So much where do I start?

The last few days have been crazy that's for sure!

Firstly the Europa held the 2nd Hotspot on Sunday and we had 4 birds in the race. There were 679 birds in the race. I am pleased to announce in the 3 years we have entered the Europa we have achieved our highest Hotspot position with 'Rasbull Smoking Bullet' taking 36th. I am over the moon with that as we have a 5 year plan and we have seen significant improvement year on year. I have a very good feeling we will be seeing a higher position in the remaining hotspots! The other 3 birds were 429th, 469th 636th so they need to start upping their game!

The birds were trained today (Monday) from 35 miles and we had 49th, 128th, 449th and 627th.Once again it was 'Rasbull Smoking Bullet' leading the way with our best position. He is flying unbelievably well at present and has now recorded 10 x top 50 positions out of the 14 races including 5 in the top 11....outstanding!

Our own birds have had a nightmare in the last 48 hours. 36 were trained 28 miles on Saturday evening and after 1 hour I had a group of 10 return. Hours passed until nightfall and nothing else came. The following morning 3 arrived before I left for work at 7am and by 9am I had another 12. So that totaled 25 in total. I was fully expected to come home from work in the afternoon to see at least 7 or 8 sitting on the loft but to my horror I had just 1 more! I did have another arrive about 6pm which put me up to 27. Two birds have broken legs with one having totally shattered his left leg and I dont think it will heal as it too bady smashed. I have splinted the both birds legs and have given them every chance. Today I then had a phone call from Llandrindod which is north of Usk and one of the missing 9 will be picked up soon. So that will leave me with 28 in the loft of which 2 to have broken legs!

The bird have been fully rested today and given plenty to eat to build them back up. They will be back in the basket tomorrow which will again be from 28 miles and hopefully the 2nd time will be nightmare free!

The youngsters in the breeding loft are now coming close to being weaned off and I have just another 8 to come over now. The eggs are being removed and the boxes closed down. I will have a backup team then of around 23-24 which I will allow to mature and then get them out exercising in the next month or so.

I will update when I have been training next and all going well that will be tomorrow evening!