Jim Donaldson of Peterhead

Jim Donaldson of Peterhead

Jim Donaldson is a household name within the sport of pigeon racing not just in Britain but within Europe. He was fortunate to win a Gold Award in the SNFC with his grizzle hen Reims Girl (SNFC Record holder for furthest fling Gold Award winner in the club’s history) and while at this presentation I asked Jim if he would assist me in compiling a story on his achievements for the press. I’m happy to say he agreed and in early February I made the 260-mile round trip to Peterhead for this report; however this has stayed on the back burner until now due to other things taking priority.

Jim Donaldson holding Reims Girl




My Introduction

I have known Jim and Ann Donaldson since the early 1990s when I was a long distance lorry driver and stopped over in Peterhead for the night. At that time I used to meet up with Jim Wiseman and Irvine Buchan who introduced me to Jim & Ann. Then as time progressed I would go to each of their houses the following mid week and we would talk about pigeons late into the night. We covered every topic under the sun and it was a very special time, we bounced certain ideas off each other and also the pros and cons and increased our knowledge each week. Can I just say that during these conversations it was obvious to me that Ann Donaldson played a large part in the management regarding her husband’s team of pigeons, as at that time Jim worked alongside Irvine in Jim Wiseman engineering company and Ann attended to the birds' needs on a daily basis. She was also very enthusiastic and although Jim receives all the praise for the awards he has achieved over the years, I know that Ann is as much a partner in the loft as she is in their marriage. As a matter of interest Jim and Ann celebrate their wedding anniversary on August 19th being 42 years married. To exemplify my remarks about Ann’s loft management skills when Jim had to undergo a triple heart bypass a few years ago Ann looked after the birds and kept the Donaldson name to the top of the SNFC race results: most memorable being with Little Amie who won 1st north section 7th open Sartilly and Niort Lady who won 2nd north section 14th open Niort which proves how competent a pigeon fancier she is and these results were indeed a great tonic to Jim as he lay in his hospital bed.

To return to the 1990s I assisted Jim and Ann with their feeding system and when they came down to the SNFC race marking station they would bring their longer distance national candidates with them and I would take them over to George Archibald the next morning when I took my own. These would be released along with others trainers from Scottish borders and once the Lothian birds dropped off mine and Jim’s headed into Fife then the Donaldson birds had to steer the homeward journey on their own and this made them use their brains and navigation skills to full advantage.

As I said earlier I was a long distance lorry driver at one point in my working career and therefore have a vast knowledge of the terrain and distances involved from the central belt of Scotland up into the Scottish Highlands and believe me I would not like to race pigeons into this area. It takes a special band of fancier and more importantly a unique category of pigeon to fly into this environment from the ultra long distance races especially from the central belt of France. When you look at the distances and performances of Reims Girl then you realise we have within our midst an exceptional pigeon as she has won 3 times from Reims 620 and twice from Tours 707 miles but more about this great pigeon later on in this story.

Jim relaxing

The Beginning

Jim and Ann’s son James started up the pigeon when he left school but soon afterwards decided to take up employment as a fisherman and when he was off shore it was Ann who assisted him out (this is when she became hooked on the birds); as she did not know enough about them she and Jim started to read the weekly pigeon papers to gain some wisdom. First thing she organised was to get Jim to erect a small 12 x 6 foot loft with two section one for old birds and the other for the youngsters. Like everyone who starts up young James had a collection of pigeons from strays (he caught) to gifts from friends and it did not take Ann and Jim long to realise that these birds were a waist of time. Jim noticed an advert in the RP regarding a sale in aid of a fancier who had been killed in a car crash, so he drove down to Brechin to view the sale birds, 2 birds caught his eye and they were both bred by local fancier Dave Scott who purchased the first bird back himself; however Jim was successful in obtaining the other. After the sale Dave introduced himself to Jim and asked why he showed particular interest in his two pigeons and Jim’s reply was ‘I just liked the look of them’. This was the first meeting of these two fanciers and Dave invited Jim back to his home to view his family of birds within his loft. These two men hit it off right away; so much so that Jim was invited to stay for tea such was the mutual respect they had gained for each other, and as time passed by their friendship grew from that day until the present time and they contact each other on a weekly basis and Jim told me that Dave gets more excited about the birds than he does.

