Cumbrian pigeon fanciers are desperately hoping for a better race this week after a traumatic fortnight for the sport.
Across the country thousands of birds were lost as strange atmospheric conditions, said to affect the birds’ homing instincts, were blamed for the returns.
Cumbrian birds weren’t as affected as others then, but last week in a race from Weymouth, there were very disappointing returns. One seasoned fancier said it was the worst race he had encountered in 40 years.
Mindful of giving the birds the best chance possible the Cumbria Combine have decided to race on Friday instead of Saturday this week-end. That’s just through looking at all the forecasts and seeing too much rain around on Saturday.
The Cumbrian birds have changed race days on a couple of occasions this season and both proved sound decisions.
Meanwhile Ian Evans, chief executive of the RPRA said: “We became aware quite quickly that something very unusual was happening.
“I’m 45 and have kept pigeons since I was nine years of age and I have never heard of anything like this, it was extremely unusual and is a real mystery.
“On the face of it the weather conditions across the country were good, there was nothing to suggest that any birds would struggle to get home.
“In fact in many parts the conditions were favourable and you might have expected some good times.
“But in the events thousands of birds simply didn’t return and as yet are still to return, which of course is a concern to the owners and breeders.
“Something happened that disrupted the navigational abilities of the birds. We believe it may have had something to do with solar wind activity which can distort the earth’s magnetic field.
“There is a theory that this is what the birds use to find their way home with such accuracy.
“There was certainly something happening because birds released from locations all over the country disappeared and we’ve had many many reports of strays since.
“It wasn’t just in this country either, we’ve had reports of heavy losses in Portugal and in Belgium as well.
“The result of all this is that we have re-entered talks with the Met Office to see whether we can get a specialised report to be used by pigeon racing.
“It would identify not just the weather, but also give us warning of any unusual meteorological activity.
“That would enable us to stop races going ahead and prevent days such as the one we experienced.”
The Cumbria Combine birds will be racing from Marlborough tomorrow and are being race marked this afternoon.
