summerset one loft race latest update

10.45 am still no sign of pigeons, not long till the race ends now....

alex what did you wana ask me yesaday i pm you but you not replyed

sorry mate thought i did will pm you now

no birds out of around 250 what a disater , mind you like g says i would rather win with the combine than the somerset race , as you are winning against 20,000 birds not 250

i see the midlands national flying club hasnt liberated from Carentan today due to bad weather,its good to see an organisation looking after the pigeons welfare for once.......

just been reading on another site about if a bird is reported found, what would happen as the race is still open .....? will it win the race if returned before the deadline ?

If their is no birds home by monday night the 285 birds that went to the race will all shear the £25, 900 in other words they will be getting between 80 to 90 pound back plus the pool money this is the toughest race they can go to thats why the birds are sent their

Hi I have just returned to Portugal from the Uk where I followed the 2 one loft events, the Europa Classic which was a disaster not only the returns but the terrible updates on the website and the none working web cam that was promised to be working properly on final day. The other was the ill fated Somerset OLR where Terry Williams the organiser delayed the race 3 days due to the bad weather forcasted and the birds were let go in good weather.

The bottom line is it seems the birds didnt have the metal to cross the channel, 310 miles from Belgium was beyond their capabilities and they are probably in Germany. Time will tell if and when they start to be reported, I think Terry has been getting a lot of stick and I do not think he deserves it.

The Somerset race is very well run and the care of the birds is second to none, he even puts them in rehab instead of just keep sending them when they return late.
He is a victim of trying to put on a real test for the birds and as there were less than 300 in the 310mile final they obviously didnt have the bottle to cross the water otherwise one or two would have crawled home by now.

An interesting and balanced review - thanks Spencerline. There's been a lot of disquiet about the Somerset OLR, but from what I've read it's difficult to see what could have been done better; massively disappointing for all involved.

thanks for your info re the somerset one loft, but do you think 300 miles is a bit too much for ybs ? as you say, obviously its a daunting task for them to attempt to cross the channel and as the weather was reported to be good flying conditions, something is drastically wrong when not one bird out of 285 all flying to the same loft returns home.....

members on our site last season formed a syndicate with four ybs entered, i remember there being very little info on returns and losses......and also basketing lists for the races were very vague..... our members got the impression that when lost birds returned they were quickly put back into training/racing and not given much chance to recover....

David wrote:

thanks for your info re the somerset one loft, but do you think 300 miles is a bit too much for ybs ? as you say, obviously its a daunting task for them to attempt to cross the channel and as the weather was reported to be good flying conditions, something is drastically wrong when not one bird out of 285 all flying to the same loft returns home.....

members on our site last season formed a syndicate with four ybs entered, i remember there being very little info on returns and losses......and also basketing lists for the races were very vague..... our members got the impression that when lost birds returned they were quickly put back into training/racing and not given much chance to recover....

I personally think that 310 miles is a long way for young birds but I reckon really good early breds can do it. The fanciers that enter their young birds know what they are letting their birds in for as it is advertised on the website what distance the final test will be so with all due respect they must take some of the blame (if indeed there is any to share) I just think the birds were not up to the task of crossing the channel full stop.

The distance of the race is irrelevant in this case as 99 percent sure the birds never even crossed the channel, so I dont see what more could be done for them.
At the end of the day it is up to the indivdual fanciers whether or not they put the birds in the line of fire and the fanciers that did obviously thought that their birds were up to the task.
Unfortunately it seems the birds were lacking on this occasion.

David there was a race on from tores today some flying upto 400+ miles and they were timing in these were ybs they were libed at 8 15 into a s/sw wind but they were gettin them up there at 400 + mile around 4:50 so no i personaly dont think 300 mile is too far for a YB to fly jmo

Rene A wrote:

David there was a race on from tores today some flying upto 400+ miles and they were timing in these were ybs they were libed at 8 15 into a s/sw wind but they were gettin them up there at 400 + mile around 4:50 so no i personaly dont think 300 mile is too far for a YB to fly jmo

Agree there Rene, was that the race organised by the Mr + Mrs Cooper forget the club name for it sorry

Will say its all about the conditioning of the pigeon

yes i agree with you there, i dont think they were up to the task of crossing the channel......and like you say some should be up to the challange of crossing it, you would think at least something would have returned home, even in club disasters we get some birds home dont we..........

i think if this one loft race is to continue they might have to rethink sending them over the channel in future, or at least until they gain the trust back of the pigeon world........

