Terry Phillips

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This month we go South East, to East Sussex to meet up with a relatively newcomer to the pigeon fraternity. Ten years ago Terry never had pigeons and today he has one of the best studs of West of England’s in the Country and I am sure Terry won’t mind when I say it gave him a lot of pleasure to win The Federation show in 1999 with his magnificent Red Cock bird. When Terry decided to start up in pigeons he took the advice that everybody seems to dish out and went to see the people that were doing the winning at the time, looked, listened to what was being said and purchased the best birds he could get his hands on. The rest is history as they say! Terry is one of the nicest guys you will come across, down to earth and very sincere and if he could do you favour, he would. He shows to win but in fairness never complains and when beaten and take it on the chin although these days that is very rarely. Terry was born in Hastings (well someone had to be) fifty years ago and still lives there today with his wife Mo to whom he has been married for 27 years ago. They have two grown up children Lee (25 years old) and Heidi (23 years old). Terry and Mo have obviously made life very comfortable for them because they both still live at home. None of Terry’s family are smitten with the pigeon bug although Mo does come to the shows with Terry but I think it’s to go shopping. Terry started work as a junior porter for British Rail in 1965 and still works for them today.

Terry describes one of his hobbies as crop protection, which entails the control of Rabbits and Pigeons. I know Terry’s main hobby is shooting and this restricts Terry in the number of shows that he can attend. Terry has two Black Labradors whose names are Kate (thirteen years old) and Poppy (two years old). Pigeon keeping is a very close second to Terry’s shooting

A. I started keeping Garden Fantails Pigeons in 1990, then one day a pigeon turned up in our garden I was amazed, it started rolling and doing summersaults way up in the air. This made me very curious, I made a few phone calls and found out it was a Birmingham Roller. Through making lots of phone calls this put me in touch with ‘Mr Pigeon’ himself Harry Surridge. Harry informed me that he lived in Canterbury and invited me along to meet him and see his birds. I told Harry that I was very interested in obtaining a partner for my Roller that had come to stay with us. When I arrived at Harry’s loft he invited me inside and these amazing birds with muffed feet took me back. They were beautiful and really eye catching, I decided there and then that I wanted to own some of these birds. That’s when my quest began. I managed to get in contact with a man called Eric Lees at Doncaster. I arranged to visit and he collected me from the station. He made me feel very welcome and showed me around his lofts. After a few hours of talking and looking at the birds I made a purchase.

Later I went and purchased birds from Carl Howard, Peter Holland, Barry Collins, Neil Thomson and Mike Horner. As you can see I did visit and buy from the best.

A. Yes – I have kept many different kinds, they range from Garden Fantails, Hamburg Schimmels, Berlin Shortface Tumblers, Oriental Frills and Show Racers. You name them I’ve most probably kept them.

A. I only keep West’s at present. I have twelve pairs in Red, Yellows, Blacks, Duns, Blues and Silver Bars. If I have a successful breeding season I normally end up with fifty birds. In September when the breeding has finished, I then have the task of sorting them out into the birds that I want to keep. Once this has been completed I will end up with twelve pairs once again.

A. What I look for is balance, in the bird. This means when you hold the bird it must sit well in your palm. It must not lift or drop its tail to balance itself. The size of the bird does not matter as long as it has this quality. It must have a good head and back scull. A good clear pearl eye along with good width of feather with nice size muffs but not to high on the leg.

A. My main loft is eighteen foot x six-foot split into two nine feet by six foot compartments for Cocks and Hens. Then I have a young bird loft, which is seven foot by five foot. I personally recommend dry clean wood shavings on the floor.

A. I have bought 30 rings and would expect to use them all breeding as many colours as I can but I do not have any spangles or Khaki.

A. To improve my West’s. I’ve had quite a lot of success but I have not been consistent. I have had some really good seasons and some well not so good.

A. Yes – Firstly only keep a few birds. The reason for this is if you overcrowd your loft the birds will get stressed. It’s possible they could go down with a disease due to overcrowding. Also it’s easier to keep them clean. To avoid quill lice I use Vapona’s, which is a moth repellent, don’t be fooled though they don’t last forever. I recommend that they be changed at least every two months. Go to as many shows as possible and ask to be a Steward. This way you can look, learn and listen. Don’t be shy in asking the judge’s questions about the birds remember it’s their hobby and they are always willing to talk about pigeons. Also don’t expect to buy winning birds, as people will not sell you their best stock. Why not try asking if you can send a couple of rings to one of the winning breeders and ask them if they could breed you a couple of pairs.

A. We should have more unity within the pigeon circle. I have been a member of the NPA for 10 years but found it distressing to read in the Feathered world recently that a senior member of the committee put forward a suggestion that only birds rung with NPA rings would be eligible to receive NPA certificates. This in my opinion is totally out of order, as we need to encourage people to show pigeons not deter them. I am not going to harp on the subject of standard for the West suffice to say that in my opinion the West’s today are better now than they have ever been, they have never had a standard so why not just leave well alone.

A. I would like to thank all West keepers for being a real; friendly bunch and for turning out such strong opposition at the shows. Also a special thank to Ian Johnson and Dave Walters for making the Federation Show such a great success, already looking forward to this year show.

Once again I must thank Terry for his cooperation in writing the profile. I must say I do get a good response from the people approached, which at the end of the day makes it all worthwhile. Next month I hope to talk to one of our Irish members who have shown a great interest in The Federation and looking forward to this years show. I look forward to meeting a lot of you having missed out on the trip earlier this year.

Well it’s May already and I for one have called it a day as far as breeding goes having had the worse breeding season so far. I only have about twenty-five young birds but it’s the quality that counts and not the quantity and to that extent I am very pleased and looking forward to doing battle at the shows again this year.