Terry, give us a bit of history about your beginnings within the budgerigar fancy, and also cover Yvonne’s involvement as well.

My background in Budgerigars goes back to 1977. A friend of my father had an aviary in his garden in which he used to breed pet budgerigars. There was great demand for these by people who wanted a budgie as a pet. At the time I saw a cash potential. In addition, I was a semi-pro musician and had decided to retire from the business in 1981 at the age of 30 and was looking for a new pastime.

That same year I built my own aviary, which was a 9’ by 9’ shed with two 6’ by 4’ 6" flights running off it. The shed contained 12 breeding cages as I had decided to cage breed from the outset. The shed originated from a Cockatiel breeder and after installing my first birds I found it was over-run with red mite. The budgerigars were moved into the house and the shed was fumigated.

In 1978, after not so successfully breeding pet birds, purely by chance, I went to the local Cage Bird Society Show and discovered the exhibition budgie. I also met a fancier called Maurice Weller and bought a copy of Gerald Bink’s, Best In Show. Both of these helped me decide to try the exhibition scene. I joined the Budgerigar Society and a number of other societies in 1980. After a good start I began exhibiting and did well in the Beginner classes, winning my first Challenge Certificate in 1981.

In about 1984, there was the inaugural meeting of the Northdowns Budgerigar Society – my local club. As a result of this I became their first Secretary – a post I held for 10 years. The society consisted mainly of well known Champions and so as a Novice at the time, I was amongst some great teachers.

In 1986 my marriage failed and it looked like I would have to give up my birds. However, fellow Northdowns member and Champion Brian Poole came to my rescue by suggesting we go into partnership, which we did. I moved from Novice to Champion in one go and the partnership of Poole & Tuxford was formed. An alliance that is still going strong today.

I met Yvonne and we married in 1989. She had supported my involvement with budgies for a couple of years earlier, after having got over the initial shock of discovering this over 6 foot, 15 stone bloke liked playing with small birds. We honeymooned initially in Paris and then joined the Budgerigar World trip to California and Hawaii. On the evening that Joyce and Gerald Binks first grandchild was born we celebrated together in a restaurant that overlooked Waikiki beach. During the course of the evening Gerald asked, "How would you like to become editor of Budgerigar World?" At the time I thought this was a silly question!

When the Spangle variety of Budgerigar first came to the UK, Brian was fortunate, at huge expense, to get hold of one of the first German imports. Excitedly he telephoned us to go and see this bird and we arrived just in time to see it fall off the perch dead. Undaunted, we bred Spangles for a few years then in 1989 decided to give up on them. It was at this point that Yvonne said that the Spangle was her favorite variety and she thought we ought to stick with them – if not she would breed them herself. In 1980 Yvonne joined the Budgerigar Society and began her own breeding programme, specialising in Spangles.

In 1989 I joined the Budgerigar Society Subsidiary Panel of Judges and was awarded Trainee Judge Of The Year, when I went onto the full panel in 1992.

How long have you been editing BW now?

I have been involved with BW since the early days, having written an article that was published in issue number two. I became a regular contributor and worked in the Show Office of the first BW Shows. I was appointed Associate Editor and then became Editor from issue number 101. Gerald Binks having edited the first 100 issues. June 2000 sees the publication of issue number 214 so I have been editor for nine and a half years.

What changes have you seen within the fancy since your involvement with BW? Give honest answers on the positives and negatives from a magazine perspective and also from a fancy perspective.

On the surface of it there have been very few changes in the basics of the hobby over the past 20 years, except for a steady decline in members. BW has indeed been fortunate, as the readership has remained fairly constant despite this decline. What has changed is communications; we can now share our hobby based experiences with fanciers from all over the world. This has been achieved by both the introduction of Budgerigar World and the Internet and email. This has, in my view, kept the hobby more alive than it might have been.

Given that BW is published every month, you must find it hard to continue to source material that is original and interesting. How do you go about programming each edition, are you two or three magazines ahead all of the time or are you just working on the next one after completion of the previous issue?

Finding material for Budgerigar World is not easy. I sent between 5,000 and 6,000 words plus photographs to the Budgerigar World offices in Bala each and every week. Gwyn Evans than selects from the material sent for each issue. Some articles may be published immediately, while other could sit on file for a couple of years.

Are you a full time editor? If not, what are you employed as?

