SPECIALIST & RARE VARIETY OPEN SHOW - 2008
Full Report by Ghalib Al-Nasser, Show Organiser

This year’s show, the 20th Show of the Specialist & Rare Variety Open Show, received a slight drop in total entry to 857 of which a total of 653 birds were benched from 69 exhibitors. However, despite the drop of 13 birds from last year’s benched figure the atmosphere was of relaxation and friendliness. A minute’s silence was observed prior to commencement of judging in respect of the recent death of Marion Wixon, joint secretary of the Spangled Budgerigar Breeders’ Association and their past president and editor.

Once again the show received great sponsorship which is an important element in the survival of this national event and our sincere thanks and gratitude are extended to Brown & Hutt for sponsoring 50% cost of all the open rosettes for the show; also to Les Martin who sponsored the cost of all the ceramic awards to the judges and Best of Colours. The B.S. President Geoff Capes donated a quality bird for the most benched birds in the beginner section, which was won by John Harvey. Rod & Sue Clarke sponsored the show with the cost of printing the coloured covers for the schedules and catalogues. Grant Findlay & Dave Whittaker sponsored the cost of printing the schedules. Financial sponsorship came from Mick Anzara who donated £50 towards the raffle prizes, with further financial sponsorship received from Jan Hill. Warren Wilson, CEO of the Budgerigar Rare & Specialist Exhibitors of Australasia (BRASEA), sent a wonderful package awarding the top BRASEA patronage to the show with 5 coloured paintings and 24 major rosettes for the BOC winners. Other sponsorship came from Ghalib & Janice Al-Nasser, Norman & June Cox, Dave Moss, Gren & Pat Norris and Changing Times. The following fanciers were generous with their donation of birds for the raffle; Sue & Rod Clarke, Jerry Donovan, Guppy & Barnes, Pete Holliday, Cy Thorne and Thorpe & Stanley.

The Show Committee extends its sincere gratitude and appreciation to all the above sponsors as well as the Budgerigar Society, the six specialist societies with their patronage, those who donated prizes to the raffles, the ten area societies and Budgerigar World who all gave splendid support in granting their highest patronage to the show. Gratitude is also extended to all the workers, exhibitors and donors for making this year’s show another great success.

Apart from our regular fanciers from Scotland and Wales, who travel long distances to be with us, we also had the pleasure of visitors from Kuwait but on this occasion missed the company of our regular overseas visitors from Holland & Germany.

Sunday afternoon was the time for trophy presentations and on this occasion the Guest of Honour was Geoff Capes, B.S. President, who presented the 44 trophies together with the paintings donated by BRASEA to the winning exhibitors. Before that Mr. Capes presented Budgerigar Society Honorary Life Membership certificates for meritorious services to the budgerigar fancy to Norman & June Cox, Dave Cottrell, Grant Findlay & Ghalib Al-Nasser who were awarded this honour at the AGM in May.

As in previous years at this show, partnerships did well in gaining 12 of the 24 CC’s on offer and 20 of the CC’s were awarded to the champion section.

Next year's show will be staged on 27th & 28th June (week 26).

LUTINOS TOP REDEYES AGAIN

Roger Carr judged the 95 lutinos and awarded the adult C.C., best Lutino and best Redeye in Show to Ian Fordham (last year’s winner). A bird of excellent type and condition with great rise above the eyes. Ian’s compact hen of good colour was third best and best overall Redeye opposite sex in show. Another quality cock, similar to the winner but having less of the rise was second best for the intermediate S.J. Rich.

A lutino hen from the novice Mike Peel headed the young bird section, which was of good shape and size but lacking in colour. Ian Fordham was second with a cock shown in good condition but smaller than the winner. Lewis & Sperring were third with a good hen but lacking in deportment. Best junior lutino went to James Bonner.

Peter Holliday judged the 33 albinos and the Best Albino in Show went to the beginner partnership of A & B Johnson with a good-sized cock staged in good condition and of good feather. The junior Gary Cameron needs to be congratulated for staging the second best and Best overall Junior Any Age in Show with a quality cock, which was not far behind the winner but slightly marked. Third best went to a hen from the partnership of Thorpe & Stanley; a large hen with good pure colour and free from markings.

Ken Critchley from the novice section won the young Albino award with a cock in good condition, complete in feather and of good colour. Chris Hawkins was second with another cock possessing similar qualities to the winner but having a shorter tail. I. C. Bellemy was third with another cock.