To quote Jim: ‘Joe that first visit and the view of Dave’s pigeons has stuck in my mind and that was the best team of pigeons I had ever witnessed. Of the 30 birds kept 19 of them had flown and scored from France and you cannot ask for any better than that’. Dave gave Jim a pair of youngsters away with him and these along with other introductions from the great man are the foundation of the Donaldson family of pigeons. Dave Scott’s pigeons were based on the renowned pigeons of the late Norman N Dall of Ladybank, Attwell Brother of Wales and a grizzle hen bred by Mr Geddes of Greengairs. From these pigeons Dave bred a chequer hen that won 4th section 7th open SNFC Nantes who was to become a gold mine at stock and bred countless national prize winners. Jim is eternally grateful to Dave Scott for his help and assistance over the years and although their lofts were 60 miles apart and visits were few and far between. Dave told Jim ‘I will tell you all I know about pigeons, but the final piece of the jigsaw is that you and only you will know when a pigeon is right to be entered into a channel race and this will only come from experience’. Jim said ‘Joe he was spot on, and this advice is as good today as it was when given to me all those years ago’.

Proud Jim and Ann with a SNFC Gold Award


As time progressed Jim introduced six birds from Sid Beard of Hemel Hampstead being from the Lancashire Rose and Blue Anglia lines. Unknown at that time these birds produced what was to be Jim’s foundation stud cock within the loft namely Circus Boy. This cock passed away in 2008 aged 27 years old and it was a very sad day in Meekhill Road as he was part of the family. Circus Boy was raced to Doncaster 480 miles as a yearling then the family moved to their present address he was broken to the new location and was entered into the Newton Grange race point a distance of 120 miles failing to return. During his loss 2 youngsters from him were the only 2 birds home on the day to the loft in a very difficult race and an older sister had also shown her potential by being 1st north section Sartilly. So you could imagine how Jim and Ann felt when they received a card through the letterbox from the SHU reporting a stray pigeon; yes it was Circus Boy who was in a loft in Essex however he was in a very bad condition. When he returned he could not even fly up to the perch so was given a lot of TLC from guess who; yes your right Ann. This outstanding breeder has produced countless SNFC winners over the years and I will illustrate this latter in the pedigrees of the present day winners.


Lofts

The present day loft is 30 feet in length by 12 deep, and has 4 sections 3 for old birds which are opened up during the season and if a pair decided to go into another section for a nest then they are allowed to do so, contentment is the number one issue and a very important contribution to the success within the Donaldson loft. In the past Jim has used open doors for trapping, now sputniks have been installed for trapping with the Unikon electronic timing system used. Jim says ‘ I basically see hawks every day of the week so after the last young bird national I close my loft and the birds are never out again until the middle of February. If all the fanciers did this it would reduce the hawk problem. Other fanciers around me let their birds out during the winter and these are picked off by hawks on a daily basis and when it comes to the summer months when I let my birds out the hawks still go to the other fanciers loft locations as they know they will be a supply of food available to them. However this does not mean that I’m free from these terminators; my first bird from Alencon in 2008 to win 2nd north section 7th open SNFC flying 661 miles; has just returned after being missing for 10 days. She has only half a wing; gaps in her tail and was so dehydrated that I cannot understand where she had been for the 10 days she was missing. She was in a sorry state of affairs when I saw her picking about the grass in front of the loft, however I’m happy to have her back and she will now remain at stock.’(You never know she may turn out to be as good as Circus Boy as a potential top breeder; only time will tell).

Main racing loft

Management

Birds are mated up around the middle of February with 70 young birds bred each year for racing plus a few extra for charity sales; again very little training is given only a couple of 30 miles tosses then into the first club race which is 60 miles. The team are raced natural and receive their morning and evening exercise round the loft which lasts about an hour and they do this freely with no flagging whatsoever. Once the youngsters have been moved the race team are given a couple of 60 mile training tosses prior to the first race then training stops.

The race team consists of 70 old birds with another 10 or so kept at home as mates for the main national candidates, these are what we would term stock pigeons however they are not prisoners as they are allowed their freedom with the race team. Jim is not a great believer in stock pigeon as such and said ‘Joe as a rule of thumb my best racers have been my best producers, with the exception of 3 or 4 birds in 25 years and these birds have produced good birds in every nest. I have to laugh when I read that some fanciers have 20 pairs of stock birds I don’t believe that they are all that good and to be honest some people don’t have 20 good producing birds in their life time never mind in one season. Although it is important to breed a few birds to continue with a strain, one of the things I have always done at the end of each year is pair my best flying hen with my best producing cock, disregarding how close bred they are and by doing this I always continue to keep my main family blood line going. If fanciers do introduce a bird always put the offspring back to your own birds that way you ensure that you are keeping your own bloodline’.

