Country Diary: Northumberland

Both my grandparents died of flu in the 1920s within months of one another, and I have always been aware of the seriousness of this virus. Yesterday, I returned home from having my anti-flu injection at my GP's surgery to find a man who lives in my village waiting to talk to me. "The government thinks there is a risk of flu coming here," he said. Thank goodness he was only referring to the risk to his homing pigeons. But I appreciate how sad it is that international pigeon racing has now been banned, because of the risk of avian flu spreading to Britain.

There are hundreds of pigeon fanciers still with aviaries in northern England, who take part in the sport, which is governed by the Royal Pigeon Racing Association. The average pigeon loft has 50 birds. Cocks and hens are paired in February, and after a week the hen will lay her eggs. Both birds take their turn to sit and the chicks hatch within 19 days; they learn to feed by putting their tiny beaks into the parent bird's open mouth.

Racing pigeons are trained by being sent on short flights. They are released from baskets and flush up in a spiralling wave of feathers and white flapping wings. They hover above while they get their bearings and then it is heads down, feet clamped up into breasts and they are away back to their home lofts. The men spend time communing with their racing pigeons in the aviaries in their backyards, much as other men commune with their beasts when training greyhounds or racehorses. Experience and good husbandry is the essence of a successful loft. The sport of long-distance pigeon racing developed concurrently with the railway system, although pigeon records go back further than that: the ancient Egyptians flew them, and they were used in the siege of Rome.