Budgerigar World Editorial December 2000

Season’s Greetings to all of you. And as we leave the first year of the new millennium, or is it the start of the first? I suppose it all depends in which camp you sit! Never mind which, if the recent Budgerigar Society World Championship Show is anything to go by, the hobby could be at least stabilised or even (fingers crossed) on the way up. The number of exhibitors were about the same and the birds entered up by about 150 on the previous year and all this with a threat of a fuel protest on the same weekend. Thankfully the fuel problem did not manifest and all went well.

A few new innovations at the show were welcomed, including a seminar on the Saturday morning and the opportunity to watch some of the judging. I enjoyed BS Tunnel that depicted the 75 years history of the Budgerigar Society. It was indeed sobering to see photographs of many great fanciers of the past who are no longer with us – a hall of fame that no-one wants to be a part of for many years to come.

Now to the most important aspect of the show; the birds themselves. Indeed, as usual there were many wonderful examples of exhibition Budgerigars to be seen. Many exhibitors complained about loss of condition with many in their show team going soft during the previous week. This may have been true but still the leading exhibits and many hundreds of others would have been made welcome in my birdroom. Congratulations to all who took part.

Best In Show was an awesome exhibit benched by Stuart Raven; a big bold and powerful Spangle that showed superbly on the day. The leading Young Bird award went to Geoff Tuplin’s Yellow-face hen that was also Best Opposite Sex in Show. This was a wonderful hen, power and proportion with loads of style. These birds came from the Novice and Intermediate sections and while some may criticise because they expect Champions to win, I take comfort in that it is fanciers such as these that will ensure continuation of the hobby.

Opposite Sex

The Opposite Any Age bird was benched by the popular Christine and Bill Heale partnership. This was a superb Opaline Cinnamon Green hen and perhaps not a variety associated with these exhibitors. I was also very please to see Roy Aplin’s name on the Best Opposite Sex Young Bird award. His Opaline Cinnamon Green young bird cock was a worthy winner.

One point of controversy was the report that weekend in the fancy press, which alleged that Frank Silva, the 1999 World Champion, had decided to boycott the show. The fact that both Frank and his team were in attendance caused questions to be asked. I spoke to Frank on this matter and his reply was, "Since the publication of the comments regarding the possibility that I may not support the BS Club Show, I have had a reply from Dave Hislop, the Show Manager with satisfactory solutions to 80% of my concerns." Despite the fact that the show preparations for his show team was seriously disrupted he still managed to take a very strong team and secured most first in show for the 5th year running. Frank considers the ‘Fancy’ to be larger than just one person but feels it right and proper that he should express his concerns, especially when the welfare of the exhibits are at stake. He wishes to formally register his thanks to the Budgerigar Society and the Show committee for organising such a super show.

My thoughts now turn to the breeding season. I must admit that I’d promised myself that we would pair up earlier this year, in fact early October. However, the birds decided to have a traditional moult and I deemed it sensible to wait until my usual time of the end of November. One observation made at the Club Show was the lack of choice when it came to representation of seed suppliers – did Buckton’s influence this I wonder? In the past I recall Superbird, Haiths and Johnson & Jeff being in attendance together with the old BS sponsor Trill but it would appear this is no longer the case.

However, on the other side of the coin, we have plenty of choice for diet supplements. There appear to be a number of companies all vying for our small market sector. What to use is a difficult choice to make. None are cheap and all make wondrous claims. Myself, I’m going to give Justsilva a try this year. The thing that appeals to me the most is that it is a single supplementation that is provided in the softfood and most importantly the drinking water remains pure.

©Terry A Tuxford 2002