[Music] so this is the big one the Pigeon Racing weekend I'd been waiting for two races in one
day one with the knots North Road Federation from Berwick some 180 miles the other with the
North Road Championship Club from Dunbar in Scotland which is just under 202 miles
time I've raced in a championship and only having yearlings I decided to send
the best ones I had to that race it's a gamble as to whether I'll
get them back as this year has proven quite a difficult one for returns for many fanciers
we're now heading off to Calverton for uh which is Nottingham
to the marking station for our five race Birds we've got four [ __ ] one hen
and um we're going to send them now it's half it's ten o'clock we need to be there by half past
and then the Lorry will come and pick them up the transporter pick them up and then head on up to
um the other marking stations where we're picking up the rest of the rest of herds on the way
Charlie's forgotten his hearing aids again so mowed the lawn
make it look nice I've got the clocks um ready the pad's ready it's a bit fresh actually the
more wind than we expected so I don't know uh clock in with two antenna that's all set up
uh got a little bit of light feed ready for them some seeds the pads of
um kept these ones down just so that they can come through the middle because that tends to
work best most of them seem to be plucking through this one now anyway I've got Ryan not Brian locked
up ready and I've got the um I've got the a fan tail The Dropper outside so I'm going to use that
one again because that seemed to work really well the last two races I think it was well at least
definitely the last race anyway um so we'll see we'll get really excited actually because we're in
the nrcc North Road Championship club race today and Nottinghamshire North Road Federation race
today and then we've got Forest playing Arsenal uh later on and my son is also playing in a football
competition this afternoon and once I've got the first few I'm going to shoot off because
I want to watch him play uh in his competition 10 plus 12. what time was it Charlie the birds
uh nine says it's no good talking from there so get closer what time
was it that the birds it was 9 30 wasn't it for the 9 34 the North Road Federation
9 30 for North Road Federation and um 9 45 for the yeah yeah nrcc so you reckon three
they said I think it said light Southeast or light Southwest turning North East on route
so I think but looking at the clouds see if I can hold this camera steady it seems we debate
the wind direction every weekend now and how much influence it has on the expected arrival time yeah
they aren't they that's definitely easterly Charlie isn't it is that South
definitely easterly it's going to be blowing them in line yeah
I don't know if that suits us or not just excited to be uh involved in it
really aren't we so right so I'm gonna get the clock set up ready you wish you'd been sending
it's beautiful isn't it
yeah when it's it's not always weather like this is it Charlie so
right so I've got the fantail over here
there she is and she's um I haven't fed her today so I'm hoping that she'll go
straight in there uh because she's hungry and uh we'll probably expect to see the
birds come out over that way because the wind The Liberation site is that way if you went
um directly 202 miles I got it wrong before it's 202 miles that way and then 181 or 180 miles for
the Barrack which is the North Road Federation race can we imagine that they'll get blown in
land uh and they'll come from over that direction but if they get pulled over too far they'll start
to come over from that direction so anything over there is good anything over there it's not good
so we're gonna set the camera up now and see how they come in it's exciting this is
it said it was going to be six mile an hour wind it's a lot more than that
within half an hour the wind had unexpectedly picked up
it was going to be six but it's a lot faster than that isn't it
I've got that fan tail already it's a 12 39 now
12 39 then Charlie what's that time [Music] let's go hearing aids
a fantail
I stood here last week for about half an hour with the cameras and Fanta already The Dropper
ready and um the batteries were going flat so I was expecting them to come and they were so slow
whereas every other week we've raced they've
they've caught me out I've just pressed record and then they've
arrived so the 40 football match [Music] your tournament
I mean it's beautiful but I am nervous as I shouldn't have worried about nerves the white
dropper and I had been practicing religiously so that when the first bird arrived she would fly
straight onto the landing board to help guide the winner in 12 46 I mean actually we get them back
here it isn't it you can't have biscuits can you how can you turn a biscuit
21 mile an hour East [Music] it feels blurry yeah
this should have been here by now then
yeah they've got to try and cut across and last time it was like this we had a nightmare
we had a nightmare
[Music]
I think they've been blown over the other side of the country I do [Music]
maybe not struck while you think it's too light I think it's too light [Music]
it could be [Music] everyone else is saying put more barley in it
and just then we sprang into action
where is it [Music]
come on oh no she's got probably way what are you doing already done
that didn't work see you later fantail
[Music]
so our first bird back was from the Barrick race but he was well off the pace from the
rest of the birds in the club and the Federation for that matter before 9 30.
