Specialist & Rares Show 2006

SPECIALIST & RARE VARIETY OPEN SHOW - 2007
Report by Ghalib Al-Nasser, Show Organiser
Budgerigar Photos by Terry A Tuxford & Ghalib Al-Nasser

DSC_0314.jpg (50318 bytes)

This year’s show, the 19th Show of the Specialist & Rare Variety Open Show, was certainly not a wash out, although many surrounding areas were flooded. As always, this show had a terrific atmosphere and there was a real buzz to the weekend from comments received by exhibitors and visitors. The show received a drop in total entry to 896 of which a total of 664 birds were benched from 75 exhibitors.

There is a lot to say for the old two-day shows (this show is classified as a day & half show) as the atmosphere on the Sunday was vibrant with plenty of time for all fanciers, exhibitors and visitors to socialise and view the quality exhibits in comfort.

Once again the show received great sponsorship which is an important part of 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 & Pat Martin who sponsored the cost of all the ceramic awards to the judges and Best of Colours, which are much appreciated and sought after by exhibitors. The B.S. President Janice Al-Nasser donated a quality bird for the most benched birds in the beginner section, which once again was won by M.J. Peel. Ghalib & Janice Al-Nasser sponsored the show with the cost of printing the coloured covers for the schedules and catalogues. B.S. chairman Grant Findlay & B.S. secretary Dave Whittaker sponsored the cost of printing the schedules.

Financial sponsorship came from Mick Anzara who donated Ł50 towards the raffle prizes, with further financial sponsorship received from Geoff Capes and 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 4 coloured paintings, 24 major rosettes for the BOC winners and many other rosettes for variety winners, with all the judges receiving a lovely pen.

Other sponsorship came from Norman & June Cox, Sue & Rod Clarke, Dave Moss and Gren & Pat Norris. The following fanciers were generous with their donation of birds for the raffle; Cheatley & Alcorn, Jerry Donovan, Malcolm & Pam Freemantle, Guppy & Barnes, Pete Holiday, C & D Jones, Gren & Pat Norris, Cy Thorne, Thorpe & Stanley and Rick Watts.

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.

DSC_0332.jpg (48233 bytes)

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

Sunday afternoon was the time for trophy presentation and on this occasion the Guest of Honour was Janice Al-Nasser, B.S. President, who presented the 44 trophies together with the paintings donated by BRASEA to the winning exhibitors.

As in previous years at this show, partnerships did well in gaining 13 of the 24 CC’s on offer and 22 of the CC’s were awarded to the champion section.

Next year's show will be staged on 28^th & 29^th June (week 26).

REDEYES - LUTINOS TOP REDEYES AGAIN

I Fordham

Our guest overseas judge from Germany Richard Lehmann judged the 110 lutinos (a drop from last year by one exhibit only) and awarded the adult C.C., best Lutino and best Redeye in Show to Ian Fordham. A large good coloured cock of harmony but with yellow flights. A super buff feathered hen from Gren & Pat Norris was second and best opposite sex Redeye in show. The beginner P. Lea followed this with a good coloured cock in third place with yellow flights.

Ian Fordham had it all his own way by winning the award for best Lutino young bird and best Redeye young bird in show with an excellent large cock of good colour. This was also followed by another bird from the Fordham stud, a hen of good colour and size. C.R. Walsh was third with a quality cock staged in good condition. Best junior lutino went to Gary Cameron

Thorpe & Stanley

A J Minchin

Michael Chapman judged the 58 albinos and the Best Albino in Show went to the partnership of Andy Thorpe and Les & Doreen Stanley’s adult hen of good style with lovely white colour and head quality. Beryl Bunyan was second with a good-sized cock and head blow but was let down by the blue sheen. The beginners T & A Wilson were third with a good coloured cock of good size.

Alan Minchin from the intermediate section won the young Albino award with a large cock showing potential but slightly out of condition. He was second with a good coloured hen. The T & A Wilson partnership were third with good quality cock showing great potential but slightly short in tail. Gary Cameron won both the any age and young bird awards and also best junior any age in show and overall junior in show.

HAT TRICK FOR WHITEWING TOPPING CLEARWING AWARD

M & P Freemantle

Guppy & Barnes

Bob Allen judged the Yellow-wings while Martin Bagnall judged the Whitewings and they picked the top award from the Whitewings. There were 45 Yellow-wings and 46 Whitewings entered which was a similar number in entry in both colours from last year.

The adult yellow-wing award and best yellow-wing in show went to Malcolm & Pam Freemantle’s light green cock; a big bold bird of good wing clarity. Malcolm & Pam were also second with a dark green hen staged in good condition but slightly dark in the wings. G. F. Doody from the novice section was third with a light green cock of good style.

Dave Guppy & Dave Barnes occupied the first two places in the young bird section with a big and wide shouldered dark green cock of good depth of mask, followed by a clean typey olive green hen of slightly darker wings. G. F. Doody was third with a clear winged light green cock.

Roger Day

Guppy & Barnes

Roger Day won the adult BOC award for the Whitewing with a bold skyblue cock staged in good condition and well presented. John Harvey from the beginner section was second with a well-presented cobalt cock. Another cobalt cock from G. F. Doody was third. The best opposite sex any age award went to John Harvey’s violet hen.

Dave Guppy & Dave Barnes are regular winners at this show with their Clearwings and they won the best Clearwing in Show and best whitewing in show for the third consecutive year with a whitewing and the second year with a baby whitewing and on this occasion it was a powerful, big young cobalt cock shown in excellent condition and well presented. They also occupied second spot with a very promising violet hen. A. Beasley from the beginner section benched a lovely coloured cobalt cock in third place.

