RPRA One Loft Race Update
Well another week of unpredictable weather has seen the RPRA One Loft Race postponed from Sunday 3rd September and as I write is now scheduled to be raced on Wednesday 6th September. Although the weather hasn’t been too bad through Somerset and Gloucestershire, Cornwall and Land’s End in particular has been a bit iffy early this week. So all things being equal next week we should be able to announce the grand winner and the ace pigeon too.

Better Late Than Never
You may recall that in 2005 we had a BBC Bristol film crew following our every move for the 2005 one loft race. For reasons unbeknown to me the programme did not go out in January this year as planned and the Inside Out series finished in April. Anyway, the good news is that it is now scheduled for transmission on Monday 18th September at 7.30pm on BBC Bristol. I’ve not seen a preview of the programme yet so can’t give you a review but it will feature Mike Panting of Gloucester, winner of the Golden Jubilee race in 2002.

Exeter Racecourse Code 4169
There has been a little confusion about the site to be used at Exeter race course. The site is definitely the car park adjacent to the Little Chef but with the chopping and changing recently of code numbers I may have inadvertently given the wrong code. Paul Pym has assured me that this site is the code 4169 and not 4033 so anyone who has raced from there since the announcement in August should have used the 4169 distances. There is only about 300 yards difference in the distances but it may affect some people. Apologies for the confusion.

Licence Conditions for Shows and Sales
As we enter the showing and sales season it is timely to remind you all of the DEFRA licence conditions appertaining to these events. The following is not definitive and is subject to change. Any queries should be addressed to the local DEFRA Area Health Office.

General licence conditions

Conditions applying to bird gatherings in England (except pigeon races and pigeon training events into England in England, which are covered below).

1. A nominated person must be designated as the event organiser and a person responsible for keeping the records set out in condition 2.
2. A record of all exhibitors and vendors of birds must be kept for three months, which includes the following information:
   • full name;
   • home address;
   • telephone number;
   • number and types of birds.
3. Gatherings must not be attended by any birds brought into the UK from any other EU Member State (excluding the Republic of Ireland) in the previous four weeks. There is an EU wide ban on the import of live birds from third countries already in place.
4. A named veterinary surgeon (or another veterinary surgeon if the named person is unavailable) must be contactable for advice and to attend in the event of any suspect disease.
5. The event organiser must ensure biosecurity advice is distributed at the event.
6. If sales of birds are taking place at the event, a record of all sales must be kept by the event organiser for at least three months from the final day of the event. This must include the name, address and telephone number of both the seller and the buyer, and any identifying features or individual identification of the purchased bird(s).
7. The event organiser must notify the local State Veterinary Service Animal Health Office nearest to the event at least 7 days prior to the event taking place. Notification must include date, location, details of the event organiser and anticipated numbers and types of birds.

• Written detailed action plans, held by the nominated responsible person, must be available in the event of a disease incident at the event or nearby the event
• All litter and manure within the cages, crates or baskets must be contained until disposal. Any spillages outside the cage to be cleansed and disinfected immediately.
• All litter and manure must be disposed of in a manner which does not present a risk of spread of the disease, e.g. in sealed bags for normal refuse collection in such a manner that other birds do not have direct access to it.
• All exhibitors/entrants must be instructed to cleanse and disinfect the show cages, crates or baskets before the event and be advised that they should be cleansed and disinfected on return to the home premises and before they are used to hold any other bird.
• Sales
  Buyers must isolate the purchased bird(s) from any other birds (except those purchased at the same event) for at least one week. Any signs of ill health observed in the purchased bird(s) during this period must be reported to a veterinary surgeon and such birds must not be mixed with any other birds until the presence of an avian notifiable disease has been ruled out
• General
  Contact your local State Veterinary Service and Local Authority for further advice on biosecurity measures and any other legislation that may apply.
• Full details are on the DEFRA website (opens a new window).

Vaccination Against AI
I attended a meeting of DEFRA stakeholders via a telephone link recently during which the contingency for vaccination against AI was discussed. It appears that millions of doses are going to be available but at a price. For commercial outlets (poultry farms) DEFRA are talking £2 a shot for holdings with over 10,000 birds. For smaller backyard breeders (so pigeon fanciers) the cost is £20 a shot and not only would it have to be done by a vet but a ring registration will be necessary to record the birds vaccinated also. Well just about everyone at the meeting was astonished by these figures. From the outset I told the Chairperson that this was nonsense and you just could not expect fanciers, small poultry breeders. Rare breeds owners etc to pay that sort of money. Moreover, we vaccinate ourselves and have our own ring registration system; we hardly want the pigeons to carry another type of ring. I think it will be back to the drawing board for DEFRA on this. Even commercial poultry breeders will find that at £2 a shot that will be just about what the bird is worth to sell. DEFRA has said that any vaccination programme cannot be underwritten by the public purse, so the tax payer will not subsidize bird breeders. The only plus I suppose, if there is one, is that vaccination would be voluntary not mandatory but frankly I cannot see anyone at all vaccinating poultry, pigeons or rare breeds.

The Queen's Dovecote
The BHW recently published a report from Lance Garrard on the making of a gift for the Queen’s 80th birthday, a splendid English oak dovecote. The preamble to the article did say that it was Council that came up with the idea of the dovecote. Actually Dennis Sanders did originally suggest a dovecote be presented but Council had to authorise the gift and did look at 3 quotes for the dovecote before commissioning Lance to make it. I understand that the Queen personally selected the location for the dovecote and it is adjacent to the stables at Sandringham.

No Peace for the Wicked
We haven’t even got the racing season out of the way yet but I came in to work early one day last week to find an articulated lorry hot on my heels. It was delivering the 2007 rings! Barry and I off loaded the lorry and had all this done before the rest of the staff arrived at 9 am. Anyway this will enable Gill Purser and her team of Shelia, Anita and Lynn to start packing up your 2007 orders earlier than usual this year.

Peter Bryant
General Manager
The Royal Pigeon Racing Association