Tim got clip another feather off this
[Music]
here's one
you ready yep
[Music]
foreign
come on
that's a hen
come on [Music] so basically when miles behind on the knots fed uh race I think so far but if we
get a bird from uh Dunbar then in the next five minutes then we still might be in with a decent
time but we're so far behind we've had one bird and that was nearly 20 minutes ago so not not a
brilliant race really that the amount of East in the wind is is I wasn't expecting it's a moderate
on the weather report it was meant to be like six or seven miles per hour it's gone up to 21.
um that we saw and that picked up pretty much an hour after the race started so
I think they've all been blown way in land I just hope that we get them back
um because it is the the longest distance they've done by a fair fair wack um but yeah so we'll keep
recording and we'll just see what happens but oh I would like more than one bird back
so the funniest thing actually happened um this is that race was a few weeks ago and we were nowhere
in the club race and it was quite obvious when the birds came back that we were way behind and then
I was I had the cameras set up uh the GoPro up on top of the DJI on top of the Loft and a few of the
cameras knocking around and I had to constantly keep going and turning them off and turning them
on again when I thought the birds were going to come back and it looked like the birds from
Dunbar the five birds from Dunbar were going to be even further behind because they were over half
an hour later even though they were liberated 15 minutes apart and only 20 miles I think what the
time was actually but anyway it felt like it was going to be a long uh a long time and a slow pace
so I turned the cameras off and uh just sat and I watched the first two come in
and then I had to go because I wanted to watch Archie play his tournament and I
was expecting the birds to be back by one uh and nearly two o'clock had arrived and
um or by nearly two o'clock which still hardly had any so uh it didn't look great
turns out we won the section we topped the section uh B section B uh which was brilliant so I wasn't
expecting that at all um but uh it doesn't mean that I didn't get the footage of the birds coming
in because I assumed we were so far behind and I wanted to go much arches play his tournament
um there we are there's a lesson for you and I think I'll go into a bit of detail in this
next video coming up as to why that I think that that is why that happened
um but yeah it should all be on that next one it was a a strange old day because we
were nowhere in the club Federation race and then um the young birds are now look
it's really hot so I've got the pool out so we're uh we're going to be lounging this afternoon
um here we go a lot if we can get them flying by there we go there's the uh the class of 23.
so yeah as I was saying uh brilliant result we ended up topping the section for the nrcc and
there was a write-up in the paper about that which I'm really happy about obviously because I topped
the section that meant I get a massive check with prize money I think I I bet I think the total cost
of entering five birds with nominations was 52 pounds I think and it ended up costing me seven
pounds and two pigeons because two of them didn't come back 1983 and 2011 which were both decembered
but we got some prize money um not a huge amount really I think it was about 40 something quid
which are 22 pounds for one bird and 18 or 19 pounds for the other bird so uh not not
brilliant uh prize money and I think the winner only got 400 quid which is I don't know I think I
feel like that could be better um I don't know if anybody else agrees I know some people uh do want
more prize money I'm one of them I think it's uh it's nice to know that you you putting all
this effort into uh you know potentially getting something back out of it but you know you do it
for the fun of it as well so you know it's not a major thing but I think it could definitely
entice more people to send more Birds um but yeah it was quite nice quite a nice surprise
we've got to catch it I'll come out I'm gonna go and get 1998 which is the bird that topped the
section in the nlcc what are you doing up there
wouldn't damage you mate you're my prized bird Got Run between my legs
foreign
from Dave Evans um it was a young bird he uh he came third in the first ever race I think there
were 1500 birds in that in that Federation race and then in the final race of the year
he came third again but he dropped with the first and second so all three of them dropped
together and it just so happened that darlo 94 won that one and then um no really sore throat
and then uh since then he's always been all right but he's never won it and then uh yeah he came
first back by 22 minutes feels like a nice big packet of muscle anybody
but I haven't sent him to many races since because
um well no I did send him I sent him last week and I think he was my first bird back
so he's definitely he's definitely top dog now aren't you especially since 2011 and 2012 and 1983
have disappeared but yeah he's um he just feels nice some of the others feel a little bit weak
do you know I mean like I feel like I can hold him in squeezing but you know so yeah nice little blue
bar 1998. so we're going to send you to one or two more races this year aren't we and then we'll put
you away for next year as a two-year-old I'm gonna let him go back in but yeah it's nice isn't he
from the same same Loft as uh dollar 94 the one that topped it but here we go all right let's get
you back in oh I I didn't um when we took a photo of him the other day for the nrcc write-up in the
Homing world I described him as a check but he's not as a blue bar so I don't know if anybody will
notice that but we're the never dwindling number of birds on the team from now on I'll have to
choose the races to maximize returns otherwise my season will be over way too soon that's it