World's first clay pigeon bred in captivity

The clay pigeon was bred by Mr Alan Ashworth from Battersea, London

Standing outside the pigeon loft in his back garden, Mr Ashworth proudly showed off the newborn clay fledgling, which is still only a couple of inches across and has yet to develop the familiar grooves and paint markings.

The parents are two of Ashworth's oldest clay pigeons, which he has cared for over the last 12 years – much longer than their average lifespan in the wild, where they are at the mercy of their natural predators, the posh.

He hopes to breed an entire flock of clay homing pigeons and race them in a national competition. Now that his first step has been successful, he hopes to begin cross-breeding with boomerangs to enhance their natural homing instinct.

Ashworth also believes that the clay pigeon can be a useful communications tool, as its cousin was in the first World War.

"Should there be a failure with modern forms of communication such as telephone, email, Tinder and so forth, I believe the clay pigeon would be invaluable for carrying messages to the front lines" he said.

"Look, it's easy: you can just write on them in felt pen."

~ A.M.