Innholdsfortegnelse for December 17, 2025 i Cage & Aviary Birds

BIRD FLU IN LIGHT OF the surge in bird-flu cases across the UK, the RSPB has given an update on how wild birds on their reserves are coping. The current global outbreak is caused by a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). Since 2021, the current strain has had catastrophic impacts on UK birds throughout the year, with cases seen across the summer in seabird colonies. Great skuas have now been added to the Red List of highest conservation concern because of population declines due to HPAI. The RSPB said: “This summer, the virus continued to circulate. Although it hasn't caused the same level of devastation as in previous years, sadly it has still caused mass mortalities at several UK seabird colonies. “We're also concerned that herring gulls, a species that…

SHOWS SUNDAY October 12, 2025 saw the third annual show of Scotland's National Bird Club. The SNBC show is a success and is now becoming a fixture in the exhibition season. The organisers were extremely grateful for the numerous financial donations received. Like the National Exhibition at Stafford, it is a very early show for canary breeders and my own birds were not fully moulted. However, show dates are a complex issue and a week after Stafford seems to work well for most folks. For an all-variety event, no date will be perfect. With budgerigar breeding underway, it is great to report that in the budgie section there was a huge increase in entries with 328 entered, of which 288 were benched. The best in show and best any age…

IN HIS article last week about the founders of the Gloster canary (C&AB December 10, page 16), Andy Early quotes from a letter dated November 19 1927 by AW Smith. Smith was not only a prime mover for the Gloster, but also the show manager of the “National” – the annual Crystal Palace show. I thought readers would be interested to see more extracts from this letter, which expresses the early aspirations of the Gloster canary's supporters – Ed. ■ The forthcoming Crystal Palace national show [in February 1928] will have the distinction of staging a new breed of canary to the cage bird world – the Gloster fancy canary, wrote Mr Smith. Several rehearsal appearances have been made on the show benches of the local shows, and the charm of its…

COVER STORY: TRAVEL LAST year, I wrote about our trips to the Kruger National Park in northern South Africa. This year, we had a two-week visit to the great park, and then afterwards we flew to Cape Town for a further week. Here, we would be able to see a different range of birds, many of which are only found in the Cape. Helpfully, many of these endemics had “Cape” as part of their name. We were not spending all of our time birding, but we did secure the services of a local guide, “The Fynbos Guy” (Dominic Chadbon), for one day. However, other sightseeing trips did allow us to see a few more species. After driving back from the Kruger, we took an early evening Flysafair shuttle flight down…

WEST GRINSTEAD BIRD SOCIETY THE SOCIETY'S open show was held on the October 18 at Dial Post Village Hall, Dial Post, reports Steve Wright, WGBS chairman. A total of 254 birds were entered by 27 exhibitors, with 214 birds benched on the day, down from the 249 birds benched in 2024. Most sections were down slightly with only 18 budgerigars entered this year, and the British and canary sections were slightly down on 2024. There was, however, a good showing in the foreign classes with 62 exhibits benched with a wide range variety of species on display. There has been a pleasing increase in the number of foreign exhibits over the last few years, with 45 benched in 2024 and 27 in 2025. Judges for the show were Malcolm Parsons…

HAVANT & SOLENT CAGE BIRD SOCIETIES MONTHLY SALE – December 21, Fareham Academy, St Annes Grove, Fareham PO14 1JJ. 11am-1pm (sellers 10am, buyers 11am). Membership: adults £2, family £3. Entry £2 adult, children under 16 free. Table hire £5. Arrive early for breakfast, tea, coffee, sausage or bacon baps. Plenty of parking available. Enquiries: 07854 286 025 or find the event on Facebook. SEVERN COUNTIES F&BBS – December 18, Methodist Hall, Down Road, Winterbourne Down, Bristol BS36 1BN, 8pm. Open meeting and Christmas party. Enquiries: 07809 448 065, email: birdsandbutterflies2022@gmail.com or visit: www.foreign-britishbirds.info SOLWAY PARROT & FBC – December 28, Village Hall, Waverton, Wigton, Cumbria CA7 0AE, opens 10am. Table-top sale. Any enquires and to pre order seed, please contact Robbie/Pauline below. All welcome. Enquiries: 01900 822 136. WEST GRINSTEAD…

