Thank you to local residents Mr and Mrs Morgan, who contacted Shepperton Matters with their story of ‘Belgie’ the racing pigeon.
“In the middle of July this year we found a tagged racing pigeon in our garden which seemed to be limping badly. We caught it and discovered racing bands on it’s leg along with a mobile telephone number. We housed the pigeon in a small garden shed with wild bird feed and water and rang the number. A gentleman answered, who at the time was lifting bales of hay at a farm in Northumberland. He was ecstatic when he discovered the bird’s number, as this was his best bird and it was on it’s very last racing flight from Guernsey back to Northumberland before being retired. The bird was a Belgian Cock and we christened him ‘Belgie’. The owner, Mr. Hawke, sent a special courier the next day to collect the bird, and after a road journey of many miles, Mr. Hawke contacted us to say ‘Belgie’ had arrived home safely. Unfortunately the bird’s leg was broken but Mr. Hawke said he would put a splint on it and expected him to make a good recovery. The courier, who had a number of lost racing pigeons in his van, said that he was very busy collecting them and it appears that thousands of birds had lost their way over the last few weeks due to adverse weather conditions at the time. It was a special episode in our restricted days and we were thrilled we could help. All the best for a happy retirement ‘Belgie’. Ivor and Eileen Morgan