FOURTH WIN FOR WHITEWING TOPPING CLEARWING AWARD

Malcolm Freemantle judged the Yellow-wings while Bob Ellis from Scotland judged the Whitewings and they picked the top award from the Whitewings for the fourth year running. There were 41 Yellow-wings and 37 Whitewings entered which was a slight drop in entry in both colours from last year.

The adult yellow-wing award, best yellow-wing in show and best Clearwing any age in show went to the partnership of Dave Guppy & Dave Barnes with a dark green cock; a good headed bird that had great style but let down by variety content. G. F. Doody from the novice section was second with a dark green cock of good variety content and deep body colour. A. Beasley from the beginner section was third with another dark green cock of good style but not quite in condition. The best any age opposite sex award went to G. F. Doody with a dark green hen staged in good condition.

The Guppy & Barnes partnership was first in the young bird section with a very fit, excellent head and stance dark green cock but slightly dark on the wing markings. G. F. Doody occupied second and third placing with a dark green hen followed by a dark green cock. The hen was of good quality and the cock was of good variety content but beaten by head size and stance.

Guppy & Barnes won their 3rd challenge certificate by winning the adult Whitewing with a well- presented cobalt cock of good contrast. Rob Bray from the novice section was second with a good- sized cobalt cock but slightly darker on the wings. The intermediate Mick Anzara was third with another cobalt cock, presented well but darker on the wings. The best opposite sex any age award went to A. Beasley’s cobalt hen.

It was from the novice section that the award for best Clearwing and best whitewing in show came, when Rob Bray’s young cobalt hen came to the fore to win the colour award. This hen had super head quality with well-defined wing contrast and staged in good condition. Guppy & Barnes occupied the next two spots with a violet cock of good type, well prepared and a good conditioned cobalt hen of fine feather.

CRESTS OF QUALITY

Roger Carr judged the increased in entry of 78 Crests and awarded the adult C.C. and Best Crest in Show to the Crested BC President Mick Widdowson’s circular dark green cock (last year’s winner). The winner came from the largest class in the show of 21 and all were benched so the competition was very stiff. This bird had good size as well as an excellent crest. The novice partnership of Paul Cheatley & Terry Alcorn benched a circular skyblue cock of good type and crest in second place. Ghalib & Janice Al-Nasser, show officials, benched a good type tufted skyblue cock in third place. Sue & Rod Clarke staged the best any age opposite sex award with a circular grey hen.

Sue & Rod Clarke, show officials, won the young bird award with a stylish circular opaline cinnamon dark green cock of good crest and condition. Dave Moss, another show official, from the intermediate section, was second with a circular albino cock, a good solid bird with a good crest.  Alan & Gina Adams were third with a stylish circular spangle oplaine cinnamon grey green hen. Best junior any age award went to Gary Cameron.

DONOVAN FOR  SPANGLES

The Spangle Greens had a slight increase in entry from last year to 75 for Fred Wright to judge. Best spangle green any age in show went to Jerry Donovan’s super light green cock of good marking but was not in the best of condition on the day. Grant Findlay & Nick Flavell were second with a super light green hen of good marking and condition. The Thorpe & Stanley partnership benched a good double factor yellow cock in third place. Jennifer Fielding won the junior any age award in this colour.

Jerry Donovan staged another super light green cock to win the young bird award followed by Dave Gilman’s lovely double factor spangle yellow hen in second place. Sam Wildes from the novice section was third with an opaline grey green cock, which was slightly ticked.

Bob Ellis judged the 77 spangle blues, which was the same entry as last year. He awarded the best spangle blue and best spangle in show to Jerry Donovan with a super headed skyblue cock with good spangle spots but not always steady on the perch. A super headed quality cinnamon skyblue hen from the Guppy & Barnes partnership was second but could have been presented better on the day. The Cheatley & Alcorn partnership was third with a skyblue cock of good length but not of the head quality of the previous winners. Mike Peel won the any age double factor spangle white with a cock and Jennifer Fielding won the junior any age award.

Jerry Donovan made a clean sweep in the spangle section by winning his fourth CC and best spangle young bird in show with a quality skyblue hen of solid body, good head and spangle wing markings. His double factor spangle white cock was third best and best double factor spangle in show, exhibiting a good profile. A well-marked grey cock from Mick Widdowson was second. Jennifer Fielding won the best junior young bird in show with a young hen.