I am not a full time editor, although it could be a full time job. My current day job, which I have held for 6 years, is Pricing Services Manager in an annual £200million turnover business, which we operate on behalf of the UK Government.

I have visited the aviaries of a number of fanciers throughout Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom, of those aviaries one would have to say that as far as establishments are concerned Doug Sadlers stood out given its size, the design and cleanliness, Doug also stands out because of the character that he is – also quality birds were to be seen. Jo Mannes also stood out, probably again for design, cleanliness and depth of quality and of course his personality – in fact I believe I made a statement whilst visiting that he had wall to wall quality. Frank Silva was in his first years in the fancy, and again design and cleanliness stood out. What was impressive about this man was that in the first season he had bred birds far in advance of birds that one had observed in many of the more ‘senior’ fanciers in the UK. I saw in this gentleman progress and suggested to him he would set the fancy alight in the U.K. if not the world, I believe my prediction might have become a reality. What are your impressions of the three fanciers mentioned, their establishments, their birds and their impact on the fancy?

There are a few common denominators between the three fanciers that you have cited. These include that they run their budgerigar hobby in a business-like manner and so attention to detail is a high priority to them. Also, as businessmen they are tuned to success, as it is a fundamental requirement. I feel sure that if success had not come their way via Budgerigars they would have diversified into an area in which they did become successful.

Another common factor is talent. I would estimate they breed their birds with 80% in-build knack and 20% luck whereas it is quite the reverse for most of us. They have also sustained their interest over many years and have managed to not only move with the times but to also stay ahead of the race. The final thing, which they are not, is a part of the hobby administration. If you get involved in the running of the hobby at the highest level it leaves little time to concentrate on your birds.

I have great admiration for anyone who is successful at the highest level of this extremely difficult hobby and this is something, which is seriously underestimated; just how difficult it is to breed good budgies. You need more than time and money for success – you need talent.

You have been involved in partnerships on a couple of occasions, are you still in a partnership and what are the positives and negatives of partnerships?

I enjoy my partnership with Brian Poole but it is more than just a Budgerigar association. We holiday together annually and regularly have meals at each other’s homes. We are good friends that have total trust in each other. The only disadvantages in partnerships are made by the partners themselves the main advantage is one of sharing.

I also formed a partnership with Jim Bratt in America. This was about 10 years ago and I was seeking the opportunity to get on the ABS Panel of Judges and therefor had to exhibit in America to do it. We showed in the US as a partnership for a few years but then Jim became seriously ill and had to give up his birds, which meant the end of the partnership. Yvonne and I still meet with Jim at least once a year.

What are the background of your birds? How much involvement does Yvonne have with the birds in general, the pairings, the culling the feeding etc?

The background of our birds is fairly mixed. I have been breeding Clearwings for about 20 years and have introduced only the occasional outcross over this time, so I would claim that these are of our own breeding. Our blues and greens feature the bloodlines of Gerald Binks and Jo Mannes. Yvonne’s Spangles also go back more than 10 years of in-house breeding but more recently she has had a number of birds from Frank Silva.

Yvonne is involved in many ways, from providing the elbow grease for major clean-ups to the day to day aviary management. With our other involvement’s in the hobby we do not have too much spare time so have to share the work between us.

In addition, we have also just started a new Internet venture. We launched a site called Best Of Breeds ( http://www.bestofbreeds.co.uk ) on 20th March 2000. This encompasses all breeds of pedigree animals as we felt that integration on livestock hobbies is a good thing and we can all learn from each other.

If you had your time again in the fancy, would you have made any changes? If so what would they have been? What advice would you give to fanciers that are just starting out in the hobby?

If I look back at my time in the hobby, I have indeed been fortunate. I have judged most major shows in the UK, including the Club Show and the recent Millennium Convention Show both organised by the Budgerigar Society. Yvonne and I have visited Australia, where we had a wonderful time and made many friends who we still keep in touch with. We have been to New Zealand, Canada and America plus most of the European countries – all because we are a part of this marvelous hobby. Why on earth would I want to change anything? The only downside is that our birds are not as good as they might have been had we concentrated 100% on them.

My advice to newcomers is not to expect instant success. Take everything you can from the hobby and at the same time make sure you put more back. Be tolerant of the old stagers who appear not to want change and most of all be responsible in looking after your birds.

Oh by the way, I mentioned that I intended giving up my music when I was 30. In fact I kept going for a further 10 years, when the hobby finally took over!

©Terry A Tuxford 2002