Birds of a Feather

Summary

Peter Green follows the rituals that make pigeon racing more like a religion than a sport as breeders prepare for a race from Weymouth to the West Midlands.

Year:

1976

Duration:

0:25:00

Film type:

Colour / Sound

Genre:

Documentary

Company:

ATV

Master format:

16mm

Description

The film follows a group of West Midlands pigeon breeders as they prepare for a race from Weymouth. We see pigeon fanciers of the Daisy Bank Club at Coseley bringing their birds for ringing and registration and there are a series of interviews about the sport. We then see boxes of birds being collected from Midlands locations (including the Rose and Crown pub at Brierley Hill) to be transported by lorry to the south coast. We also see Gertie Brown setting the time of the Wolverhampton Federation's grand master clock to the BBC pips. This clock is used to accurately time birds on races. The preparations culminate with the birds being released from Weymouth and then shots of them arriving back in the Midlands.


Credits

Producer: Bob Gillman
Director: Tim Watson


Notes

No titles or credits on film print. Credits found on BFI database.