As you know this weekend we were competing in the Barcelona International and the Grand National from Tarbes with the National Flying Club.
The NFC liberated the birds at 2pm on Friday 5th July with a view to getting them a good start in decent weather but not letting them get so far as to hit the bad weather that was going to be in the UK Friday night. They were in light winds for the early part of the journey and would pick up sw winds from about the Nantes area.
So with a guarantee of no day birds in the UK it was going to be a wait Saturday morning for the first arrivals. As you know from our Barcelona report the weather was horrendous, thick cloud cover with rain all morning and gale force west winds.
We were still thinking a good bird could make it home by about 11.00am and the two pigeons that took 1st and 2nd Open verified the assessment was about right.
We however did not time our yearling widowhood hen until 12.10pm to take 1st Section, 3rd National Tarbes who incidentally arrived 1 minute after our first Barcelona pigeon meaning we were finally on the sheet for both races in quick succession.
We timed 7 pigeons on the winning day at 12.10, 14.10, 15.00, 18.07, 19.05, 20.28 and 20.34 and should all figure in the first 100 of the result. All our pigeons were on widowhood.
The race turned out to be an absolute grueller and from 69 pigeons sent (largest percentage yearlings) we got another 8 next day to make a total of 15 home. So much for getting the yearlings schooled for next years internationals.
The arrivals were as follows:
1st - grandchild of ‘Southfield Hugo’ 1st National Barcelona, 1st National Perpignan paired to a daughter of ‘Willeke’ 1st International St Vincent. Also a grandchild of ‘Southfield Darran’ 1st National St Vincent, 1st section, 7th National Perpignan, 3rd section, 3rd National, 7th International Pau paired to a daughter of ‘Sumerian fighter’ 1st International Barcelona.
2nd - grandchild of ‘Golden Barcelona’ Father of ‘Southfield Hugo’ ‘Southfield Gold Lady’ and gfather of ‘Southfield Gold x ‘Miss Gilbert’ mother of 1st National Agen & ‘Special one’ 1st International Barcelona x ‘Romee’
3rd - same way bred as the first arrival
4th - can’t find breeding so need to look up
5th - son of ‘Southfield Hugo’ 2 x 1st National paired to a daughter of ‘New Laureaat’ 1st International Barcelona
6th - daughter of ‘Kanibaal Barcelona’ 4th International Barcelona paired to a double grandchild of ‘Golden Barcelona’. This hen was 4th National Perpignan 2023.
7th - from a son of ‘New Jade1’ x ‘Saar’ and the mother is a daughter of ‘Sumerian Fighter’ 1st International Barcelona.
The race turned out to be much harder than we would have liked and let’s hope our brave pigeons make it home over the next few days. We know plenty of fanciers who are still waiting for their pigeons to arrive so fingers crossed they get them home.
Can we say a big well done to Mel and Sue King for winning the race but also to everyone that made it onto the sheet on an exceptionally difficult day. There were some fantastic birds further up country flying between 650 - 750 miles and everyone should be proud of the ones that made it home.
The NFC liberated the birds at 2pm on Friday 5th July with a view to getting them a good start in decent weather but not letting them get so far as to hit the bad weather that was going to be in the UK Friday night. They were in light winds for the early part of the journey and would pick up sw winds from about the Nantes area.
So with a guarantee of no day birds in the UK it was going to be a wait Saturday morning for the first arrivals. As you know from our Barcelona report the weather was horrendous, thick cloud cover with rain all morning and gale force west winds.
We were still thinking a good bird could make it home by about 11.00am and the two pigeons that took 1st and 2nd Open verified the assessment was about right.
We however did not time our yearling widowhood hen until 12.10pm to take 1st Section, 3rd National Tarbes who incidentally arrived 1 minute after our first Barcelona pigeon meaning we were finally on the sheet for both races in quick succession.
We timed 7 pigeons on the winning day at 12.10, 14.10, 15.00, 18.07, 19.05, 20.28 and 20.34 and should all figure in the first 100 of the result. All our pigeons were on widowhood.
The race turned out to be an absolute grueller and from 69 pigeons sent (largest percentage yearlings) we got another 8 next day to make a total of 15 home. So much for getting the yearlings schooled for next years internationals.
The arrivals were as follows:
1st - grandchild of ‘Southfield Hugo’ 1st National Barcelona, 1st National Perpignan paired to a daughter of ‘Willeke’ 1st International St Vincent. Also a grandchild of ‘Southfield Darran’ 1st National St Vincent, 1st section, 7th National Perpignan, 3rd section, 3rd National, 7th International Pau paired to a daughter of ‘Sumerian fighter’ 1st International Barcelona.
2nd - grandchild of ‘Golden Barcelona’ Father of ‘Southfield Hugo’ ‘Southfield Gold Lady’ and gfather of ‘Southfield Gold x ‘Miss Gilbert’ mother of 1st National Agen & ‘Special one’ 1st International Barcelona x ‘Romee’
3rd - same way bred as the first arrival
4th - can’t find breeding so need to look up
5th - son of ‘Southfield Hugo’ 2 x 1st National paired to a daughter of ‘New Laureaat’ 1st International Barcelona
6th - daughter of ‘Kanibaal Barcelona’ 4th International Barcelona paired to a double grandchild of ‘Golden Barcelona’. This hen was 4th National Perpignan 2023.
7th - from a son of ‘New Jade1’ x ‘Saar’ and the mother is a daughter of ‘Sumerian Fighter’ 1st International Barcelona.
The race turned out to be much harder than we would have liked and let’s hope our brave pigeons make it home over the next few days. We know plenty of fanciers who are still waiting for their pigeons to arrive so fingers crossed they get them home.
Can we say a big well done to Mel and Sue King for winning the race but also to everyone that made it onto the sheet on an exceptionally difficult day. There were some fantastic birds further up country flying between 650 - 750 miles and everyone should be proud of the ones that made it home.
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