Old bird boxes


Jim is a great believer in having the mate at home so to keep the impetus and love of habitat most imminent within the mind of the racing pigeon on the final part of the journey home. This to Jim is so important as he says ‘Joe we all have ‘homers’ but it is getting the right birds to be up with the leaders which is most important objective’. The Donaldson birds are now achieving this as lately Jim has been 4th & 7th open Tours; 7th open Alencon; so they are right up with the SNFC winners. All national birds are raced on the natural system with the majority entered for the race basketting sitting on a 2 day old baby and this system never changes. Jim counts back from the race marking day to make sure the eggs will hatch on time and the birds are paired accordingly for the race they are set up for. He also has other birds down on eggs at the same time in the event of anything happening to the prized racers babies. We all know that this can happen within the best of lofts however Jim covers all avenues just in case, this is what makes fanciers of his calibre continue to win year after year. This meticulous planning ahead with nothing left to chance is what makes ordinary fanciers into top quality fanciers. The Donaldson national candidates only get their youngsters the night before basketting this is usually their first youngster of the year. He and Ann spend a lot of time watching the birds and generally if this motivation is going to work both parents will sit on the young bird all night and they will know that they will get a race out of them. Again the importance of ‘observation’ I don’t know how many times I have written this word in articles over the years; and I just hope that readers will learn that this is the most important task in achieving your goal or making it to the top.

Young Birds:

The majority of the young bird team go to every race with the federation up to 220 miles and usually about 10 young birds are entered into the young bird national which is approximately 360 miles. This will test the babies and any so called duffers will not make it as Jim only wants pigeons that will keep coming when the races are demanding and have strong robust constitution that Jim looks for in his national distance team. The yearlings go to the south coast which is a distance of 470 miles unless they are hurt. The old bird team once their particular races have been decided receive a 300 mile race sitting about 7 days on eggs, on return they are just left to enjoy the home environment with an open loft all day and now that Jim is not working he can keep an eye on them; spending most of the day sitting in the conservatory watching the pigeons. As said above stock pigeons are paired to the best racers and this can result in brothers and sisters paired together however this does not worry Jim. In fact one of his 1st north section winners was bred from such a pairing and to make it more out of the ordinary both were bred from a similar brother and sister pairing which is as close as you could wish to line breed any family.

1037 - brother to Donnann

Feeding: The old birds are fed in their boxes with food in the galley pots at all times, even when racing. During the breeding season the birds are fed a breeding mixture plus another called Wean mixture; he also adds additional maple peas until the young birds are weaned. Once racing this is changed to a widowhood mixture until the 300 miles mark when he starts adding Maples through the mixture for the longer races. A week before basketting Jim starts adding some small seeds and peanuts for the birds that are going to the national. Generally speaking when the birds start to come into condition at 14 days they stop eating – hence the peanuts and small seeds to encourage them to eat.

Young birds are fed a young bird mixture but in the last five years they don’t appear to be getting enough nourishment from the food, so he has added Maples to this mixture.

In the winter months Jim likes to feed a good well balanced mixture as he feels the moult is very important and he doesn’t believe in feeding multi vitamins as he thinks that birds that need them will never be any good at distance racing. The only supplement the birds get is Aviform Ultimate once a week during the racing season to give some protection against internal parasites.

Treatment: Jim stressed; ‘Apart from the para mix injections I don’t treat for anything else; throughout the first ten years I kept the birds I did not treat for anything and my team were perfectly healthy. In the late 1980s I started reading about top fanciers using treatments to keep their birds in tip top condition for example; worm; canker; coci etc. and thought I should do this as well to improve my performances. I found that within five years I had nothing but trouble using all these different medications so in the mid 1990s I stopped using all medication and the birds have been perfectly healthy ever since. My belief is that the basket will find the weak ones out and they will be lost; it’s the birds that come home that I worry about’.

Theories: With regard to eye signs I like to pair two completely different eyes together and this will usually produce decent youngsters. If you inbreed as much as I do you will find that a lot of your birds have brown eyes which I think is better for breeding rather than racing. I don’t rely on eye signs completely but I do think it plays an important part in breeding quality pigeons. But as far as the ‘eye sign ‘experts go how many do you know that have won a national?

I basically think that the wing and body theory is rubbish as winners come in all shapes and sizes; I also totally disagree with the theory that a fancier can pick up a bird and say that it will be a ‘champion’. The only proof as far as I’m concerned is the race basket; and it makes no difference what shape; size or colour of the bird. Once the strings are cut the ones with the determination and strong hearts are the ones who get home first.

Super form: I would say that I have had super form once in my loft and that was in 1995 when I won 4 north sections and 1st open SNFC national. That year I honestly think I could have put any bird in the loft to 600 miles and it would have won a diploma; and I have no explanation for this turn of super form. The following year I did everything exactly the same i.e. paired up the same date, fed the same way and I had a good year but the form did not hit the loft. The only difference I could see was the weather that year – 1995 – two weeks before the first national it was still very cold and I said to Ann that I didn’t think I would be putting birds to the first national as they were not in condition, but one week before the national the weather became warmer and the birds just blew up and they stayed like that for the remainder of the season.

