Innholdsfortegnelse for January 7, 2026 i Cage & Aviary Birds

CHRISTMAS RAFFLE AS THE AVIAN Draw closed for entries on December 20, the staggering final total was £33,177. To put this into perspective, the 2023 Avian Draw had a total of £12,028, while the 2024 total was £16,400 in sales. Tickets cost £1 per entry, and all proceeds will go to the sponsored clubs' funds. The top five prizes that rustled up the most entries were as follows. The highest entry (with 1,620 tickets sold) was a pair of Glosters donated by Mitch Cowan on behalf of the Humberside Gloster Association. Next up was a pair of Fife canaries from Henry Cooper, selling 1,473 tickets on behalf of North Staffs & South Cheshire FFCC. Third pace went to a pair of bullfinches from Mark Jones with proceeds from the 1,140…

CAN you please give me some advice? I'm trying to get some Border canary pictures, ideally over the years to demonstrate how they have changed during their history. One of your unique bird prints with Border canaries from their early development to the present day would be very helpful. Any help will be appreciated. Happy New Year! Paul Jupe, Secretary, Basildon CBS. ● Does anyone have a suitable print showing Border canary development that could be copied for Paul? Contact me if so – Ed.…

ZEBRA FINCHES I FIRST discovered the world of zebra finches when I was 13 years old. At that age, I bought my very first pair, and from that moment my life changed. My grandfather had been a canary breeder, and as a child I spent countless hours at his house watching the birds. When he passed away, his collection was sold, but the memory of those visits stayed with me. Three years later, I found myself drawn back to birdkeeping, this time with zebra finches. In those early days, I knew very little about breeding or care. One Christmas, I received a copy of Keeping and Breeding Zebra Finches by Chris Blackwell. That book became my constant reference and sparked a deep admiration for British aviaries and shows. From the…

BUDGERIGARS SW: After your short break from the hobby, can you tell us about your new set-up? What size is it and what does it contain? AM: During my brief time away from the hobby, I always knew I would be back keeping budgies and building a new set-up as soon as I got the chance. My new room is 20ft long x 10ft wide. It is fully insulated with 100mm Celtex and boarded inside. I have put a small kitchen area with a sink in again. This keeps any mess inside the birdroom! It also gives me somewhere to prep my softfood and other bits we do for the birds. I have got 24 breeding cages in my birdroom. These are the DTV plastic budgerigar-style – 12 double cages.…

AUSTRALIAN FINCH SOCIETY OUR open show continues to go from strength to strength, reports Tony Goldson. Two years ago, we had to cancel our open bird show due to an outbreak of bird flu. Last year, we were lucky and avoided flu outbreaks and had a reasonably successful show. This year's show received just over 147 entries, which was a great success. However, had we been a week later the story would have been totally different as half the country was closed with numerous outbreaks of this devastating disease. As I write this piece, I am wondering how poultry farmers are going to recover this time. As a birdkeeper, I keep all of my birds in an outside aviary, covered by polycarbonate to keep the weather out, but still vulnerable…

WWT GETS TRANSPORT FUNDING A GENEROUS GRANT has been received by WWT to open doors for families and young people to experience wetlands. Long-term partner Eversheds Sutherland's Charitable Trust has given the funding to supplement transport costs and support engagement for two flagship programmes: Generation Wild and Blue Influencers. From January 5, primary schools can apply for coach travel grants to bring families to their nearest wetland centre. HEALTHY NUMBER OF WHOOPER SWANS UP TO 6,500 whooper swans have been counted on Cambridgeshire's RSPB Ouse Washes nature reserve in December. The main aim of the site is to protect wintering wildfowl species, including these swans. The RSPB says that 2,000 cattle graze on the reserve during the warmer months to create a variety of grassland habitat for wildlife. The washland's…

WELL, JUST LIKE that and its another new year. And as always, we birdkeepers start to look forward to what this season will bring. I, like many others, have started pairing up and at the time of writing, I'm expecting my first chicks for 2026. Last year, I decided to trial the approach of assembling pairs when they were looking ready to breed, rather than trying to pair those of the same species in one go. This approach makes logical sense, and it did help with numbers (as 2025 was a great year), though I did find that I was unable to pair up some pairs later on due to lack of space with the youngsters. This year, I'm looking to modify this by staggering my pairings, which will leave…