QUALITY IN DOMINANT PIEDS

Malcolm Freemantle judged the 72 dominant pieds, an increase in entry, and awarded Jerry Donovan’s super wide headed light green hen best dominant pied in show. A green dilute cock from Rob Bray was second which was staged in good condition and very steady on the perch. Alan & Gina Adams were third with a yellowface grey cock of good stance and spots. Gary Cameron won the junior dominant pied any age section with a blue cock.

Jerry Donovan came to the fore to win his 6th CC and the young bird award with another light green hen with plenty of width between the eyes and deep mask. Sam Wildes was second with a light green cock of good substance but had a short tail on the day. Anne & Bob Whattam were third with a skyblue cock of good style but not as big as the first two birds.

RECESSIVE PIEDS OF QUALITY

This variety had a drop of entry to 65 for Fred Wright to judge and he awarded Findlay & Flavell’s cinnamon grey green cock as the overall best pied in show beating the quality dominant pied hen. The bird possessed super face and head for the variety and was slightly lightly marked on the wings. A cobalt cock from Michael & Margaret Chapman was second of good substance but heavy on the wings. They also had a skyblue hen in third place. The bird was long but heavy on the wing marking. Ian & Pat Fielding won best dark-eyed clear any age and young bird.

Alan & Gina Adams headed the young bird section with a good grey green cock of good marking. A cinnamon cobalt hen from the partnership of Fred, Sheila & Kevin Eatwell was second, a hen of good head width but dark on the wings. Ian & Pat Fielding were third with a quality dark-eyed clear yellow cock of good size and quality.

QUALITY YELLOWFACES

Gren Norris judged the 48 yellowfaces and awarded the adult C.C. and best yellowface in show to Michael & Margaret Chapman’s cinnamon goldenface grey cock; a nice steady bird staged in good feather condition. The intermediate partnership of D & D Dunckley were second with a grey cock of quality that pressed the winner hard but for the slight flecking and being unsteady. Ghalib & Janice Al-Nasser benched the opposite sex with an opaline cinnamon skyblue hen of good face width but unsteady when judged.

The Eatwell partnership won the young bird award with a cinnamon cobalt cock of good size and width of face. A goldenface grey hen from Alan & Gina Adams was second staged in good condition but not the size of the winner. Ben Kyle, showing as a first year beginner after being elevated from the junior section, benched a cobalt hen in third place. Gary Cameron won the junior young bird award.

INCREASE IN RARES

Peter Holliday judged the increased entry of 91 Rares and was pleased to see good examples of many of the varieties in this section.

The adult winner went to a large, well-marked Texas clearbody grey hen of Findlay & Flavell with good width of head and depth of mask. Sue & Rod Clarke were second with a quality slate hen shown in good condition and good example of its variety. Cy Thorne was third with a Texas clearbody grey green cock of good size and condition but slightly over weight.

Ghalib & Janice Al-Nasser came out on top in the young bird section with a saddleback violet dark green cock staged in good condition with a deep mask and good quality for its variety; winning the overall best rare in show making it a first for this variety. The Chapman partnership was second with an Easley clearbody grey hen of good face and feather. A Texas clearbody green hen bred by novices Tony & Janet Jeffrey was third, staged in condition and good of its variety.

Best German Fallow, Mrs S. Cook; best Slate, S & R Clarke; best Texas Clearbody, Findlay & Flavell; best Easley Clearbody, C. Hawkins; best Rainbow, Findlay & Flavell; best Saddleback, G & J Al-Nasser.

QUALITY IN A.O.C.

There was a slight drop in the entry for this section to 97 for Gren Norris to judge. The winner of the any age section and best overall A.O.C. was a quality lacewing opaline yellow hen of good size and variety markings bred by Martin Bagnall. Alan & Gina Adams were second with a suffused yellow cock of good face and staged in good condition. A good coloured violet cock from J. Prothero was third.

Michael and Margaret Chapman staged a nice greywing light green hen of good depth of mask to win the young bird C.C. An opaline grey yellow hen from Thorpe & Stanley was the runner up; a good-sized bird but spoilt by slight flecking. This was followed by Rob Bray’s violet hen in third place, which had size but not width of face of the winners. The young bird opposite sex was J. Farnham’s olive cock.

Best Olive, J. Farnham; best Mauve, J. Farnham; Best Violet, J. Prothero; best Lacewing, M. Bagnall; best Greywing, M & M Chapman; best Yellow, A & G Adams; best White, M. Bagnall; best AOV Clearwing, M. J. Peel.