Best Pigeons: Without a doubt Rennes Lass is by far my best bird. She has proved to be a good breeding hen and a brilliant racer although her breeding potential can make her more valuable to me, as I said earlier it is a lot easier to get a good racer than a good breeder. Her sire was 00402 a blue cock bred down from George Walker from his All Alone, only bird on the day to win 1st open Scottish Central Combine from Sartilly in France. Dam was 00453 a dark pied hen who won 2 x 1st north section so you can see she was a top quality pigeon.

453[img]Young Birds: The majority of the young bird team go to every race with the federation up to 220 miles and usually about 10 young birds are entered into the young bird national which is approximately 360 miles. This will test the babies and any so called duffers will not make it as Jim only wants pigeons that will keep coming when the races are demanding and have strong robust constitution that Jim looks for in his national distance team. The yearlings go to the south coast which is a distance of 470 miles unless they are hurt. The old bird team once their particular races have been decided receive a 300 mile race sitting about 7 days on eggs, on return they are just left to enjoy the home environment with an open loft all day and now that Jim is not working he can keep an eye on them; spending most of the day sitting in the conservatory watching the pigeons. As said above stock pigeons are paired to the best racers and this can result in brothers and sisters paired together however this does not worry Jim. In fact one of his 1st north section winners was bred from such a pairing and to make it more out of the ordinary both were bred from a similar brother and sister pairing which is as close as you could wish to line breed any family. 1037 - brother to Donnann Feeding: The old birds are fed in their boxes with food in the galley pots at all times, even when racing. During the breeding season the birds are fed a breeding mixture plus another called Wean mixture; he also adds additional maple peas until the young birds are weaned. Once racing this is changed to a widowhood mixture until the 300 miles mark when he starts adding Maples through the mixture for the longer races. A week before basketting Jim starts adding some small seeds and peanuts for the birds that are going to the national. Generally speaking when the birds start to come into condition at 14 days they stop eating – hence the peanuts and small seeds to encourage them to eat. Young birds are fed a young bird mixture but in the last five years they don’t appear to be getting enough nourishment from the food, so he has added Maples to this mixture. In the winter months Jim likes to feed a good well balanced mixture as he feels the moult is very important and he doesn’t believe in feeding multi vitamins as he thinks that birds that need them will never be any good at distance racing. The only supplement the birds get is Aviform Ultimate once a week during the racing season to give some protection against internal parasites. Treatment: Jim stressed; ‘Apart from the para mix injections I don’t treat for anything else; throughout the first ten years I kept the birds I did not treat for anything and my team were perfectly healthy. In the late 1980s I started reading about top fanciers using treatments to keep their birds in tip top condition for example; worm; canker; coci etc. and thought I should do this as well to improve my performances. I found that within five years I had nothing but trouble using all these different medications so in the mid 1990s I stopped using all medication and the birds have been perfectly healthy ever since. My belief is that the basket will find the weak ones out and they will be lost; it’s the birds that come home that I worry about’. Theories: With regard to eye signs I like to pair two completely different eyes together and this will usually produce decent youngsters. If you inbreed as much as I do you will find that a lot of your birds have brown eyes which I think is better for breeding rather than racing. I don’t rely on eye signs completely but I do think it plays an important part in breeding quality pigeons. But as far as the ‘eye sign ‘experts go how many do you know that have won a national? I basically think that the wing and body theory is rubbish as winners come in all shapes and sizes; I also totally disagree with the theory that a fancier can pick up a bird and say that it will be a ‘champion’. The only proof as far as I’m concerned is the race basket; and it makes no difference what shape; size or colour of the bird. Once the strings are cut the ones with the determination and strong hearts are the ones who get home first. Super form: I would say that I have had super form once in my loft and that was in 1995 when I won 4 north sections and 1st open SNFC national. That year I honestly think I could have put any bird in the loft to 600 miles and it would have won a diploma; and I have no explanation for this turn of super form. The following year I did everything exactly the same i.e. paired up the same date, fed the same way and I had a good year but the form did not hit the loft. The only difference I could see was the weather that year – 1995 – two weeks before the first national it was still very cold and I said to Ann that I didn’t think I would be putting birds to the first national as they were not in condition, but one week before the national the weather became warmer and the birds just blew up and they stayed like that for the remainder of the season. Best Pigeons: Without a doubt Rennes Lass is by far my best bird. She has proved to be a good breeding hen and a brilliant racer although her breeding potential can make her more valuable to me, as I said earlier it is a lot easier to get a good racer than a good breeder. Her sire was 00402 a blue cock bred down from George Walker from his All Alone, only bird on the day to win 1st open Scottish Central Combine from Sartilly in France. Dam was 00453 a dark pied hen who won 2 x 1st north section so you can see she was a top quality pigeon.

