Meet the fantastic pigeon who's ruling the roost.
MEET Little Miss Bourges - the veteran racing pigeon who has delighted her owner for more than 15 years.Rod Adams, 72, of East Boldon, South Tyneside, has kept pigeons for 60 years and raced them for 50.
Retiring from racing last year, Rod now has a breeding stock of 70 birds but it is Little Miss Bourges who rules the roost.
It was she who in 1998 won the coveted Bourges race for Rod when she covered the 570 miles from the central French town of the same name back to the North East in 11.5 hours.
The race is known as the Grand National of pigeon races. Now she will feature in a talk Rod is giving at 6pm on Monday at Sunderland Central Library in Fawcett Street.
The talk is called Not a Hobby, More a Way of Life.
Rod, a member of Raglan Homing Society, went on to breed two more Bourges winners - related to Little Miss - including a further 30 champions.
He said: "She is a smashing bird and I suppose I have kept her out of sheer sentiment." For more information visit www.twmuseums.org.uk/playedintyne-andwear
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FEATHERED FRIEND Rod Adams, of East Boldon, with his veteran pigeon Little Miss Bourges who won a title in 1998