Unsociably early one recent Sunday morning, our retired guide dog nuzzled me awake. Half sleepwalking into the back garden with her, I greeted the gentle quiet of the morning, the air still cool and breathable, the ongoing daily dose of stifling heat not yet dispensed. Just the odd pigeon padding about. Well, one odd pigeon. Not one of the usual suspects – bulky, block grey, waddling -here was a delicate, slender creature, striking black and white feathers sleeked across its back, cautiously pecking under the birdseed feeder hanging from an apple tree.
A mysterious, ancient world of allegiance, courage and efficiency
A closer look revealed each leg was banded – one green, the other turquoise. As my husband and I, both of whose knowledge of pigeon-keeping was zero, pondered what to do, naming it seemed a useful excuse for deliberation. Banded were its legs so Bandy it became, not intentionally casting aspersions upon the shape of his legs.
Our priority was to figure out how to help Bandy home; he was clearly disoriented, taking refuge in a strange garden. A quick online search led to the Royal Pigeon Racing Association website, prominently displaying how to report a stray pigeon. First, note the ring number. This was going to be tricky. Pouring a handful of seeds on the ground, my head almost level with Bandy’s as he tucked in, I squinted at the numbers and letters on his turquoise band, indicating he was only a few months old. As instructed, I texted the ring number to the RPRA and swiftly received the owner’s phone number.
With initial confusion as to the correct owner, I read further and became immersed in a mysterious, ancient world of allegiance, courage and efficiency.
Descended from the rock dove, messenger pigeons are endowed with a sophisticated natural navigational system that uses cues including the sun and the Earth’s magnetic field. Regarded as the oldest domesticated bird, messenger pigeons were first trained in Egypt in 3000 BC. The first references to a pigeon-post service can be dated to the reign of Rameses III, around 1200 BC, when pigeons reportedly also served as a vital flood-alert warning system, conveying messages of imminent flooding to cities flanking the Nile.
Ancient references to these impressive creatures include the Roman historian Pliny the Elder, who extolled the strategic value of pigeons at the Battle of Mutina, Northern Italy, in 43 BC. Marc Antony had blockaded the city where Decimus Brutus, the Roman General, was trapped. Brutus and a consul apparently devised a two-way system of communicating by messenger pigeons, enabling them to formulate how to defeat the siege.
The Arabs held pigeons in the highest esteem, calling them ‘the King’s Angels’, admiring their speed, stamina and reliability. Appreciating their worth, Crusaders encountered and adopted the use of messenger pigeons in the Middle East, helping to spread the practice in Europe. In the 19th century, France established national pigeon postal services; soon, a pigeon messenger service operated between London and Paris.
Pigeons continued, over the centuries, to excel both as swift, reliable messengers and as vital military resources. In the Great War, Cher Ami, despite having been shot through the chest, a leg and in an eye, carried a message across 25 miles in only 25 minutes, supposedly saving 194 American soldiers mistakenly identified by their own forces as the enemy.
Pigeon racing began as an organised sport in 19th-century Europe. In the UK during World War II, pigeon racing was suspended while thousands of pigeon enthusiasts – ‘fanciers’ – allowed their birds – nearly 250,000 – to carry messages for the armed forces and other organisations. Pigeons and other animals displaying exceptional bravery during this war were awarded the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross: the PDSA Dickin Medal, conceived by Maria Dickin, the founder of the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals. During that war, 53 Dickin Medals were awarded, of which 32 were to pigeons.
In high finance, messenger pigeons have furnished owners with valuable advantage. It’s rumoured that Nathan Rothschild received advance news by messenger pigeon of Napoleon’s imminent defeat at Waterloo, enabling him to make a financial windfall on the bond market.
Currently, there are tens of thousands of pigeon fanciers in the UK, thousands of whom race their birds. Racing pigeons can fly at an average speed of c. 50 mph or up to c. 90 mph with a tailwind, covering hundreds of miles in long races. A racing pigeon’s career typically spans only three or four years, but they can live for about 20. It’s big business, some costing thousands of pounds. In 2012, a Chinese tycoon paid c. £207,000 for one pigeon. To race pigeons competitively, keepers must be registered with the RPRA, whose patron was the late Queen Elizabeth II, a keen pigeon-fancier herself.
Having read with considerable awe a little about these magnificent creatures, I regarded Bandy with increased wonderment. When I eventually spoke with his true owner, who lived about 100 miles from us, as the crow – or pigeon – flies, she explained how, during a recent ‘liberation’ (the start of a race) a sparrowhawk dived at the flock – a ‘kit’ – causing the birds to scatter in terror.
She said Bandy (brief chuckle) luckily escaped and ended up resting in our garden, helped probably by the water in the bird baths. She advised how to contain Bandy until she’d arrange for his collection in the morning. I lined a cardboard box with paper, provided bowls of seeds and water, and used an upturned plastic laundry basket as a lid with generous airflow. We hoped Bandy would sleep well in the safety of his temporary home, thinking how frightened he must have been the previous two nights.
Three days after we found Bandy, the loyal, reliable pigeon-fancying fraternity had flown to Bandy’s aid, organising what would be his adventurous journey home: a chauffeur, a lorry transporting his compatriots, and another overnight stay.
We bid Bandy farewell, grateful not only for educating us about the well-organised repatriation system of a terrorised, lost racing pigeon, but for the fascinating insight into this perhaps under-appreciated avian world of supreme efficiency, selfless loyalty and outstanding heroism.
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