HAPPY NEW YEAR! As usual, it's actually still the old year when I'm writing this, and I'm still looking forward to the annual time of reflection and reappraisal. And one thing I'll be reflecting on is the astounding success of this year's Avian Draw, which C&AB has again been proud to support. The key results are on page 2, but I'll draw out two headlines: first, the money raised on behalf of clubs has DOUBLED compared with last time. Second, one generous individual bought a large minority of the tickets. I'll echo co-organiser Graham Paine's comment and wonder whether this will or can occur again. It needs some careful thought. Let's bear in mind that the Avian Draw has no precedent in this hobby, so everyone – including the organisers…

PICTURE OF THE MONTH! C&AB TEAM PICKS THEIR FAVOURITE ENTRY EACH MONTH SEND us your birdkeeping pictures and your birdkeeping pictures and we'll publish them on this page. Each month, the C&AB team will pick their favourite picture(s)! Simply email your picture to: birds.general@kelsey.co.uk with “Readers' Gallery” in the subject line or put them on our Facebook or Twitter pages. Unfortunately, the Kelsey Media offices at Welbeck Way, Woodston PE2 7WH are now closed so it is not possible to receive entries sent by post. Don't forget to include your name and address and a caption. NB: you must send only images for which you own the copyright. We cannot guarantee to print everything we receive. Readers' Gallery will return next month. Closing date for entries: January 16, 2025. Chiffchaff.…

TRENT VALLEY BS THE 2025 members' show was held November 2, at Willington Village Hall. The judge for the day was Andrew Wood. Results were as follows: Best in show, best colour budgerigar in show, best champion any age (AA), best AA in show and best colour budgerigar young bird (YB), S. & N. Wildes. Best YB in show and best champion YB, S. Lansdowne. Best colour budgerigar AA and best intermediate AA and YB, A. Benton. Best novice AA, M. Broxholme. Best novice YB, A. Mansfield. Best junior in show, H. Hill. Thanks to all who participated.…

COLCHESTER CBS – January 15, Stanway Village Main Hall, Essex CO3 OHR, 7.45pm. AGM. Enquiries: 07484 688 334. HAVANT CBS – January 7, Bedhampton Social Hall, Hampshire PO9 3ES, 7.30pm. Bird v bird competition. Everyone welcome. Enquiries: 07854 286 025 or email: havantcbs@gmail.com IPSWICH BS – January 22, Constable Memorial Hall, Gandish Road, East Bergholt CO7 6TP, 7.45pm. Member of the year awards, open discussion Enquiries: 07718 184 436, email: ipswichbudgiesociety@gmail.com, or visit: http://ipswichbudgerigarsociety.co.uk IRVINE CBS – January 21, The Volunteer Rooms, 19 High Street KA12 0AL, 7pm. AGM followed by meeting. Enquiries: 01294 552 947 or email: irvinecbs@btinernet.com OXFORD 1910 CBS – January 10, United Reformed Church Hall, Collinwood Road OX3 8HW, 8pm. AGM – we will also be amending the club rules. Members can renew their membership prior…

SHOW REPORTS NORTH OF SCOTLAND GLOSTER CLUB (Continued from Dec 24/31 issue) Our auctioneer for the day would be the multi-tasking Lewis Shepherd getting the bids coming in and raising £80 for club funds. After the auction, there was a presentation of a hamper of local delicacies: cullen skink, oatcakes from the Orkney Islands and shortbread in recognition of his journey. Well done, Bill, hope to see you next year. Tony Thompson was also presented with his tin of cullen skink. The presentations of the major winners took place next. With all the pleasantries taken care of, we let our friends go on their merry way by 2pm. My Scottish tour, by Bill Butler My friend Richard Carter and I left home in Worcester on October 23 to travel the…

I NOTE with interest in the December 10 2025 issue of Cage & Aviary Birds, on page 6, your reference to a Mr J Thomas of Halifax, who was a “breeder, exhibitor and exporter” of “canaries and mules” some 100 years ago. Unfortunately, you didn't include his actual advert, which would have revealed his address. The reason for my interest is that I have a glass bird drinker embossed with the words “THOMAS'S HALIFAX” and wondered if J Thomas was connected with this glass item in any way, such as being the inventor. I have never seen any adverts for this glass bird drinker (these were also known as water fountains) or a patent number for it, etc, so any historical details are missing. I presumed that this clear glass…