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St Malo YB and OH Races
The birds have been liberated at 09:30 in a SW wind. In the UK, the wind is expected to be SSW 15 – 24 mph and there will be a picture of sunshine and showers throughout the day. Rich Turner, Race Controller
The lorry is on site and after overnight rain, the weather there is brightening up nicely. Picture was taken at 07:40 this morning.
2025_04 – Tarbes Grand National
Provisional Result: Due to the Thursday liberation, and pigeons potentially arriving whilst members are at work or fulfilling prior-booked engagements for today, the verification time window has been relaxed, such that arrivals before 6pm today need not be verified until 7pm. Please bear in mind, therefore, that the leaderboard through this afternoon may be subject to change later in the day if leading pigeons are verified some time after arrival, within the 7pm threshold.
Hours of Darkness:
17/07/2025 close at 21:53, open on 18/07/2025 at 05:04.
18/07/2025 close at 21:51, open on 19/07/2025 at 05:06.
19/07/2025 close at 21:50, open on 20/07/2025 at 05:07.
20/07/2025 close at 21:48, open on 21/07/2025 at 05:08.
21/07/2025 close at 21:47, open on 22/07/2025 at 05:10
The Tarbes Grand National has been liberated at 14:00 hrs in a northeasterly wind. Along the route, the wind turns westerly around the Nantes region and is forecast to be westerly across the Channel, becoming southwesterly in England tomorrow.
The decision to liberate today was made after carefully considering the poor weather conditions forecasted for both France and England on different days, as well as the high temperatures at the race point. Holding the birds any longer would have meant a significant delay.
As always, our primary concern is the welfare of your pigeons and ensuring they have the best possible opportunity for a fair race.
Taking these exceptional circumstances into account, the committee discussed the verification rule this afternoon, and agreed the following:.
For Friday, the verification rule will be relaxed during working hours. Any pigeons timed in before 6:00 PM may be verified up until 7:00 PM. After 6:00 PM, the normal verification rules will apply.
Additionally, there will be no limit to the number of pigeons that can be verified.
We hope this adjustment will support working fanciers during this exceptional situation.
Good luck to everyone!
As much as we know this announcement will cause much debate, we must inform the Members that after considering the weather forecast for the forthcoming days ahead, and considering the welfare and best interests of the pigeons, a decision to liberate this afternoon (Thursday 17th July) has been taken. Letting Members know now, hopefully allows them to prepare for arrivals from tomorrow onwards.
This decision was not taken lightly, and only after the race advisors have been in conversation all morning, concluding that a liberation this afternoon will give the pigeons the best chance of a good race, as if we don’t go today there’s the prospect that the next opportunity to liberate in better conditions may not be until Wed/ Thu next week.
To summarise, this decision has been taken in good faith, 100% in the interests of the pigeons, and above all other considerations
Marking day update. It was good to catch up with David Parsons this morning to discuss how everything from his side is going. Then onto Bristol marking station to catch up with members from there and wait with Alveley birds till transporter picked up. Birds have been picked up from Sheffield, Congleton (Leyland fed in), Saffron Walden, Steventon, Bristol (Alveley fed in) and transporter is on route to Portsmouth for final pick up and final vet check before heading to the docks. Glad the weather has broke for marking day and with 16 birds in a create I’m hoping will help. Birds have been fed and watered at all marking stations. As I have more information will update you all tomorrow.
2025_03 – Sigogne OB
Hours of darkness Day 1: 22:08 to 04:46. Day 2: 22:08 to 04:47. Day 3: 22:08 to 04:47. Clocks may be struck off the day after clocking if your bird arrives later in the evening, and your clock setter would prefer that.
The pigeons have been liberated at 6am. The wind was a light NW and temperature there is 17 degrees. The outlook in France is clear with light winds turning West in the channel winds will turn SW and also SW in England with cloud breaking through the day. The temperature en route and in England will increase throughout the day. Good luck to all participating members. Apologies, but it has not been possible to update the liberation line this morning, so please pass this information on to anyone who might use it.
1. Remember and Verify your FIRST pigeon within 1 hour of arrival (if you haven’t yet tried doing this Online, please give it a go). Please, especially if you have more than one race, take sufficient time to check that you are verifying a pigeon that is in this race.
Pigeons were 3 hours at Vet Control, so they had a light feed and watered. All through no problems. En route to race point now, will arrive late afternoon (currently moving past Chatellerault: click this link to follow the tracker). They will be fed and watered again then, of course.
15th June:
The birds have been liberated in clear skies at 7am In a Light North West Wind, with a good line of flight up to the Cherbourg peninsula. The English Channel is good with a light West wind, and in England the wind is due to turn West South West to South South West during the day. This will be a very big day for someone … but who?
14th June:
With cloud coming in to the Nantes area from off the Bay of Biscay and unpredictable weather forecast for the North West of England there will be no Liberation today. The picture for Sunday is a much better one, with high pressure building, and the overall outlook is much better.
13th June:
We can confirm that the Transporter was on the overnight ferry to Caen, and is currently en route to the Liberation Site
Trailer whereabouts/progress please note that the 2nd Trailer didn’t travel over to France, so that explains why you’ll see in located in Billngshurst
12th June:
Basketing has now been completed, and our commiserations are with those Members living inside a fresh DEFRA restriction Zone, preventing them now from competing. They will of course be refunded. Just now please remember:-
31st May:
Liberation has taken place at 09:45 in sun with broken cloud and light North West wind. Temp is 16 Degrees. Wind in the channel is West South West with high broken cloud. Throughout England the wind is due to pick up West to south south West winds
06:45 – after an eventful journey, including a breakdown at Bristol, the two trailers finally arrived at Fougeres at 1am this morning. The wings are fully elevated, as you can see below, and the birds have been fed and watered, and are currently resting. Further updates to follow.
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See the pigeons feeding on the new all-maize mix (click here)
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