Articles

BICC Falaise 2 Approximately 4550 birds

  " Bella "

GB05X79563 Blue Hen 3rd Section 17th Open.

  "Bella"    "The Gift"

   Mark Webster of Ettington wins 3rd Centre Section, 17th Open with "Bella".

ARTICLE FROM ELIMAR FOR THE BICC.

Mark answered our list of questions as follows :

I started keeping pigeons when I was twelve when I found an injured young bird while on a paper round while living in Southend on Sea. I kept them up until I was approx 17, then had approx three years keeping and showing Border canaries, which I had kept alongside the pigeons. I had the pigeons back for another couple of years, still not racing just keeping. At this point my rugby had started to take off and I was offered a contract and turned semi-professional for Mosely in Birmingham and then onto Worcester for five years. Once I finished playing I got the pigeons again immediately, built a new loft in 1999 and started to race in 2000 for the first time. I then moved to Ettington in 2002, built the loft I had always wanted and started again with a new team of pigeons where we are now. My winner is a blue hen from 2005, bred in the stock pen here at Ettington. She was racing on widowhood and will now be paired and allowed eggs. I feed standard corn but the best quality, mainly Verse Laga mixes but I do like to mix three to four bags together. I always feed light in the morning and a full mix at night but feel you do have to keep a close eye on the weather re the strength of the mixes etc. Good pigeons on form will never over eat, in my opinion. I select the pigeons to type, which for me is of medium build and apple bodied and they must have super smooth feathering. Once they have completed this process it is just down to intelligence and performance. If I have a pair of stock pigeons that I have bred 10 young birds off and I achieve a super pigeon that scores well, wins the fed well etc I will then remove both parents from the stock loft and replace them with the winning pigeon in order to concentrate that winning gene. I have no problem putting pigeons to stock as yearlings. The father and mother of this pigeon have both completed the above process and are both 2002 pigeons.

Last year I timed in five pigeons quickly in the MNFC when they sent nearly 8000 birds. All were in the top 60 of the open, five were within a minute and 40 seconds and the father of this hen was sire to 3 of them with two different hens and grandfather to one other. I cannot remember the exact positions in the race but I think they were something like 36, 42, 44, 46 and 52 open from nearly 8000 birds (I have had a quick look for the result but cannot find it at the moment). The velocities were somewhere in the 1000s, like yesterday. True racing, againin my opinion. This year my hen has had one 20 mile training toss, 2 x Bath approx 59 miles and 1 x Lulworth Castle approx 106 miles. She has won numerous club prizes since a young bird and was one of the famous five in the MNFC mentioned above. As a matter of interest her nest mate was 05X79563 and is a blue cock. In 2006 he was my best yearling and I had high hopes for him. One day he returned very late having had all the flights on both wings cut completely in half and his RPRA ring cut off. How he made it home I will never know. If the person that did this is reading this article thanks very much, it’s a good job I'm not a one-pigeon loft. He is very happy in the stock pen now and is currently on loan with a good friend of mine in Coventry, due to come back this summer. My hen was tired on arrival but her body weight was good. Her wattles and cere were bright pink suggesting she had seen a lot of rain. She will now go to the next BICC race from Alencon when she should be on eggs. My returns were very poor. I had 4 out of 12 on the day and one on Monday morning. This was a major disappointment to me because as a loft good returns are normally oneof my strongest points and my biggest goalas a manager for my team. Must come from my rugby days.

My ambition is to win a National. I only started racing in them last year and I do not intend to stop until I achieve it. I am really looking forward to the next weekend with the NFC and MNFC as it is the cocks’ turn then and I feel much more confident conditioning cocks than I do hens.’ We then asked Mark what had been his best previous performances, and he replied: ‘I am terrible at remembering results - once the race has finished I am already forgetting it and moving on to the preparation of the next race. I have been 2nd Section MCC 4th Open, I havewon the Coventry and Warwickshire Feds nine times and on one occasion took the first four in the Coventry Fed and also won the Warwickshire Fed on the same day. That was special to me as they were both fast races and I was the shortest flyer in both Feds. I have won three Open races and approximately 60 club firsts over the last five years, which helped earn me the nickname the Ettington Ace, which was quite amusing. I often think it should be the Ettington Arse though! To date I think the most special was the MNFC result last year with five in the top 60 open on a really tough day. I sure I'm right in saying that no one else had a second bird while I had five, and that was very special to me in a group of real class flyers that I really respect. Thank you for asking me to write a few lines, it is an honour to be asked. Enjoy your racing and when things don’t go to plan look at yourself first not the pigeons. I say to everyone, pigeons are an open book, you just have to learn how to read. Learn to be a stock man, get good pigeons, keep them healthy and don’t fill them up with bottles of this and that, build a good loftand the rest will follow.’

UPDATE : 14.06.08 MARK FINISHES 1ST CENTRE SECTION, 2ND OPEN MIDLAND NATIONAL FLYING CLUB FROM APPROX 3500 BIRDS WITH HIS CHAMPION COCK "JUST JIM".

UPDATE : 14.07.08 MARK FINISHES 4TH CENTRE SECTION 9TH OPEN SAINTES MIDLAND NATIONAL FLYING CLUB FROM APPROX 1500 BIRDS WITH HIS CHAMPION COCK "ROONEY".

UPDATE : 14.07.08 MARK FINISHES 5TH SECTION CENTRE SECTION 25TH OPEN BERGERAC MIDLAND NATIONAL FLYING CLUB FROM APPROX 1400 BIRDS WITH HIS CHAMPION COCK "LATE 92".