• NEW! LOWEST RATES EVER -- SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE VERY BEST PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! Welcome to The Paracast+, 11 years young! For a low subscription fee, you can download the ad-free version of The Paracast and the exclusive, member-only, After The Paracast bonus podcast, featuring color commentary, exclusive interviews, the continuation of interviews that began on the main episode of The Paracast. We also offer lifetime memberships! Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! You can sign up right here!

    Subscribe to The Paracast Newsletter!

230 racing pigeons go missing, solar flares blamed

Forums New posts

Free episodes:

nameless

nameless

Paranormal Adept
Whilst the lion crap is happening down south, this is happening up north;

BBC News - Racing pigeon losses baffle fanciers

"Racing pigeon losses baffle fanciers"

​
Hundreds of racing pigeons from clubs throughout Scotland vanished at the weekend in mysterious circumstances.​
Some fanciers are even considering stopping flying the birds until they establish why so many failed to return.
Weather patterns and birds of prey scaring the pigeons off track have been blamed in the past, but experts have been baffled by the latest incident.
The Scottish Borders was worst hit with only 13 of 232 birds sent from Galashiels to Thirsk making it back.
Ian Noble, president of the Scottish Homing Union, said: "Through in Ayrshire we lost 40 per cent of our birds at the weekend, Glasgow was similar and we're getting reports of big losses elsewhere, although it does seem that the Borders is the worst affected.

​
​
There was a bit of wind on Saturday that may have carried a few birds beyond the Borders but that can't be the reason that so many are going missing just now”​
Alex CurriePigeon fancier

"The weather at the weekend was fine and although birds of prey will kill a few and scare many others, that can't be the single reason either.
"We've had problems before with birds going missing, but this is by far the worst I've come across."
Homing pigeons can travel from up to 400 miles away in a single day - using magnetic fields as well as sight for navigation.
Scientists believe solar winds can distort magnetic fields during certain weather systems.
Racing pigeons cost from £20 to £1,000 a time and fanciers from all over the country are counting the cost.
Every member of the Peebles Homing Society in the Borders has lost at least half of their racing stock over the past two weekends.
Alex Currie from Innerleithen clocked in 21 of his 40 pigeons at the weekend - and he admitted he was one of the lucky ones.
He said: "Many of the Peebles members have lost almost all of their birds.
"I think I've been lucky that only half of mine have gone although that's still 40 birds in two weekends.
"We're only in the third week of the season and many of our members are thinking twice about sending any more birds out.
"There was a bit of wind on Saturday that may have carried a few birds beyond the Borders but that can't be the reason that so many are going missing just now.
"It's a big mystery."
Unprecedented scale
One Walkerburn enthusiast has already lost 60 birds since the start of August.
Many other clubs around the south of Scotland, including Jedburgh, Hawick and Dumfries, have seen similar scenarios.
Austin Lindores, secretary of the Galashiels Homing Society, said he could not recall as many birds ever going missing.
He said: "We have had crashes before where we've lost a lot of birds - but nothing on this scale.
"I lost seven this weekend and 11 the weekend before.
"Many of our members have lost even more.
"Nobody can put their finger on what is happening."
 
Pigeon Racers Say Their Birds Are Disappearing In A UK Bermuda Triangle​

Pigeon racers say scores of their birds are mysteriously vanishing in what some claim is Britain's bird equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle.​
Fanciers say they are experiencing "disastrous" and unprecedented losses in an area between North Yorkshire and Country Durham.​
In one recent event, only 13 of the 232 birds released in the region made it home to Scotland.​
And 200 failed to show up after 1,000 were released over the Triangle, which spans from Wetherby near Leeds to Consett, Co Durham.​
Keith Simpson, of the East Cleveland Federation of pigeon fanciers, said: "They're calling it the Bermuda Triangle but who knows where they are going?​
"Last weekend a mate had 63 birds away from Durham and 25 went missing.​
"It's heartbreaking, it's puzzling and some people's seasons are finished because of this."​
He said his club also got reports of 24 dead birds on a North Sea oil rig 40 miles off the Yorkshire coast.​
Mr Simpson added that it was impossible to say why flocks were going AWOL, but it could be down to freak weather patterns in the area or a mystery illness.​
Pigeon fancier Gordon Braban, secretary of the Washington Celtic Homing Society in Tyne and Wear, said he races some of his birds from the south of France to Newcastle, so losses are not uncommon.​
But he said he was "gutted" at the number that have failed to return to the loft this year.​
In a recent club race from Wetherby to Newcastle, a route that crosses the "Triangle", he released 1,014 birds and lost around 200 - an unprecedented amount, he said.​
"There are people all over England losing vast amounts of pigeons," he added. "We've all been taking big hits over the last few months.​
"A lot of owners have been finishing races 20 or 30 short. Where do they go and how do you lose that many? I can't put my finger on it."​
He said an increase in satellite activity during the Olympic Games could have scrambled the birds' natural homing device, or it may be down to the bad weather Britain has experienced this summer.​
Racing pigeons can be identified by a tag on their leg and racing clubs often organise couriers to pick up lost birds and return them to their owners.​
Details of how members of the public can report a lost homing pigeon can be found at Homing Pigeons & Racing Pigeons - Pigeon Racing in Ayrshire..​
​
 
nameless said:
Whilst the lion crap is happening down south, this is happening up north;
Click to expand...

It's weird reading about big cats and missing pigeons in the same sentence. Hmmmm. :rolleyes:

Seriously, it could be strange weather phenomenon. I know up here the aspen have already started turning and the elk have been bugling, all several weeks too early. We're also seeing more aggressive behavior in bears and mountain lions, both of which have seen their populations explode. I'd wonder if something could have blown them off course or otherwise disabled them?

I also wonder if something is affecting their magnetic sense? Birds also rely upon their sense of smell during times of migration. If anything affected this, it might affect their ability to find their way.
 
goggsmackay said:
I have fancied thousands of birds in my time but never a pigeon. Not even once.
Click to expand...

I'm with you on this, I like the hunting birds especially peregrine falcons...I always thought it would be cool to be a falconer...and pelicans but despise seagulls (noisy obnoxious flying rats) and pigeons (quiet obnoxious flying rats)
 
goggsmackay said:
I have fancied thousands of birds in my time but never a pigeon. Not even once.
Click to expand...

I'm with you on this, I like the hunting birds especially peregrine falcons...I always thought it would be cool to be a falconer...and pelicans, but despise seagulls (noisy obnoxious flying rats) and pigeons (quiet obnoxious flying rats)
 
@Mulder - sorry, I was making a joke on the fact that people who race pigeons are called 'fancier's'. Dunno about the US but in the UK, if you are attracted to someone you 'fancy' them.

'Birds' being a generic term for women in the UK, the joke was that although I've been attracted to many 'birds', I've never been attracted to pigeons.

Sorry buddy - I know it's crap when jokes need to be explained. My bad.:oops:
 
Back
Top