Reims Girl performances are:

1st north section 52nd open SNFC Reims 620 miles in 2002

1st north section 239th open SNFC Reims again 620 miles in 2003

2nd north section Tours flying 707 miles beaten by a loft mate for the top award in 2004

2nd north section 7th open Tours flying 707 miles again beaten by loft mate in 2005



1st north section 13th open Tours flying 707 miles in 2006 winning SNFC Gold Award. Sire is 1775 a full brother to Donnann the National winner; Dam was 2630 a grizzle hen who won 3rd north section in one of the hardest young bird nationals flying into the north section; when she was timed at dinner time on the second day from Cheltenham a distance of 386 miles. The dam of 2630 was 420 also a grizzle hen who in turn was a full sister to Sartilly Ann winner if 1st north section Sartilly she in turn was a daughter of Circus Boy.

Reims Girl - SNFC Gold Award Winner


You will see that on the 2 occasions she was beaten this was by her own loft mates which is truly remarkable achievement and Reims Girl was not far from being a 5 times 1st north section winner however the above performances are a stupendous accomplishment by this great pigeon who must rank as the best 600/700 milers in Great Britain if not the WORLD. She is the furthest flying pigeon in the history of the SNFC to win a Gold Award as previous North section winners are: Dave Rose of Aberdeen won in 1975 and 1996; Freddy Douglas & son of Aberdeen in 1984; Larry Campbell of Aberdeen in 1991 and Doddie Ross of Aberdeen in 1994.

Reims Girl will now go into the annals of the club's history books as the ultra long distance champion of all time and we have to congratulate Ann and Jim on a truly fantastic result with this superb mega long distance pigeon she is worth her weight in gold and more so now that she has won the coveted SNFC GOLD AWARD.

At the SNFC dinner & dance the enthusiastic response Jim received as he came forward to accept his Gold Award was deafen with fanciers giving him a standing ovation and it was a very proud fancier who accepted this decoration and join a select band of fanciers as part of the history of this great club.

I handled this great hen on my visit and obviously wanted to see what type of eye she had and it is a full yellow, however I have to say that if you were to go through all the Donaldson pigeons on eye sign you would not pick her out. I have always been honest in my contributions to readers and I’m not going to change now because I know what this hen has achieved. Jim watched me very carefully when I looked into her eye and asked my opinion and I told him the above. I have also read his comments above about eye sign and I can say that I’m one eye sign man who has won the National and we have known each other long enough to be able to say how we feel without offending one another. Other than her eye sign Reims Girl is a lovely handler and if paired to the right cock could become as prolific a breeder as the famous Circus Boy and you could not wish for any better than him.

Jim’s national winner ‘Donnann’ must come second to Reims Girl; she had previously won 8th open in the federation Sartilly race. The day she won the national was a very hard race with Jim timing in a brother to ‘Donnann’ some 3 hours after her arrival home and he won 4th north section. As a matter of interest this cock (see photo) won 2 x 4th and 1 x 6th north section from Sartilly and you must remember this is a distance of 605 miles to Peterhead.

Donnann - 1st SNFC Sartilly

To date Jim has won the north section of the SNFC no fewer than 20 time which is without doubt exceptional accomplishment The Scottish National Flying Club north section average trophy prior to 2000 had never been won and since the millennium Jim has won it 8 times which he thinks is much harder than winning the national.

Rennes Lass was a bird you would not have taken much notice of, but she was always a steady performer. She was 7th north section from Cheltenham young birds race a distance of 380 miles, she also won 1st & 3rd north section Rennes a distance of 650 miles. She was a bird that did not come into race condition by that I mean she did not blow up; she remained the same condition throughout the season even when she returned from a race she looked the same. However at stock she excelled and she produced 7 x 1st north section winners plus a 1st SNFC winner when mated with a blue cock named the Dennis N Dall cock.

Rennes Lass - dam of 7 x 1st section winners

Race Management:

In the racing season Jim scrapes out twice a day and in the winter when the birds are not racing he puts medibed on the floor. Before pairing up for the new season he sprays the loft with Virkon S.

Basically he never trains his national team but uses club racing as training for these longer classic events; the birds are jumped into races of between 150 and 200 miles straight from the loft and as stated earlier after a 300 miles race they go right into a 600/700 mile event thus this might be only their second or third time in a basket during the year so are not over raced. Jim’s theory is if you start training a bird with 20 mile tosses and do this 2 or 3 times; when you put the bird to 150 miles it will come home no problem because it was basically fit before you sent it. But if you jump a bird into a 150 mile race it will loose all its excess fat trying to get home and therefore only requires one other race from 300 miles and then into 600 miles.

Jim states ‘I have never seen stress on a good bird and I could just about guarantee that 75% of my first section winners (20) had anyone visited my loft within minutes of their arrival they would not have been able to say what bird had just flown 600/700 miles. It is a completely different process for birds to win at short distances and birds to win at long distances. If two fanciers took 20 birds each from the same family, and one of them was a sprint racer and the one a distance flyer within 10 years the sprinter would have a loft of sprinting birds and the distance flyer would have a loft of distance birds both having started with exactly the same family of birds, the simple reason being that the sprinter will only breed from birds that win in short races and the distance flyer will only breed from birds that scored from a distance’.

