IT IS 2.30am. A watery shaft of light from a moon skelf filters

through a crack in the covering cloud and descends on the vehicle

parked, mysteriously, at the firth at the River Annan.

A trained observer might make out the silhouettes of two figures. An

expert in the field may even work out what is inside the trailer behind

the car. But there is no vigilant watcher.

Tiny and distant though the moon appears, its effect on the seas of

the Earth is not diminished. The water flows inexorably closer, but

still the figures in the vehicle make no move.

Peacefully asleep 95 miles away, the owners of the valuable cargo are

oblivious to the impending peril. They will rise in hope in a few hours,

eyes lifted to the heavens, but the day holds nothing but anguish and

recriminations.

Suddenly, there is movement in the car at Waterfoot, Annan,

Dumfriesshire. But it is too late. Two men get out, wading now in the

water, but Cliff Rennie and Alex McClorey, next-door neighbours in

Bayview Terrace, Kirkcolm, Wigtownshire, can do nothing.

The alarm is raised at a cottage at 2.45am on Saturday morning. The

coastguard at Liverpool is alerted, and police rush to the scene.

No-one can do anything for the cargo. The death toll is 120.

The post mortem examination is to be carried out on Wednesday night. A

special meeting of Wigtown Federation of Pigeon Clubs has been called in

Stranraer to find out why the birds, due to be released for a race,

died.

Most of the pigeons were owned by members of Stranraer Homing Society.

Committee member Alfred Dodds, who lost seven pigeons, said: ''Our

members are stunned. Some of them are competing for the first time this

season and have lost all their birds.

''The race was part of the young birds programme. The men were at the

liberation point. I can't understand why they were waiting there in the

dark. The birds were not due to be released until 8am or 9am.''

The pigeons that perished were in the bottom of a trailer. A further

300 birds, in the top half, survived. They were taken back to their

owners by road.

A Dumfries and Galloway police spokesman said: ''The two men appear to

have fallen asleep. They could well have suffered much more serious

consequences. They were obviously shocked and distressed.''