Apparently, pigeon racing is a thing.

Also, after at least 5,000 birds disappeared in what organizers think was a freak solar storm that messed up the birds' sense of navigation, pigeon racing might have just given us another sign of the end of days:

Pigeon fancier Richard Sayers said: "We've seen one of the very worst ever racing days in our history.

"Most of the breeders I'm talking to are blaming the atmospheric conditions — possibly a solar storm above the clouds that created static in the atmosphere — but no one really knows."

Fortunately, it seems there are plenty of pigeons to go around, as The Sun noted over 250,000 pigeons were released at events across Britain last weekend.

Saturday saw up to 250,000 birds released in some 50 races across Britain — with just ten per cent returning in the expected time and tens of thousand remaining unaccounted for in a ­Bermuda Triangle-style mystery.

An expert with the Royal Pigeon Racing Association (because of COURSE that's a thing in England) said he's never seen anything like it.

Ian Evans, of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association, said: "We became aware quite quickly that something very unusual was happening. I have never heard of anything like this. On the face of it the weather conditions were good. But in the event, thousands of birds simply didn't return. Something happened that disrupted their navigational abilities. We believe it may have had something to do with solar wind activity."

Seriously, I know you Brits are weird, but semi-trucks filled with clouds of pigeons? Why??

Seriously, I have so many questions.

• Why is this a thing?
• Why were there a quarter of a million birds involved?
• Where do pigeon "fanciers" keep their swarms of winged rats?
• How does the average person afford a semi to transport said swarm?
• Some of these pigeons go for hundreds of thousands of dollars EACH. I get the cost in horse racing, but can anyone explain why you'd spend so much on a PIGEON???

Apparently, this crazy sport is becoming more and more popular. Ian Evans said losses had been reported the same day in Belgium and Portugal.

The sport is really growing, however, in China.

If you find a homing pigeon, the best thing to do is apparently feed it and give it a day or two to recalibrate. I have it on good authority that the way they do this is by flying repeatedly over a car while dropping "gifts" in the process.

"We're asking anyone who comes across a racing pigeon to feed, water and let it rest," said Sayers. "There's an 80 per cent chance the birds will get on their way after a few days, but it's the same story right across the country."