Thousands of pigeons are missing in England in a 'Bermuda Triangle-style mystery'


Millions of people went about their business as usual last Saturday, utterly oblivious to the fact that it was "one of the very worst ever" days in pigeon racing history.
A week ago, some 9,000 birds were released from Peterborough, in eastern England, bound for the North East in what was supposed to be a three-hour race (yes, this is apparently a whole thing). But nearly a week later, The Sun reports that "thousands" of birds are still missing in "a Bermuda Triangle-style mystery."
"At present people are very unsure what has happened — there are still lots and lots of pigeons still missing in action," Richard Sayers, a pigeon fancier, wrote on social media. "A lot of people think this is due to something in the atmosphere — like a solar storm above the clouds."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But the mystery might have a simple explanation: the pigeons simply wanted to ditch the rain in Peterborough this week and go on vacation. Expats in Majorca, Spain, claimed to The Sun that they'd come across at least several of the "tired and disorientated" British birds.

Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.