERBERT BRISTOL WEST GB24B55257 BL H 54.0633 01:09:38 1373.954
10 A & D COLLINS BRISTOL WEST GB24B55381 DRD C 53.1580 01:09:06 1372.793
11 D & J STADDON GLASTONBURY GB24N20703 BLPD H 41.0086 00:52:54 1365.709
12 D & J STADDON GLASTONBURY GB24N20715 BL H 41.0086 00:52:54 1365.709
13 MR P HARKNESS AVON GB24A28208 CHPD C 59.1537 01:17:11 1365.282
14 D & J STADDON GLASTONBURY GB24N20741 CHEQ C 41.0086 00:52:55 1365.279
15 D & J STADDON GLASTONBURY GB24N20704 GPD H 41.0086 00:52:56 1364.849
16 D & J STADDON GLASTONBURY GB24N20724 CHEQ C 41.0086 00:52:57 1364.419
17 D & J STADDON GLASTONBURY GB24N20711 BL C 41.0086 00:52:58 1363.990
18 MR P HARKNESS AVON GB24V36411 CHEQ H 59.1539 01:17:17 1363.515
19 D & J STADDON GLASTONBURY GB24C82442 BL H 41.0086 00:53:01 1362.704
20 JOSEPH THOMPSON TOWERS GB24N40035 BL H 56.0056 01:12:28 1360.941
21 N TEMPLAR TOWERS GB24N35688 BL C 53.1077 01:09:34 1356.354
22 MR & MRS N NUTT GLASTONBURY GB24V65315 CHEQ C 49.1492 01:04:49 1353.541
23 MR & MRS N NUTT GLASTONBURY GB24V65307 BL H 49.1492 01:04:50 1353.193
24 MR & MRS N NUTT GLASTONBURY GB24V65295 LTCH H 49.1492 01:04:51 1352.845
25 MR & MRS N NUTT GLASTONBURY GB24V65297 LTCH C 49.1492 01:04:53 1352.150
26 MR & MRS N NUTT GLASTONBURY GB24V65302 CHEQ C 49.1492 01:04:54 1351.803
27 MR & MRS N NUTT GLASTONBURY GB24V65304 BL C 49.1492 01:04:58 1350.416
28 N TEMPLAR TOWERS GB24X25998 BLPD C 53.1077 01:10:27 1339.347
29 N TEMPLAR TOWERS GB24N35694 BLPD H 53.1077 01:10:27 1339.347
30 N TEMPLAR TOWERS GB24N56602 CHEQ H 53.1077 01:10:29 1338.714
31 N TEMPLAR TOWERS GB24N58976 CHEQ H 53.1077 01:10:30 1338.397
32 A SHIELDS CARLINGCOTT GB24A39487 BL C 45.0136 00:59:27 1334.500
33 M & M FARIFAX & LIAM MEADEN GLASTONBURY GB24S52124 CHWF H 51.1641 01:08:30 1334.439
34 JOSEPH THOMPSON TOWERS NEHU24NP277 CHEQ C 56.0056 01:13:57 1333.641
35 R TAYLOR & SONS BRISTOL WEST GB24B54811 DKPD H 54.1559 01:12:57 1324.181
36 G & C COOPER PAULTON GB24C14269 CHEQ C 53.1309 00:58:11 1323.214
37 MR & MRS BEDFORD BRISTOL WEST GB24B55321 GRIZ H 53.1468 01:11:40 1322.065
38 MR & MRS BEDFORD BRISTOL WEST GB24B55326 CHEQ C 53.1468 01:11:42 1321.450
39 MR P HARKNESS AVON GB24N07082 CHWF C 59.1539 01:19:48 1320.514
40 MR P HARKNESS AVON GB24A28216 DKCH C 59.1539 01:19:54 1318.861
41 MR P HARKNESS AVON GB24N07089 CHEQ H 59.1539 01:19:55 1318.586
42 MR P HARKNESS AVON GB24A28196 SMOK H 59.1539 01:19:57 1318.036
43 C & J ROGERS & N SALES PAULTON GB24A35694 BLWF C 42.1446 00:57:12 1317.587
44 MR P HARKNESS AVON GB24A28193 SMOK H 59.1539 01:20:00 1317.212
45 MR P HARKNESS AVON GB24N07092 BLPD C 59.1539 01:20:03 1316.390
46 MR & MRS BEDFORD BRISTOL WEST GB24B55332 BL H 53.1468 01:12:02 1315.335
47 A SHIELDS CARLINGCOTT GB24X13248 BL H 45.0136 01:00:20 1314.961
48 JOSEPH THOMPSON TOWERS GB24N40027 BL C 56.0056 01:15:13 1311.180
49 A LEWIS GLASTONBURY GB24S64927 CHEQ C 50.1042 01:08:13 1305.282
50 M GEORGE BRISTOL WEST GB24V16320 BL C 53.1587 01:12:44 1304.313
Back just enjoying club racing for the time being.
It's hard for Andy, with the shop he's not free to spend the time training. And being so short it only takes a couple of circles at the start and he's behind.
Greetings from the land down under.
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.