DANIEL PIPE AND HIS LEAN, MEAN FLYING MACHINES.
Here in South Wales a young man has burst onto the competitive stage with incredible success – his name is Daniel Pipe but he competes under the name of Ray Strickland & Grandson out of respect for his late grandfather Ray.
Daniel races his team of fast flying mean machines to a loft in the village of Pontnewynydd a suburb of the much larger town of Pontypool. Near neighbours in the outlying villages are fanciers of the calibre of Spencer Jones a multiple National winner both in Wales and in England with the BICC, Ron Scammell and Paul Peploe and Derek and Clive Flowers. All renowned fanciers in their own rights with multiple National and Federation wins to their credit.
However, in the past couple of seasons the name of Daniel Pipe has been on everyone’s lips as he has recorded some truly outstanding team performances such as 1st 2nd & 3rd Welsh SRNFC Nort sur Edre in 2014 and followed this up with a 1st & 2nd National from Carentan , 10th National Falaise and 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th Open National in the recent Fougeres National of 2015.
With results like these a loft visit was a priority and so it was that I travelled over to Pontnewynydd in the company of Jason Bright, on a bleak Saturday morning in early June with the mist and drizzle enshrouding the Welsh Valleys. However, by the time we reached our destination a little way up the valley from Pontypool the skies had cleared although it still remained overcast but with much improved visibility.
We were greeted by Daniel who works for the local council and were soon among the birds. First to be handled was the yearling blue cock winner of the Fougeres National. He proved to be a little above medium sized and with a bit of depth to his keel. His eyesign for those who follow this theory was that of a full dark circle in an orange red iris.
Next to hand was another yearling cock which was much smaller in the hand sporting a lovely gravel/pearl eye. This one was 2nd National Carentan and could have finished at 1st Open as he came with the National winner. Next we handled a truly great champion of the modern day racing scene in Wales a blue w/f hen that was 1st National Nort sur Edre in 2014 plus 14th Open in the World War 1 Memorial race and in 2015 came up trumps yet again with 1st National Carentan and 2nd National Fougeres arriving with her son and three other loftmates to take the first five positions in both the National and Welsh SR Fed. At this point I should emphasise the point that in the Fougeres race at 250 miles, Daniel had FIVE pigeons drop together and so any one of them could have been the National winner – it was just a case of which one crossed the ETS antenna first. Therefore, the blue w/f hen could now have been the winner of THREE National races if she had crossed the ETS pad fractionally before her yearling son.
So, what of this phenomenal racer? She is a lovely medium sized wedge shaped “missile” sporting an orange red eye with a full dark circle of eyesign and rich silky feathering. The hen was bred by Daniel’s good mate Brett Jones from Penygraig in the Rhondda and is of a mixture of Janssen bloodlines. I can’t be sure on this but I believe she has now been put to stock – if so this is a wise move by this astute young fancier.
Next to hand was a chequer hen which has finished behind loft mates in two Nationals winning 2nd Open Nort sur Edre in 2014 and 3rd National Fougeres in 2015 and so could in effect have won two Nationals herself!
One pigeon that really impressed me was the chequer cock winner of 1st National Le Mans. This one sported a lovely yellow/green eyesign in a “gravelly” brown iris and I predict that he will breed the goods for the loft in future years.
THE LOFT.
The main racing loft faces south east and is a self built 30 ft x 8ft structure which is divided internally into three sections with a 2ft wide corridor fronting the internal sections.
The first section, which is roughly 6ft x 6ft, houses the racing hens which number between 20 and 30 at the start of the season. This section is fitted out with plastic V perches.
Adjacent to this section is the racing cocks section which is fitted out with the “up and over” German type of nest box.
At the far end of the loft is the small section that houses the eight pairs of stock birds.
All sections are cleaned twice daily and were spotlessly clean.
There is also a separate 12 ft x 6ft young bird loft with aviary attached which faces south west.
THE BIRDS.
These are blend of basically Janssen bloodlines obtained from local ace Derek Flowers along with other introductions from the top English partnership of Darling & Ede and the exceptional introduction of the double National winning hen from Brett Jones of the Rhondda.
MANAGEMENT.
The 8 pairs of stock birds along with the 25 or so pairs of racers are mated in early January and from these a young bird team of around 60 babies are reared annually. These are immediately placed on the darkness system once eating and drinking independently.
The old bird racers are then separated a month before the first old bird race and after an initial couple of trainers are raced throughout the season on the round about system with no further training after the first race.
Both cocks and hen racers are exercised twice daily for 40 minutes and Daniel makes them put in a full shift on both occasions sometimes resorting to throwing a football in the air if needs be, in order to keep the more amorous team members in the air for the full time.
The race team are fed communally twice daily after exercise on a variety of Versele Laga mixes and Daniel keeps a keen eye on them whilst feeding and the food is stopped once they start to lose interest and go to the drinker.