‘Since I started in pigeon racing in 1980 the first 9 years we raced down the west side of England and to me that was a lot harder. The year we changed to the east coast it made no difference the same birds were still winning and the same fanciers were still winning. A good bird is a good bird regardless of the direction you fly it. When I was training years ago I would toss my birds from any direction. I think I remember once or twice Joe Murphy taking my birds to Inverness which is 100 miles NW of me and it did them no harm. With regard to the difference in racing now than when I started in 1980 you were lucky if you got 2 or 3 birds in the club on the night from Dorchester 470 miles, now if you are not in by 6pm you will not make the result. The birds nowadays are a lot faster even in long distance races, which is the same in other types of sports; how many world or Olympic records are broken over the years.

The Dall Cock


In the past 3 years I have introduced some faster birds on roundabout, basically for club racing and the inland nationals. I put them every week to club racing up to the first inland national again they need no training as they have been club racing every week. As I said earlier my distance birds are on natural and the young birds fly to the perch’.

Jim believes that distance racing is 75% the bird and 25% the fancier and the one thing that always puzzled him is what he does different from all the other fanciers that don’t succeed. He personally has no idea as he knows of fanciers that put a lot more time and effort into their pigeons than him but never reap the same rewards. Plus the attitude of the fanciers nowadays is completely different from his, quote ‘If they have a good winning performance it is the bird that has done it not the fancier. Nowadays all I hear is nothing but excuses when someone else wins which; I think is completely the wrong way of thinking as it’s the bird that deserves the credit. Another thing that really annoys me is when a fancier congratulates you and you know that they do not mean it, as far as I’m concerned it would be better if they never said anything at all’.

I handled quite a few of the Donaldson winners and was most impressed with the size and shape of the hens. These were on the small side and had lovely balance, and when they sit in your hand it was like holding a ‘pear'. It is hard to find the phrase to describe this but experienced fanciers will know what I mean. Each bird had nice silky feathering and clear bright eyes and wattles, which you would expect when visiting a top loft like this. The cocks were a little larger, which you would expect, with a lot of power and strength in their forefront, which gave the impression they could fly for ever. The one great thing about these cocks, which you will see from the photographs, is that they become outstanding looking pigeons once they have a bit of age about them and, believe me, they would grace any loft in Europe.

Donnann was bred from a blue cock that I assisted Jim purchase from Dennis N Dall of Ladybank and the dam of Donnann was Rennes Lass who won 7th section in the young bird national from Cheltenham 380 miles. Dam of Rennes Lass was 453 who won 1st section and was twice 3rd section from Sartilly for Jim and she in turn was a daughter of Circus Boy. The Dall Cock and Rennes Lass have produced children; grand children; great grand children to win countless national diplomas over the years to illustrate I will highlight some direct children from this pairing namely; Little Jenny; Little Lara; Chequer Cock 2682.

Little Jenny won 1st north section Sartilly 1997; 2nd north section Rennes in 1998; 1st north section 6th open Nantes in 2000, she was lost off the loft the following year.

Little Lara was one of only 2 birds home from a young bird smash; she then won 3rd north section Sartilly in 1999; 1st north section Messac 2000; 4th north section Liege 2001; 3rd north section Chenoise 2002 unfortunately she was lost going for a Gold Award.


Chequer Cock 2682 won 5th north section Frome (433miles); 9th north section 52nd open Clermont (589 miles) 2002; 5th north section Chenoise (643 miles) 2003; 1st north section Tours (707 miles) 2004 he is now put to stock.

Bluetoon Lass blue pied hen has won from a youngster being 9th region G Leicester young bird national (339 miles) 2001; 13th north section 91st open Newbury (422 miles) in 2003; 2nd north section 73rd open Falaise (601 miles) 2004; 5th north section 105th open Falaise 2005; 1st north section 83rd open Alencon (631 miles) 2006 so you will see that is an exceptional hen as she as won 4 times in the open SNFC result which is a very rare occurrence away up into the north of Scotland. Unfortunately this hen was lost at Tours in 2008 the first time Jim Donaldson has failed to time in a bird in years in the SNFC; Sire is a chequer pied cock bred from a brother and sister mating from Circus Boy; Dam of blue white flight hen was a direct daughter of Circus Boy.

Bluetoon Lass


Another hen who impressed me was a chequer hen (2376) she has won 229th open Newbury in 2002; 4th north section 18th open Claremont 2002 and 7th north section 95th open Falaise 2004; She is bred from a son of the Dall Cock and Rennes Lass while her dam is ‘Little Amy’ mentioned above.