Rene A wrote:

David there was a race on from tores today some flying upto 400+ miles and they were timing in these were ybs they were libed at 8 15 into a s/sw wind but they were gettin them up there at 400 + mile around 4:50 so no i personaly dont think 300 mile is too far for a YB to fly jmo

thanks for the info rene,but even tho they did the 400 miles i still think 300 plus is a lot for ybs..........as spencerline says, they didnt even try to cross the channel so i wonder why....? what would make 285 pigeons scared to cross the water ?

yes Don thats the one i asked if the channel islands were allowed to enter and was told NO god knows why


But then again members of the BBC dont like the channel islands competing

David wrote:

Rene A wrote:

David there was a race on from tores today some flying upto 400+ miles and they were timing in these were ybs they were libed at 8 15 into a s/sw wind but they were gettin them up there at 400 + mile around 4:50 so no i personaly dont think 300 mile is too far for a YB to fly jmo

thanks for the info rene,but even tho they did the 400 miles i still think 300 plus is a lot for ybs..........as spencerline says, they didnt even try to cross the channel so i wonder why....? what would make 285 pigeons scared to cross the water ?

dont think we will know the answer to that Q mate tbh

people try to enter only their best into races like this so out of the 285 there has to be a percentage that were bred well enough to complete a race across the chanel, but unforseeable things happen during races so dont think we will ever know the true outcome.

I agree the best birds are entered in these races, that is why they regularly beat the national pigeons when they are liberated with them. I think Ritchy Elliots SWOL race over acheived public expectation in the HLFC tours National in 2010 and the Europa One loft race has done similarly in the past in the Welsh National.

My only concern with the Somerset race (and it is not a critisism) is the big jump from Ramsgate 178 miles to Brussels 310 miles over strange land and then the sea. I think maybe the birds would benefit from a race at around 240 miles (before the big one) where they must cross the channel as a dress rehearsal.

Probably half the birds would go down in the penultamate challenge but the birds that did return would have more chance of crossing again in the final.

18th September. 09.00 am No birds in this morning, UPDATE: We have had a bird reported in HOLLAND and it appears the birds went North , completly the wrong way as feared , we will report later if more news

This is the latest news from the ill fated Somerset one loft race.

on the day of the lib there was no wind as such and it was clear but as they progressed to the
to the coast ie , crossing at the straits of dover in to england they were heading in to 25 mph winds in midd channel and in england sw winds pigeons arn,t stupid they can see things and sense things in advance
so to my reckoning they have been pused right up in to holland and if they have crossed they have been swamped by the waves cos they would have been flying low across the waves in to a head as such some will return in time or start to get reported but you can,t say the pigeons arn,t up to it cos on the day they were defeated by the eliments 300 miles to fit young pigeons is nothing if there prepared right . another thing i know how hard it is for a yb to fly in to the west country in a sw wind as i flew in the yb national 2 weeks ago
mine took 8 hrs to fly 204 miles they get pushed along with the drag and end having to dog leg from around the portsmouth area back in to the west country which is another 94 miles .

spencerline wrote:

I agree the best birds are entered in these races, that is why they regularly beat the national pigeons when they are liberated with them. I think Ritchy Elliots SWOL race over acheived public expectation in the HLFC tours National in 2010 and the Europa One loft race has done similarly in the past in the Welsh National.

My only concern with the Somerset race (and it is not a critisism) is the big jump from Ramsgate 178 miles to Brussels 310 miles over strange land and then the sea. I think maybe the birds would benefit from a race at around 240 miles (before the big one) where they must cross the channel as a dress rehearsal.

Probably half the birds would go down in the penultamate challenge but the birds that did return would have more chance of crossing again in the final.

i agree with what youve said, it is a big jump from 178 to 310 with inexperienced ybs......i know in our club racing they jump approx 30 miles as the weeks go on, this is aceptable as it learns them but to jump 132 miles is too much.

seems your right kev here is the latest update


18th September. 09.00 am No birds in this morning, UPDATE: We have had a bird reported in HOLLAND and it appears the birds went North , completly the wrong way as feared , we will report later if more news

i think if i remember correctly last year when we entered a site sindicate there was only about 4 birds home on the day in the last race.........others came over the next few days tho.

im sure thius was the case, does anyone else remember.....?

their was no birds on the and the 1st bird was swap shop and their was about 5 or 6 race birds home to take the main prizes the rest came home within about 3 weeks