Innholdsfortegnelse for October 22, 2025 i Cage & Aviary Birds

BY THE time you read this, the show season will be upon us once more and the worst part of the year for any bird fancier – the moult – will be largely behind us save (hopefully) for the odd straggler. I always disliked the moult. The obvious reason was that there were feathers everywhere and you found yourself continuously sweeping up and finding feathers in drinkers, hoppers… basically everywhere. Needless to say I’m not spared this now that I’m into the pigeons – just bigger feathers everywhere, really! And they don’t seem as easy to sweep up, somehow. With the birds being in outside flights, and with quarter-inch mesh for rodent protection, the feathers are extremely efficient at getting themselves entwined in the mesh everywhere. Mind you, that’s not…

BOOKS A BOOK WRITTEN by the late ornithologist Clive Denby has been published three years after his death. Mr Denby (1948-2022) wrote the book before his passing, but had not yet approached a publisher. Now, Mr Denby’s words have been put into print in Stuff About Birds. Mr Denby worked for the RSPB and had lived in both Hampshire and Africa. He organised expeditions to India, too, so he had plenty of fascinating tales to tell and important research to share. His friend John Cockaday approached Tim Saunders Publications to see whether the book was suitable for print. Mr Saunders commented: “I had not ventured into publishing wildlife books until John approached me and Clive’s passionate and humorous writing style resulted in me taking on the manuscript. “In the course…

AND IN THE blink of an eye, it was over. The 2025 National, that is. There is a lot to try cram into a day, but I managed most of it. It is always a great honour to be asked to judge a section at the National, and this time I judged the Irish fancy canaries. I had roughly 140 birds to judge and managed to finish at around 12.30pm. Darren Hadley won best Irish fancy, and he told me afterwards that it was the same bird that had won best canary at the 2024 National. The best novice Irish at the National was won by Bev Kirby, and our paths crossed again at Guildford the following weekend where Bev won best Irish fancy. We had a chat there and…

ALMOST EVERY WEEK the thought occurs: there isn’t one best way to breed good birds. Cage birds are not, thank goodness, machines, but individuals, so what works for Keeper A may not suit Keeper B’s stock. Terry Kelly’s article on page 7 prompted this thought. In Terry’s first sentence he explains that he starts the pre-breeding prep for his Fifes in mid-February. Now, there are loads of canary breeders who kick off this same process way earlier: New Year’s Day or thereabouts. Is that actually too early? Answers on a postcard! What strikes me so far about Terry’s series on successful canary breeding is how simple he keeps things. Simple, and unhurried – not bundling his stock into breeding mode. Canaries, supremely among cage birds, retain a “natural” seasonality in…

FINALLY, the moult has come to an end. I must admit that sweeping the floor twice or three times a day really does cheese me off. I don’t think I’ve got OCD or anything like that, but I hate going into the birdroom and seeing a mess over the floor. I have to reach for the dustpan and brush straightaway. It’s always the first thing I do in my morning routine, but having to repeat it at every other visit does get tedious. The moult has been a bit weird for my birds. The unflighted canaries started and finished moulting fairly quickly. Ditto the flighted cocks, but some hens have been slow. In spring, I always trim the feathers, with the focus being the dense covering around the vents. I…

FORTH VALLEY BS CONGRATULATIONS to John Scammell on winning best in show and best young bird in show with his excellent dominant pied grey cock at the recent Forth Valley BS open show that was held on September 14. John also won best any age (AA) in show with a cinnamon grey cock. The Thistle Partnership of John, Dougie and Alastair won best AA opposite sex with a lovely cinnamon violet hen. The excellent spangle darkgreen hen won best opposite sex young bird (YB) for the partnership of John Benn and John Newall. Major winners were as follows: best champion AA and YB, John Scammell; best intermediate AA, Stuart McFayden; best intermediate YB, Ron Anderson; best novice AA, Cumming & Wilson; best novice YB, Dennis Black. Unfortunately, there were no…

