F you think of pigeon racing you probably picture old men with pipes who have nothing better to do with their time than potter around their garden shed with a few birds.

To some extent you’d be right – the sport is struggling to appeal to younger people and the number of pigeon fanciers is on the decline.

But you’d be mistaken in thinking that it’s largely a casual pastime. Pigeon racing is a time-consuming business which fanciers take very seriously – unsurprising when you realise that top birds can sell for £70,000 and that if your bird wins a race you can take home as much as $200,000.

Robert Jones, a 36-year-old scrap merchant and pigeon fancier since childhood, is a case in point.

“Since the age of 12 it is all I’ve been interested in,” says the father-of-three from Southampton.

“I started helping my uncle out and it went on from there. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke – I race pigeons.My whole life revolves around pigeons.”

Robert has some 150 adults and 100 chicks in his pigeon loft, which incidentally isn’t actually a loft but a state-ofthe- art out building in his back garden. Numbers fluctuate partly because the birds can be prey to hawks as they speed home on races.

And Robert’s pigeons certainly do speed.

He is one of the most successful pigeon fanciers in the area.

His prizes have included a new Peugeot 106, video and DVD players, clocking systems for racing birds, trophies and cash. Quite a lot of cash, in actual fact – enough to buy his mother’s council house in which he and his family live with her.

Robert is a member of the Totton pigeon fanciers club and Solent federation.

His wins have included combined federation wins against 8,000 birds, first, second and third in the British International club race, the first 20 positions in a race of 2,000 birds – the list goes on.

But pigeon racing is not likely to make him rich as he ploughs all his winnings back into his hobby, paying his stake money for races, betting on his birds and investing in stock, feed and luxuries such as electronic nesting boxes. Luckily he has been so successful a sponsor provides his birds’ vitamins. He even gives them regular warm baths with luxury pigeon bath salts to keep their feathers in good condition.

“Ninety per cent of the winnings go back into racing,”

he says. “You don’t always make money racing. If you can break even you’re doing well.

I’ve been very lucky because I do win a lot.”

Robert gets very attached to his birds and is very upset when they die. He loses around 20 a year, mostly to predators.

“I was offered £10,000 for the pigeon that won the car for me but I turned it down,” he says.

“Then she won the same race again the next year and I was offered £20,000 but I turned that down as well. Then I lost her in a silly race – I guess a hawk got her. For weeks I was going to the loft to see if she’d come back because sometimes they get injured and make it home much later.”

At the moment it’s breeding season so Robert doesn’t let his pigeons out. He will begin getting them race fit in April, letting them out to fly around outside their loft before taking them 30 to 50 miles away to fly back home.

Races can be anything from 100 to more than 600 miles, racing home from France or Spain.

He keeps his pigeons ‘loved up’ in pairs and races both males and females who speed back to their partners, eggs and sometimes young chicks.

He uses an electronic scanning device similar to the type used at supermarket checkouts to time his birds back in, with winners calculated by working out their average speed over the distance.

Race days are Robert’s favourite part of keeping pigeons.

“The best thing for me is sitting in the garden on a Saturday and watching them come in – to see a pigeon racing it’s heart out. They come like rockets as fast as they can for love of home.

“No one knows how they navigate. Some say they use the stars but no one really knows.

Every time, without fail, I get a buzz to see a pigeon racing home, whether it’s first or last.

“I know them by their ring numbers. If I send 40 pigeons to a race I know as soon as I see them in the sky what their ring number is, how it was bred, its parents, etc.”

Being self-employed is a huge advantage to Robert as he is able to fit his business around his passion.

“I never turn work down but if I can move it to fit round my pigeons I will,” he says.

“As soon as I get home I’m out there with the pigeons, looking after them. I go to club meetings in the evenings and at the weekends I take them racing.”

That said, Robert can’t spend as much time with his pigeons as he’d like as he’s allergic to them.

“I’ve got a disease called Pigeon Lung from a protein they produce. The doctor told me I had to give up keeping pigeons years ago. They said in years to come I’d be on steroids, in a wheelchair and have a collapsed lung. I’d never consider giving up though. I just put up with having a bad chest. I have to wear a mask when I go in the loft for any amount of time, have a shower and change my clothing when I’ve been in there and have as little contact as possible.

“I wouldn’t want it to put anyone off keeping pigeons.

It’s unlucky – I’m the one in 1,000 that would get it.

“It will shorten my life expectancy but I’d never stop keeping pigeons. I live for racing pigeons.”