Well the weekend we had been waiting for finally arrived and we were competing from the Barcelona International and the Tarbes Grand National with the National Flying club on the same weekend.
The Barcelona International was liberated at 6.15am on Friday 5th July with light winds for the early part of the journey and stronger west/southwest winds expected from about Nantes onwards with gusting winds in the channel. We were expecting the winds to keep the birds over in the east and so as much as we would have liked them we were not expecting a repeat of last year for a day bird making it into the UK. We knew the birds would be close to Dover early morning but if they waited until then to cross would have to face the full force of a strong westerly wind and would take a few hours to get back to the central section.
We started waiting at the lofts 4.30am anyway and a lot of talk on how long they could be took place over coffee. The weather was awful all morning with loads of rain, a completely filled in sky and gale force winds which were stronger than forecast so as the morning went on it became clear the birds had an awful task ahead of them and we feared the worst for good returns.
We didn’t feel this year that we had the best team in Barcelona compared to other years so we’re hoping they would produce a surprise or two.
At 12.09pm our first bird arrived recording a velocity of 684ypm for the 698 mile (1122km) journey. We finally had one in the clock and seeing her condition we started to think as she was so well hopefully more will follow and follow they did.
Our next arrivals came at 12.20, 13.09, 14.40, 14.57, 15.26 and 19.15. We also had another one arrive at 6.31am this morning so at the time of writing this we have 8/22 home.
Team wise the birds managed to secure 1st,2nd,3rd,4th,5th,6th,7th section & 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 11th British Barcelona Club and 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th section & 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 9th, 12th, 14th, 19th British International Championship Club Barcelona. Not a bad days work by some very gutsy pigeons.
The birds breeding were as follows:
1st - from a son of Kees Droog’s ‘Blue Champion’ x ‘Rozalynn’ paired to a daughter of Jelle’s ‘Jack’ & ‘Dafne’
2nd - from a son of Jelle’s ‘Romee’ paired to a daughter of ‘Jack’ and ‘Dafne’
3rd - father is ‘Supreme Junior’ 1st National British International Championship Club Pau paired to a daughter of Jos Martens ‘Helios’
4th - a grandchild of ‘Southfield Iron Man’ 1st National BICC Perpignan 2018, 2nd National BICC Marseille 2018, 7th National BICC Palamos 2018 x ‘Southfield Dark Star’ 1st National BICC St Vincent and also a grandchild of ‘Golden Barcelona’.
5th - father is ‘Southfield King’ 1st Grand National NFC Pau 2020 paired to a daughter of ‘Lloyd’ 1st International Barcelona 2018.
6th - ‘Abigail’s star’ who was 1st British International Championship Club Agen 2022. She is from a son of ‘Sumerian Fighter’ 1st International Barcelona 2017 x a daughter of Jelle’s ‘Romee’.
The 7th arrival doesn’t appear to be in the system so will have to look up the breeding on this one at a later date.
Can we say congratulations to Andrei Bargaoanu for winning the BICC with his fantastic hen that was 4th Open Barcelona last year. We put her through at the marking station and told Andrei that she was in super condition and even joked with him that he would win it with her. Well done to you and your special hen.
The Barcelona International was liberated at 6.15am on Friday 5th July with light winds for the early part of the journey and stronger west/southwest winds expected from about Nantes onwards with gusting winds in the channel. We were expecting the winds to keep the birds over in the east and so as much as we would have liked them we were not expecting a repeat of last year for a day bird making it into the UK. We knew the birds would be close to Dover early morning but if they waited until then to cross would have to face the full force of a strong westerly wind and would take a few hours to get back to the central section.
We started waiting at the lofts 4.30am anyway and a lot of talk on how long they could be took place over coffee. The weather was awful all morning with loads of rain, a completely filled in sky and gale force winds which were stronger than forecast so as the morning went on it became clear the birds had an awful task ahead of them and we feared the worst for good returns.
We didn’t feel this year that we had the best team in Barcelona compared to other years so we’re hoping they would produce a surprise or two.
At 12.09pm our first bird arrived recording a velocity of 684ypm for the 698 mile (1122km) journey. We finally had one in the clock and seeing her condition we started to think as she was so well hopefully more will follow and follow they did.
Our next arrivals came at 12.20, 13.09, 14.40, 14.57, 15.26 and 19.15. We also had another one arrive at 6.31am this morning so at the time of writing this we have 8/22 home.
Team wise the birds managed to secure 1st,2nd,3rd,4th,5th,6th,7th section & 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 11th British Barcelona Club and 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th section & 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 9th, 12th, 14th, 19th British International Championship Club Barcelona. Not a bad days work by some very gutsy pigeons.
The birds breeding were as follows:
1st - from a son of Kees Droog’s ‘Blue Champion’ x ‘Rozalynn’ paired to a daughter of Jelle’s ‘Jack’ & ‘Dafne’
2nd - from a son of Jelle’s ‘Romee’ paired to a daughter of ‘Jack’ and ‘Dafne’
3rd - father is ‘Supreme Junior’ 1st National British International Championship Club Pau paired to a daughter of Jos Martens ‘Helios’
4th - a grandchild of ‘Southfield Iron Man’ 1st National BICC Perpignan 2018, 2nd National BICC Marseille 2018, 7th National BICC Palamos 2018 x ‘Southfield Dark Star’ 1st National BICC St Vincent and also a grandchild of ‘Golden Barcelona’.
5th - father is ‘Southfield King’ 1st Grand National NFC Pau 2020 paired to a daughter of ‘Lloyd’ 1st International Barcelona 2018.
6th - ‘Abigail’s star’ who was 1st British International Championship Club Agen 2022. She is from a son of ‘Sumerian Fighter’ 1st International Barcelona 2017 x a daughter of Jelle’s ‘Romee’.
The 7th arrival doesn’t appear to be in the system so will have to look up the breeding on this one at a later date.
Can we say congratulations to Andrei Bargaoanu for winning the BICC with his fantastic hen that was 4th Open Barcelona last year. We put her through at the marking station and told Andrei that she was in super condition and even joked with him that he would win it with her. Well done to you and your special hen.
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