驚現“空中百慕達” 大量鴿子失蹤

Hundreds of racing pigeons vanish in ’Bermuda triangle’ of birds

Pigeon racers are mystified after hundreds birds disappeared in an area they have now dubbed the Bermuda Triangle。

Only 13 out of 232 birds released in Thirsk , North Yorkshire, on Saturday by a Scottish pigeon racing club made it back to Galashiels, Selkirkshire. It follows a summer on which hundred more have vanished in the same area。

Keith Simpson, of the East Cleveland Federation, said pigeon racers across the region had all suffered massive losses since the season started in April - with many losing more than half of their birds。

Some fanciers are considering stopping flying the birds until they establish why so many failed to return。

Scottish pigeon racer Austin Lindores said: "When they fly down to the Thirsk, Wetherby and Consett area we call it the Bermuda Triangle because something always seems to happen。

"This is not the first time it has happened in that area. I won’t be racing there again."

The loss of homing pigeons, which can be worth up to ?200,000, has baffled experts, but the most popular theory is the abnormal number of summer showers, sending birds off course as they attempt to fly around the downpours。

Unusually high levels of solar activity distorting magnetic fields and even signals from Menwith Hill spy base, near Harrogate , an electronic monitoring station, have also been blamed。

Wendy Jeffries, president of the Thirsk Social Flying Club, said: "The weather wasn’t too bad around here on Saturday. It has been an atrocious year. I am down to ten young birds out of 29 and the people I have talked to are the same."

The high numbers of birds going missing in the region have also been linked to the high numbers of pigeons being released within minutes of each other at weekends, meaning different groups of pigeons send each other off course。

Darlington pigeon racer Stuart Fawcett, who has been racing pigeons for more than 30 years, said: "It is the worst year in the memory of people who have been racing for 60 years。

"The area being talked about is very heavily congested with pigeons because the raptor problem became so great elsewhere that races have moved to east England."

數百只賽鴿近日在英國上空神秘失蹤，令賽鴿手十分困惑，他們稱這一區域為神秘的“空中百慕大”。

上周六，蘇格蘭賽鴿俱樂部舉行比賽。232只在約克郡斯克鎮放飛的賽鴿中，只有13只按計劃抵達塞爾扣克郡的加拉希爾斯。此前，僅在今年夏天，該地區就有100多只賽鴿神秘失蹤。

東克利夫蘭聯盟的基思-辛普森說，今年4月以來，不少賽鴿手已在該地區損失大批賽鴿。很多人的賽鴿損失過半。

不少參賽者都紛紛表示“飛不起”，稱事情沒弄清之前不會再帶鴿子來參賽。

蘇格蘭賽鴿手奧斯汀-靈多樂說：“英國斯克鎮、韋瑟比鎮以及康賽特鎮所形成的三角帶被稱為‘空中百慕大三角’。這里總發生一些怪事。”

“這不是該地區第一次出現失蹤事故了。我不會再在這里參賽了。”

神秘失蹤的賽鴿總價值高達20萬英鎊，這也讓專家們感到困惑。但最流行的說法是，夏季驟雨頻發，讓賽鴿為了躲避暴雨而偏離了航向。

太陽活動異常升高使地球磁場發生扭曲，甚至還使哈羅蓋特附近的一處電子監控站、曼威斯山情報基地的信號失真，人們認為這也與賽鴿丟失有關。

斯克社會賽鴿俱樂部部長溫迪-杰弗瑞說：“上周六這里的天氣不算太糟糕。今年的情況真殘忍。我的29只賽鴿只剩下了10只，我了解到其他人情況也差不多。”

也有人認為，失蹤事件也與周末大量賽鴿在先后幾分鐘內一同放出有關，這意味著不同群的賽鴿互相擾亂了航向。

達靈頓地區的賽鴿手斯圖爾特-福西特從事賽鴿業已經超過30年了，他說：“在從業60年的人們記憶中，這是最糟糕的一年。”

“出事區域有大量賽鴿，因為在其他地區肉食鳥的問題非常嚴重，所以比賽搬到了英格蘭東部舉行。”

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