I was very interested to again see and handle what Jim and Ann call the Aberdeen Cock that was bred by Paul Thomson of Aberdeen. Paul gave Jim a loan of a Davy Rose cock to pair to a sister to Rennes Lass and the deal was they would have one youngster each from the pair. When Paul travelled to Peterhead to collect his youngster and the Davy Rose cock, the hen had laid again so Paul took the 2 eggs back to Aberdeen were he floated them under a foster pair and once they were ready to wean he gave one to Jim which turned out to be the cock he christened the Aberdeen Cock.

This cock turned out to be a top racer and has won 2nd north section 7th open Claremont 2002; 163rd open Newbury in 2003 and then 1st north section 4th open Tours in 2005 beating Reims Girl into 2nd section place. I was fortunate to put this cock into the race basket prior to this 2005 Tours win and at the time I remarked to Jim that he was one of the best birds I had handled that day and he would take some beating. The lad next to me had Reims Girl in his hand and remarked ‘well Joe if you think yours is good you should see this Grizzle hen’.

Lo and behold these two pigeon won 1st & 2nd north section 4th & 7th open from a distance of 707 miles. Great pigeons and prepared and set down by a master pigeon fancier.

I purchased a youngster direct from the Aberdeen cock at a charity sale in 2006 being the highest price youngster at this sale and she has turned out to be a ‘cracker’. She also has the same carbon copy make up as the Donaldson hens as when her first baby hatched the following day she stood and quivered on the window ledge in my loft and I was amazed at the condition she was in. It is little wonder that this partnership know when their birds are spot on as going by this hen appearance their birds DO tell you when they are ‘right’.

Aberdeen Cock


Another top hen was Niort Lady; winner of 2nd north section 14th open Sartilly; 1st north section 34th open Niort a distance of 775 miles; now here is another very interesting observation; her sire was Circus Boy at the age of 11 years old; and her dam was a pure bred Dave Scott hen aged 10 years old. How many times have you heard of pigeons this age breeding winners; most fanciers dispose of birds when they are 5 years or older; however Jim Donaldson has proven when you have quality stock like this they will continue to produce the goods.

Niort Lady


Jim has tried other introductions mostly through a swap but none seemed to stand up to his methods of management and regardless of what he pays for a bird it is treated exactly the same as his own birds and they will have to fly the whole young bird programme. If it is lost then Jim says ‘It will be a blessing in disguise as I won’t be breeding from it and if they can’t keep up with my own birds then they are better not here’.



2008 Season


Jim had an exceptional race from Alencon a distance of 631 miles to Peterhead; his first bird won 2nd north section 7th open SNFC; prior to Alencon she was his 2nd bird from Newbury 422 miles; 3rd bird from Newark 380 miles and 4th bird from Hastings 478 miles. She was sent to Alencon on a day old youngster with her 2nd flight ¾ up and she had 3 club races to Northallerton 219 miles then lifted into Alencon. Her sire won 18th open Claremont and her dam is a sister to Donnann. This is the hen I mentioned above who was missing for 10 days; I was lucky enough to purchased a youngster direct from this hen when she was mated to her own son at the SNFC young bird sale in April 2009.

The second bird timed won 3rd section 32nd open Alencon this dark chequer hen was Jim’s first bird from Hastings in 2007; she had the same routine 3 races to Northallerton and sent to Alencon on a day old baby. Her sire is from a son of Dream Barcelona when paired to the sister of Donnann (same hen as above) Dam of dark chequer hen was Jim’s 1st bird from the young bird national, she was mated to a son of Reim’s Girl Jim’s SNFC Gold Award winning hen.



Third bird was a chequer white flight who won 5th section 37th open previous was Jim’s 3rd bird from Hastings 478 miles; same as other 2 birds 3 races and sent on a small youngster; sire is 7758 and the dam is a sister to his first bird timed being from the 18th open Claremont cock when paired to a sister of Donnann.

The 4th bird was a dark chequer hen who won 8th section 52nd open she was Jim’s 3rd bird from Hastings and his 2nd bird from Leicester her sire is a son of Jim Emerson Barcelona winner dam is Little Amy 7th open SNFC Sartilly.

From the Falaise race Jim timed in a dark chequer hen to win 1st section 50th open previously this bird was his 3rd home from Hastings, this year it had 3 races to Leicester 320 miles before going straight into Falaise on a small young bird. Sire is from the top stock cock The Dall Cock when paired to 7626 winner of 4 SNFC diplomas. Dam of the section winner is 7687 from Circus Boy when mated to 4th open Nantes 707 miles.