Come basketting time , Daniel takes his time over the process and in the recent Fougeres race it took him two hours to get the birds in the right frame of mind for the race- in other words “team motivation”. Three hens had turned lesbian and these were motivated by placing a nest pan with some squabs in their section – the result was three hens simultaneously trying to cover the youngsters. This attention to detail certainly seems to work as the team performances outlined in the opening paragraphs of this article will testify.
YOUNG BIRDS.
The sixty or so young bird team is raced exclusively on the darkness system and go to every race in the programme if possible. When training begins , Daniel is at the loft at first light and the youngsters are in the basket and away on a training toss starting at 2 miles and gradually working out to a maximum 20 miles at the Severn Bridge. Once this stage has been reached the young birds go there every morning at first light and that is them done for the day – no home exercise once the 20 mile training stage is reached just four tosses a week at 20 miles throughout the young bird season.
Whereas the old bird sections are cleaned twice daily, Daniel keeps the young birds on a dry droppings system and, as he said, he can’t remember the last time he cleaned the young bird loft. However, there is method in this as Daniel believes that this system helps to develop a strong immune system in the babies. From what I saw on my visit, it certainly seems to work, as the young bird team was shining like glass bottles with not a dirty wattle in sight.
PERFORMANCES.
I don’t intend to bore readers with a long list of performances as they are boring and time consuming for me to write and I’m sure just as boring for you to read. Suffice to say that the loft of R Strickland & Grandson [Daniel Pipe] is rarely off the Federation result sheets competing against up to 3,500 pigeons weekly at Federation level in the early inland races. However, what is striking, is the fact that when he gets them, Daniel usually has a batch drop together and so he certainly doesn’t rely on a single bird “flyer” to keep the loft’s name in the spotlight.
The following is an example of the loft’s 2015 Federation results quite apart from the outstanding National results highlighted earlier.
Fougeres [1,151 birds]:- 1st,2nd 3rd, 4th, 5th,6th, 11th,18th etc Open.
Carentan[2,294 birds]:- 1st, 2nd, 13th, 14th, 26th etc Open.
Falaise [2,002 birds]:- 13th, 19th etc Open.
Lyndhurst [2,776 birds]:- 3rd,4th, 5th, 11th etc Open.
Salisbury [3,480 birds]:- 5th,8th,10th, 17th etc Open.
Not bad eh?
Keep up the good work Daniel – your grandfather would be proud of you.
My thanks go to Chris Sutton for providing me with many of the photographs that accompany this article and to Jason Bright for providing the transport.
Gareth Watkins
Here in South Wales a young man has burst onto the competitive stage with incredible success – his name is Daniel Pipe but he competes under the name of Ray Strickland & Grandson out of respect for his late grandfather Ray.
Daniel races his team of fast flying mean machines to a loft in the village of Pontnewynydd a suburb of the much larger town of Pontypool. Near neighbours in the outlying villages are fanciers of the calibre of Spencer Jones a multiple National winner both in Wales and in England with the BICC, Ron Scammell and Paul Peploe and Derek and Clive Flowers. All renowned fanciers in their own rights with multiple National and Federation wins to their credit.
However, in the past couple of seasons the name of Daniel Pipe has been on everyone’s lips as he has recorded some truly outstanding team performances such as 1st 2nd & 3rd Welsh SRNFC Nort sur Edre in 2014 and followed this up with a 1st & 2nd National from Carentan , 10th National Falaise and 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th Open National in the recent Fougeres National of 2015.
With results like these a loft visit was a priority and so it was that I travelled over to Pontnewynydd in the company of Jason Bright, on a bleak Saturday morning in early June with the mist and drizzle enshrouding the Welsh Valleys. However, by the time we reached our destination a little way up the valley from Pontypool the skies had cleared although it still remained overcast but with much improved visibility.
We were greeted by Daniel who works for the local council and were soon among the birds. First to be handled was the yearling blue cock winner of the Fougeres National. He proved to be a little above medium sized and with a bit of depth to his keel. His eyesign for those who follow this theory was that of a full dark circle in an orange red iris.
Next to hand was another yearling cock which was much smaller in the hand sporting a lovely gravel/pearl eye. This one was 2nd National Carentan and could have finished at 1st Open as he came with the National winner. Next we handled a truly great champion of the modern day racing scene in Wales a blue w/f hen that was 1st National Nort sur Edre in 2014 plus 14th Open in the World War 1 Memorial race and in 2015 came up trumps yet again with 1st National Carentan and 2nd National Fougeres arriving with her son and three other loftmates to take the first five positions in both the National and Welsh SR Fed. At this point I should emphasise the point that in the Fougeres race at 250 miles, Daniel had FIVE pigeons drop together and so any one of them could have been the National winner – it was just a case of which one crossed the ETS antenna first. Therefore, the blue w/f hen could now have been the winner of THREE National races if she had crossed the ETS pad fractionally before her yearling son.
