Every week, we invite an influential figure in the cage bird fancy to tell us about themselves and their view of the hobby. This week: MICHAEL BALDRY Q Which clubs have you been most involved with? Any official roles? Michael…
Analysing his results, TONY EDWARDS can compare the effectiveness of in-breeding, close-breeding and outcrossing in his annual pairing strategy AFTER 25 YEARS of breeding Bengalese, I consider my best birds in each of my main colours (chocolate & whites, fawn…
A huge job for January: TONY EDWARDS has to review every bird in his stud. That’s a lot more than a day’s work! ON CHRISTMAS Eve, I started the long-overdue sort out of my stock. It was the first time…
Although known for breeding colour canaries, STEVE LINES has a passion for other colourful hardbills, too. Here he shares advice for keepers of these exotic birds with Dave Brown I first visited Steve Lines a few years back to learn about…
Above: Pleasing sideline: a 2019-bred black-faced silver mutation. Photo: Dave Brown DAVE BROWN is reaping the benefits of changes made to his birdroom, with some one hundred zebbie chicks already ringed. It’s just a shame about all the DIY…
Photo: Similar but different: the goldcrest (left) and firecrest are alike in size (the goldcrest being Britain’s smallest bird), but the firecrest is slightly bigger, sleeker, more colourful and less dumpy Bill Naylor profiles two of the UK’s smallest…
Photo: Dennis Avon. Geoff’s favourite: a male and female crimson-breasted finch (Rhodospingus cruentus) – or rhodospingus finch as he refers to it. He believes these birds need to be fed on a softbill diet to maintain their crimson cap and chest…
Photo: © Shutterstock.com/Paul Reeves Photography. The longevity record for wild Baltimore orioles is 11 years, in captivity they have been kept for more than 14 years Bright, tuneful and with an elegant mating display, the Baltimore oriole has lots going for…
Photo: Geoff Gradwell. Priceless memories: Geoff aged 11 with awards he had won as a junior. This was about the time that he joined the Foreign Bird League (FBL) After more than half a century of keeping, breeding and…
Photo: Dave Brown. So far this year, Dave has more than 60 chicks in the birdroom with a good few normals scattered about Things are going well in the birdroom for Dave Brown and he is making progress with his…