Why bird racing shouldn’t be pigeonholed as a Northern stereotype

These pictures from the archive capture a world of back garden aviaries, of lofts and sheds in which birds were scrutinised and preened by owners sometimes seeking an excuse to get out of the house.

But though fancying is forever pigeonholed with Northern communities, it is practiced the world over, and has been for centuries. Neither is it a working class preserve: the first pigeon races in Britain had Royal patronage and were a regular feature of life at Sandringham. Even today, the Queen is said to take an interest.

No-one is sure how racing birds are able to find their way home from a release point sometimes 600m away. Some believe they follow the movement of the sun; others that they use roads and rivers as landmarks.

Despite the distances involved, the birds often come home to roost only seconds apart, and sophisticated timing devices are used to calculate their velocity and declare the winners.

The birds’ reliability as messengers was been put to the test extensively during the Second World War, when thousands of fanciers handed their pigeons over as part of the war effort. In 1940, one bird won an animal medal for gallantry for reporting a lost aircraft.

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