So, what of this phenomenal racer? She is a lovely medium sized wedge shaped “missile” sporting an orange red eye with a full dark circle of eyesign and rich silky feathering. The hen was bred by Daniel’s good mate Brett Jones from Penygraig in the Rhondda and is of a mixture of Janssen bloodlines. I can’t be sure on this but I believe she has now been put to stock – if so this is a wise move by this astute young fancier.
Next to hand was a chequer hen which has finished behind loft mates in two Nationals winning 2nd Open Nort sur Edre in 2014 and 3rd National Fougeres in 2015 and so could in effect have won two Nationals herself!
One pigeon that really impressed me was the chequer cock winner of 1st National Le Mans. This one sported a lovely yellow/green eyesign in a “gravelly” brown iris and I predict that he will breed the goods for the loft in future years.
THE LOFT.
The main racing loft faces south east and is a self built 30 ft x 8ft structure which is divided internally into three sections with a 2ft wide corridor fronting the internal sections.
The first section, which is roughly 6ft x 6ft, houses the racing hens which number between 20 and 30 at the start of the season. This section is fitted out with plastic V perches.
Adjacent to this section is the racing cocks section which is fitted out with the “up and over” German type of nest box.
At the far end of the loft is the small section that houses the eight pairs of stock birds.
All sections are cleaned twice daily and were spotlessly clean.
There is also a separate 12 ft x 6ft young bird loft with aviary attached which faces south west.
THE BIRDS.
These are blend of basically Janssen bloodlines obtained from local ace Derek Flowers along with other introductions from the top English partnership of Darling & Ede and the exceptional introduction of the double National winning hen from Brett Jones of the Rhondda.
MANAGEMENT.
The 8 pairs of stock birds along with the 25 or so pairs of racers are mated in early January and from these a young bird team of around 60 babies are reared annually. These are immediately placed on the darkness system once eating and drinking independently.
The old bird racers are then separated a month before the first old bird race and after an initial couple of trainers are raced throughout the season on the round about system with no further training after the first race.
Both cocks and hen racers are exercised twice daily for 40 minutes and Daniel makes them put in a full shift on both occasions sometimes resorting to throwing a football in the air if needs be, in order to keep the more amorous team members in the air for the full time.
The race team are fed communally twice daily after exercise on a variety of Versele Laga mixes and Daniel keeps a keen eye on them whilst feeding and the food is stopped once they start to lose interest and go to the drinker.
Come basketting time , Daniel takes his time over the process and in the recent Fougeres race it took him two hours to get the birds in the right frame of mind for the race- in other words “team motivation”. Three hens had turned lesbian and these were motivated by placing a nest pan with some squabs in their section – the result was three hens simultaneously trying to cover the youngsters. This attention to detail certainly seems to work as the team performances outlined in the opening paragraphs of this article will testify.
YOUNG BIRDS.
The sixty or so young bird team is raced exclusively on the darkness system and go to every race in the programme if possible. When training begins , Daniel is at the loft at first light and the youngsters are in the basket and away on a training toss starting at 2 miles and gradually working out to a maximum 20 miles at the Severn Bridge. Once this stage has been reached the young birds go there every morning at first light and that is them done for the day – no home exercise once the 20 mile training stage is reached just four tosses a week at 20 miles throughout the young bird season.
Whereas the old bird sections are cleaned twice daily, Daniel keeps the young birds on a dry droppings system and, as he said, he can’t remember the last time he cleaned the young bird loft. However, there is method in this as Daniel believes that this system helps to develop a strong immune system in the babies. From what I saw on my visit, it certainly seems to work, as the young bird team was shining like glass bottles with not a dirty wattle in sight.
PERFORMANCES.
I don’t intend to bore readers with a long list of performances as they are boring and time consuming for me to write and I’m sure just as boring for you to read. Suffice to say that the loft of R Strickland & Grandson [Daniel Pipe] is rarely off the Federation result sheets competing against up to 3,500 pigeons weekly at Federation level in the early inland races. However, what is striking, is the fact that when he gets them, Daniel usually has a batch drop together and so he certainly doesn’t rely on a single bird “flyer” to keep the loft’s name in the spotlight.
The following is an example of the loft’s 2015 Federation results quite apart from the outstanding National results highlighted earlier.
Fougeres [1,151 birds]:- 1st,2nd 3rd, 4th, 5th,6th, 11th,18th etc Open.
Carentan[2,294 birds]:- 1st, 2nd, 13th, 14th, 26th etc Open.
Falaise [2,002 birds]:- 13th, 19th etc Open.
Lyndhurst [2,776 birds]:- 3rd,4th, 5th, 11th etc Open.
Salisbury [3,480 birds]:- 5th,8th,10th, 17th etc Open.
Not bad eh?
Keep up the good work Daniel – your grandfather would be proud of you.
My thanks go to Chris Sutton for providing me with many of the photographs that accompany this article and to Jason Bright for providing the transport.
Gareth Watkins