The 2nd bird from Falaise won 5th section 149th open this pigeon won 7th section G from Eastbourne this year. He was mated to 2 hens in one box and was sitting on 6 (yes 6 eggs) Jim had slipped in a pair of dummies to get the hens sitting and low and behold both hens laid so he left them sitting all six eggs. His sire is the Aberdeen cock winner of 4th & 7th SNFC while the dam is 7687 from Circus Boy when mated to 4th open Nantes winner.

Third bird won 7th section G this bird was Jim’s first home from the young bird national. Sire and dam are both direct children from his Gold Award winner Reims Girl, again sent to the Falaise race on a small youngster.

Jack the Lad

Official Tasks

‘I am the official clock setter in the club and my wife Ann is the secretary of the Peterhead Premier club with approximately 12 active members sending on average 250 birds a week. We compete in the North of Scotland federation which has 9 clubs sending over 2000 birds each week up to 300 mile race point, our furthest federation race is Hastings a distance of 470 miles and we often have over 600 birds to this race’.

I asked Jim if he had to pass on one piece of advice to fanciers reading this story what would it be his reply was ‘Be patient and give the sport your best shot, you will only get out of it what you are willing to put in to it. Always look in the mirror first and don’t look for excuses the reason in most cases will be you not the bird’. I have heard many different excuses over the years such as microwaves and mobile phone masts to satellites in the sky but if these had an effect it would affect all the birds mine included. What is more important is to remember that good birds will come home so you are in effect breeding from the survivors, which quite simply means ‘Survival of the fittest’.

Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dave Scott for his help and encouragement as without him I would never have had the success and enjoyment from this wonderful sport of ours.

Some of my best year performances...

1995 was my best year

Sartilly 1 1st 4th 5th9th 10th section 56th 144th open 605 miles

Rennes 1st sect 133th open 650 miles

Niort 1st sect 40th open 775 miles

Sartilly 2 1st 4th sect 1st open 605 miles

2000

Newbury inland national 10th section 422 miles

Messac 1st section 42nd open 669 miles

Nantes 1st section 6th open 709 miles

Vire 2nd 8th 9th sect 66th open 600 miles

Leicester yb 12th 15th 16th sect 339 miles

winning north section average S.N.F.C.



2001 no french racing

Frome 5th 8th secion 433 miles

Liege 4th sect 469 miles

Hastings 2nd 4th sect 469 miles

Portland 5th sect 481 miles

Leicester yb 6th 9th 12th sect 339 miles

winning north section averages S.N.F.C.



2002

Newbury 4th section 422 miles

Reims 1st 2nd 4th 6th section 58th 83rd open 620 miles

Chenoise 3rd section 643 miles

Clermont 2nd 4th 9th 11th section 7th 18th 52nd 96th open 589 miles

Leicester yb 12th section 339 miles

winning the north section averages S.N.F.C.



2003

Newbury inland 13th sect 91st 163rd 249 th 251th open 422 miles

Reims 1st 4th 5th sect 620 miles

Chenoise 5th section 643 miles

Leicester yb 6th 8th 9th sect 39th 49th 51st open 339 miles

winning the north section averages S.N.F.C.



2004

Newbury 20th section 422miles

Falaise 1st 2nd sect 69th 72nd open 501 miles

La ferte bernard 19 th section 652 miles

Tours 1st 2nd section 707 miles

Falaise 7th 15th sect 96th open 601 miles

Cheltenham yb 19th section 386 miles

winning the north section averages S.N.F.C



2005

Newbury 4th7th section 422 miles

Alencon 10th 14th section 631 miles

Tours 1st 2nd 4th section 4th 7th 49th open 707 miles

Falaise 5th7th sect 104th 131th open 601 miles

Cheltenham yb 18th sect 386 miles

winning the north section averages S.N.F.C.



2006

Alencon 1st section 83rd open 631 miles

Tours 1st 5th section 13th 59th open 707 miles

Falaise 5th 12th 17th sect 601 mlies

winning the north section averages S.N.F.C.



Conclusion

May I thank Ann and Jim for their hospitality to me on my visit; they have not changed since we first met 20 years ago and it is indeed a pleasure to see them doing so well over the years. When I first visited them they only had 2 SNFC diplomas and the transformation over the years to 20 x 1st north section wins is quite extraordinary. This does not just happen overnight; it is built up by trial and error; and you can see from my article that Jim says what he thinks; his honesty is exactly what is needed within the sport and if you beat him in a race he will shake your hand. There were no two people happier than Jim & Ann when Peterhead’s Gordon Willox won 1st open SNFC Alencon in 2008; to break the record of being the longest Gold Cup winner in the history of the SNFC; with Heathers Dream. However when you look at Jim’s own results on this day he himself achieved a remarkable record in having 4 birds in the top 52 within the open result from the SNFC Alencon race flying 661 miles. Like so many others we will wait and see what 2009 brings however one thing is for certain with the calibre of birds housed in Meekhill Road the future’s bright for Ann & Jim Donaldson.