PIGEONS are losing their way home because mobile phone masts are confusing them, a bird fancier has claimed.

Frank Armstrong, 64, of Tow Law, County Durham who looks after about 80 racing birds, claims the town's three mobile phone masts affect their homing instincts.

He says it means that pigeons which cost hundreds of pounds each are worth very little because they have lost their sense of direction.

He said: "The young birds just fly out and then just fly around daft, because they don't have the instincts to get them back to the lofts. It's not so much the older birds, because they already know the way."

Mr Armstrong spoke at a Wear Valley District Council planning meeting to oppose plans by Orange for a fourth mobile phone mast in the town. Permission was refused last week on the grounds that it would be unsightly.

Peter Bryant, of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association, said that last year Swiss scientists researched the effect of mast emissions on pigeons.

They bred some birds near to masts and others at a distance. Those that lived away from the masts were confused when they flew near them.

Mr Bryant said: "There's perhaps a little bit of truth in it.

"The main thought about their homing instincts is that they follow the magnetic field of the Earth, and we also know for a fact that they navigate by memory, as well by following landmarks."

An Orange spokeswoman said: "Orange is unaware of any evidence to suggest that signals from telecommunications masts are affecting the homing abilities of pigeons. "The homing ability of pigeons is a complex subject and there is little understanding about how it works and what affects this ability."