CHARLIE BOWMAN IT IS with great sadness that I report the death of Charlie Bowman on September 28 at the grand old age of 94, writes Kevin Batey, secretary/treasurer of Northern BS. Charlie had been living independently until three months ago and since then he had a spell in hospital and a local hospice. I have known Charlie, and his late wife Margaret, since 1971 when I joined Gateshead BS. At that time, he was a successful novice exhibitor and was kind enough to mentor my brother Brian and I in our early years when we would cycle to his house on Monday evenings. Charlie joined the Northern BS (NBS) in 1968 and the BS in 1970. He was honoured to become the BS president in 2014 and was also…

‘VANISHED’ HARRIER FUELS FEARS OF ILLICIT KILLING THE RSPB HAS reported its suspicions that a one-year-old hen harrier has been illegally shot after its disappearance from Yorkshire Dales National Park. This rare bird is the 29th to go missing from the park since 2015. As part of the RSPB’s hen harrier monitoring, a female bird named Sita was fitted with a satellite tag in summer 2024, settling in moorland between Reeth and Redmire. Sita’s tag stopped transmitting in February 2025. No tag or body has been found. NEW ZEALAND NAMES ITS BIRD OF THE YEAR IN THE COUNTRY’S annual Bird of the Year competition, the New Zealand falcon has been crowned the winner with 21 per cent of the votes. Known by the Maori name of karearea, the bird is…

CANARIES EVERY year, on returning from holiday in mid-February, I swing into action to prepare my birds for the breeding season. My two priorities are, first, to place the cocks in their single breeding cages and second, to put on my artificial daylight lighting tubes for 11 hours per day, from 7am to 6pm. This is then increased slightly each week until early April. My thermostat is set at 45°F (7.5°C) and the birdroom windows are left open for maximum fresh air, except during severe cold spells. I leave my hens in their flight cages, but I am now able to spread them out a little, as the flights used by the cocks are empty, which means that the hens have more space to exercise even more. Diet I retain…

COVER STORY: FAMILY FOCUS MANY male birds put a great deal of energy into attracting a mate. They may use either song or plumage, or often both. But few go to the extent of building a structure and decorating it with the exclusive aim of impressing a mate. John Gould (1804-81) chose the medieval term “bower” for this structure because the first bower he encountered was that of the satin bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus). This he likened to the screened, secluded garden feature in Victorian England where courting couples met. As Gould anticipated, “bowerbird” captured the imagination of the sentimental and nature-obsessed Victorians. Although its function is exclusively as a place where males attract females for courtship and, hopefully, to mate, the misperception still persists that a bower is associated with…

SHOW DATES DALBEATTIE CBC schedules for the forthcoming open show to be held at Dalbeattie Town Hall on November 2 have been sent out to last year’s exhibitors. Anyone forgotten or would like one please call 01556 610 943. Judges engaged for the show are S. McCall, M. Trainor and D. McGill. GATESHEAD & NEWCASTLE BS has confirmed next year’s show date as July 5, to be held at Swalwell Community Centre, 74 Clavering Road, Swalwell NE16 3ET. For further information contact: for Gateshead & Newcastle BS, Gary Pringle on 07864 038 223 or Kevin Featherstone 07530 996 570, for Northern Bengalese Club, please contact Jim Smith on 07711 157 743. NORTH WEST LEICESTER BS members’ show will be held on October 26 at Kegworth Village Hall, Nottingham Road, Kegworth…

BASILDON CBS – November 10, Felmores Community Centre, Northland’s Park, Basildon, Essex SS13 1SD, 7.30pm. Annual show planning. Enquiries: 07880 707 502. CARSHALTON, WALLINGTON & MORDEN CBS – November 2, Pavilion, Rosehill Community Centre, Rosehill Park, Sutton, Surrey SM1 3HH, 5-6.30pm. Club sales day. Open 4.30pm for sellers. Also, November 4, 7-9pm. Meeting. Enquiries for both to: Norman on 0208 644 9363 or Paul on 07815 021 583. CHICHESTER CBS – October 28, Village Hall, School Lane, North Mundham, Chichester, West Sussex PO20 1LA, 7.30pm. Annual members’ show judged by Keith Ruth. Valid APHA County Parish Holdings Registration Number needed. Show schedules can be obtained by emailing keith.goldsack@outlook.com or downloading from our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ChichesterBirdClub. Enquiries: call 01243 551 093 or visit the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ChichesterBirdClub HAILSHAM & DISTRICT BIRD…