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Because
of this great hobby, I have met and acquainted some wonderful people
around the world. I keep and breed Fancy Pigeons, mainly Tumblers and
Croppers. Nowadays, distance is no object in reaching out to people in
faraway places. Also meeting new and old friends. Useful information is
always at hand when we need it by just a few clicks of a button. The
influx and innovation of new technologies has made these things
possible. The Internet is a great modern-day tool of communication,
which makes our world smaller and everyone easier to reach. Here I am
into this world of modern technology with my very own website.
I built this page
with friends in mind to share with them the enjoyment of keeping and
breeding pigeons. Also I would love to show you guys some photos of my
pigeons. There might be some fellow breeders out there who have some
good and useful ideas and suggestions on how best to improve the quality
of our pigeons. But before you visit my photo gallery, know a little
about me, how I got started into the pigeon hobby and my achievements so
far in the pigeon world. My awareness of pigeons started when I was a
lad.
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My father introduced me
to the pigeon world. He kept many breeds of fancy pigeons. He bought me
my first 2 pairs of English Short Faced Tumblers from George Robertson
of
Alva
,
Scotland
, who was then secretary of the Scottish Tumbler Club. George also gave
me a loan of an almond cock for my first breeding season Like everyone
else new to this breed, I had problems in raising youngsters. Heartaches
and frustration did not put me off breeding the ESF Tumbler. Each year I
did manage to breed a few. Then my first breakthrough came in 1965 when
I bred an excellent almond hen. She went on to become my first NPA
Champion and the foundation hen of a long stream of almonds which became
NPA champions over the years.
Baldheads
from
America
In 1991, my wife and
I were on holiday in
Florida
and while there we
visited Jim Zerbo. I bought some yellow ESF from him. Unfortunately, I
never did manage to breed any pure youngsters from Jim's birds.
Something would happen to the eggs or youngsters when things seemed to
be promising. So in desperation not to lose the good points in the Zerbo
birds, I mated them with my own strain and things began to click! I also
bred ESF Baldheads for a number of years. My first Baldheads came from
Mr van der Zanden, a Dutch breeder who had imported some Baldheads from
America
some years before then. These Balds I obtained were of good colours and
nicely marked, but were down-faced. Having in mind to get rid of the
down-faced quality, I crossed them into my red and yellow selfs, but
there were many problems. Obviously the markings went for a few
generations, but the biggest problem were the bull eyes that cropped up
in a high percentage of the youngsters. Through trial and error, a lot
of perseverance and a lot of culling, I finally did manage to breed some
useful Baldheads with good beak settings and markings. As the Balds were
taking up a lot of loft space, I decided to dispose of them all a few
years ago. Today I breed almonds, kites, reds, yellows, deroys, duns and
agates in the ESF Tumblers.
 Over
the years I have bred over 50 ESF Tumblers that have become full NPA
champions in all colours. Birds from my stud are now in various
countries around the world, such as
Australia
,
Germany
,
Holland
,
Portugal
,
France
,
Iceland
,
India
,
Canada
and
America
. My other loves in the pigeon world are LF Tumblers and Norwich
Croppers. I have bred Norwich Croppers for over 25 years. My stock came
from the top
Norwich
breeders in
Holland
and
Germany
, namely Jan Grijsen, Jan Jacobs and Bennie Kleine from
Holland
and Thomas Voss from
Germany
. I breed
Norwich
in Mealy, Cream and Brown Bars, Black and White. I have won many top
awards with my
Norwich
over the years, including best bird in show at
Doncaster
in 2001 with a young White hen. I judge ESF Tumblers, LF Tumblers and
all breeds of Pouters and Croppers. I have judged at major shows
throughout the
UK
and also in
Germany
and
Holland
. I have also had the honour and pleasure to judge at the Los Angeles
Pageant of Pigeons on numerous occasions, the US National and the
Australian National twice.
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In 2000, I was very
honoured to be asked once again to judge at the Australian National. I
looked forward to that trip, knowing I would be meeting up with the many
friends I made the last time I
was Down Under. I was awarded the Master Breeder Certificate from the
ESFT Club and in 1993, the NPA Master Breeder Award for English Short
Faced Tumblers. In 2000 I was awarded the Hall of Fame Award by the NPA,
their most prestigious award. At present I am the chairman of both the
Scottish Tumbler Club and the Scottish Blower Club, having been
secretary/treasurer of both for 19 years; chairman of the English Short
Faced Tumbler Club (UK), and member of the United Kingdom Norwich
Cropper Club, the East of Scotland Fancy Pigeon Society, the Australian
Tumbler Club and the Eastern Pouter and Cropper Club of Australia. I
hope you enjoy visiting and reading my web site! Suggestions and
comments are most welcome. Please feel free to express them by signing
my guest book or by sending me an email. Please take time to look at my
photo gallery, where I have also placed a few of my Norwich Croppers. I
will be adding to these photos when this year’s youngsters have
completed their moult.
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