BTO GARDEN BIRDWATCH TURNS 30 THE BRITISH TRUST for Ornithology (BTO) is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its Garden BirdWatch. The project aims to understand how and why birds, mammals and other wildlife use gardens in the UK. Volunteers record weekly lists of the species they see in their gardens, which are then analysed by BTO scientists to investigate changes in wildlife populations. The trust thanked those who are “helping to build a detailed picture of garden wildlife”. VOLUNTEER OPP: EVENT TECH SUPPORT THE HAWK CONSERVANCY Trust – located in Andover, Hampshire – is looking for a volunteer to support the team with the technical aspects of evening productions and events. The job description has three main requirements: good fitness for moving heavy items/using ladders; a basic understanding of stage/music…

THE MIDLAND LIZARD Canary Show was my last 2025 judging engagement. I had 150-plus Lizards to judge, and the quality was excellent. Some people say, “every day is a school day”, and I certainly learned more about this fascinating breed. With such quality birds to judge, you are looking for minor faults, and in some cases, some very minor faults to try and place the birds in winning order. It could be something like a spangle that has been plucked and has grown back with a slightly wider edge than the other spangles. Well done to Ray Anthony on winning best Lizard canary – he had won best Lizard canary at the Southern Lizard Show the day before, so a good weekend for Ray. Mick Tiffany won best novice colour-fed…

WHY ARE WE so secretive about show judging? At nearly all UK bird shows, judges still work “under wraps”. And we want to get more visitors at these events, right? Turn on the telly: one in 10 programmes is a talent show, and in every case the judging is part of the drama. It's half the point of the show. I've said before that with a reduced risk from the antis, the fancy should fling open its doors to the public. New recruits to the fancy are out there: we just need to show them what it's about. And frankly I think that if shows made judging into a spectacle and publicised locally, visitors would come to see it, even if they knew nothing about birds. Then their first question…

NATIVE SOFTBILLS AMERICA'S New World warblers are colourful, but rare in aviculture due their strict protection. Most of the Old World warblers, meanwhile, are rare in aviculture due to their uniformly grey or green plumage. Many of the Old World species belonged formerly to the enormous genus Sylvia, which means “woodland sprite” or the genus Phylloscopus (“leaf-seeker”). That has changed drastically. A recent taxonomic revision moved still more Old World warblers into Phylloscopus, which now holds 80 species. And at least three subspecies of the chiffchaff were elevated as full species. The common chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita), even by warbler standards, is hyperactive. Apart from those chiffchaffs that overwinter in the UK (currently about 1,000), it's the first warbler species to arrive here and the last to leave. It's also the…

FANCY HISTORY CENTURIES ago, long before the impressionable Louis XIV devoted a considerable portion of his long and picturesque reign to courting waiting queues of smitten ladies, Paris possessed her bird market, wrote Capt Cecil. In those far-off days, the city by the Seine was small and of little consequence; but the bird market was a rather serious affair. The populace transacted much business there, and, like the Rialto, where Venetians chatted away the Sunday hours, it served as a meeting place for the gossips. Courtiers, temporarily forsaking royalty, hung about the stores, hoping to pick up a bird worthy of the King's acceptance. Court beauties, escorted by bewigged gallants, peacocked up and down; and the awed spectators, in the intervals of examining the contents of the rough wicker cages,…

SUFFOLK SOFTBILL FANCIERS THE ANNUAL gathering occurred on November 1 as usual at the excellent Risby Village Hall near Bury St Edmunds, reports Robb Brown. This year was a lower key event as commercial backers had decided not to continue, however, the Suffolk team decided that the show must go on, and so it did! The event is very important in the softbills calendar and the goal was to have a gathering where we could display the softbills, have some sales tables, have some trade stands (thank you Essex Birds and Gary Knight), have some excellent refreshments (thanks Mitch) and very importantly make it a social event in what was a friendly relaxed atmosphere. The show was indeed a huge success; we had a good entry of the country's top…

CLUB NEWS CHICHESTER CBS held its annual members’ show at its monthly meeting on October 28. 90 birds were benched and judged by top canary and British breeder and judge Keith Ruth from Eastbourne. The results were as follows: Best flighted canary, Mick Finch (Fife flighted hen). Best unflighted canary, Barrie Durrant (Fife unflighted cock). Best British CYB, Paul Swatton (goldfinch). Best foreign adult, Mike Wood (rosella). Best foreign CYB, Mike Wood (Java sparrow). Best zebra or Bengalese adult, Mike Wood (self chocolate Bengalese). Best zebra or Bengalese CYB, Mike Wood (chocolate/white Bengalese). Best canary, Barrie Durrant. Best British, mule or hybrid, Paul Swatton. Best foreign, Mike Wood. Best zebra or Bengalese, Mike Wood. A new award this year was the Bernie Howlett Memorial Shield for best in show. Bernie…