CRESTS

M W Widowson

C & D Jones

Grant Findlay judged the 61 Crests (a large drop from last year’s entry of 96) and awarded the adult C.C. and Best Crest in Show to the Crested BC President Mick Widdowson’s circular dark green cock. A bird with an impressive crest on a very well balanced bird, shown in excellent condition. The novice partnership of Cheatley & Alcorn benched a circular dominant pied grey cock in second place, which was as large a bird, well spotted and pushed the winner all the way through. Ghalib & Janice Al-Nasser, show officials, benched a tufted skyblue cock in third place, a bird with good tuft and large spots but needs more width. Cy Thorne staged the best opposite sex award with a circular dominant pied opaline cinnamon light green hen.

Cliff & Darren Jones won the young bird award for the second consecutive year with a striking circular skyblue cock with an impressive crest that will do well when fully developed. The Cheatley & Alcorn partnership occupied the next two places with a circular skyblue cock possessing a good neat crest and a half circular dominant pied skyblue hen with good width of shoulders but slightly smaller spots. Best junior any age award went to Gary Cameron.

SPANGLES

G & P Norris

Guppy & Barnes

Thorpe & Stanley

M W Widowson

The Spangle Greens suffered a drop in entry from last year to 73 for Grant Findlay, B.S. Chairman, to judge. Best spangle green and best spangle in show went to Gren & Pat Norris who benched a lovely dark green cock displaying good head quality and nice blow with good spangle bullseye spots. It was marred only by slight grizzling in the head. Cy Thorne’s good coloured double factor yellow cock, staged in excellent condition, was second best. T & A Wilson were third with a well-balanced dark green cock. George Booth had a solid dark green hen of quality as the best opposite sex any age.

Andy Thorpe and Les & Doreen Stanley staged a lovely double factor spangle yellow hen to win the award and also best spangle young bird in show. This long hen was staged in superb condition and was impressive to judge. The partnership was third with a double factor yellow cock, which had similar features to the winning hen. Splitting the two was Jerry Donovan’s light green cock with good type and backskull.

Bob Whattam judged the 77 spangle blues, which was a slight increase from last year’s entry. He awarded the best spangle blue to Dave Guppy & Dave Barnes with a large, well spotted broad cinnamon skyblue hen. Tim Neil, from the Isle of Wight, was second with his skyblue cock while Gren & Pat Norris had to be satisfied with third spot with their cobalt cock. Best double factor white was owned by Sue & Rod Clarke.

The young bird award went to Sue & Rod Clarke with a clean, well-spotted grey cock but which was not in the best condition. Bill & Lyn Bancroft were second with a skyblue hen while John Harvey was third with a skyblue cock. Jerry Donovan won the young bird double factor spangle award.

DOMINANT PIEDS

A & D Woan

J Donovan

Bob Whattam judged the 60 dominant pieds and awarded Alec & Dave Woan’s light green cock best dominant pied in show. A smart bird with good depth of mask and good pied marking. The international partnership of Bill Searle (Wales) and Terry Knott (Ireland) staged a smart cobalt cock in second place possessing good markings and condition, but without the power of the winner. Jerry Donovan’s light green hen of quality was third. Jeff Attwood once again benched his Frosted (Dutch) Pieds and won the award for best Clearflight any age and best overall. Ben Kyle won the junior dominant pied any age section with a blue cock.

Jerry Donovan came to the fore to win the young bird award with a good length and deep masked light green hen of quality. The Woan partnership was second with a cobalt cock possessing good spots but lacking in condition. Mick Widdowson occupied third place with a dark green cock. Ben Kyle staged a green cock to win the best overall junior young bird in show.

RECESSIVE PIEDS

Geoff Capes

Searle & Knott

Once again the Recessive Pied entry exceeded that of the Dominant Pied and there were 66 (drop in entry from last year) for Michael Chapman to judge. Geoff Capes staged a large dark green cock to win best recessive pied in show. This bird had good wing markings and excellent head quality. His dark green hen of good size but darker in the wings was third. Bill & Lyn Bancroft were second with a long, well marked skyblue cock. Searle & Knott won best dark-eyed clear any age and Gary Cameron was the best junior in this colour with a hen.

The Searle & Knott partnership headed the young bird section with a quality big dark-eyed clear white cock of good deportment that was the best overall dark eyed clear in show. A recessive pied light green cock bred by Cliff & Darren Jones was second of good markings and depth of mask. The Searle & Knott partnership was third with a yellowface cobalt cock of good size and wing marking. The Jones partnership benched a cobalt hen to win the best opposite sex award.

YELLOWFACES

G & P Norris

G T Booth

Richard Lehmann judged the 47 yellowfaces (slight increase in entry) and awarded the adult C.C. and best yellowface in show to Gren & Pat Norris’s powerful cinnamon grey cock; an excellent show bird staged in good feather condition and winning this award for the second consecutive year. A. Beasley from the beginner section was second with a grey cock spoilt by pinfeathers on the head. John Cosby (intermediate) was third with another grey cock spoilt by slight flecking. Bob McCabe benched the opposite sex with an opaline cinnamon skyblue hen.

The new trophy donated by the judge Richard Lehmann for best yellowface young bird went to George booth for his skyblue cock of quality. Alan Minchin’s opaline grey hen was second, staged in good condition; while the junior, Ben Kyle, benched a well-staged skyblue hen in third place.

RARES

E & M Nee

C Thorne

Bob Allen judged the 79 Rares, which had a drop in entry from last year despite the extra class for the Texas Clearbody.

The adult winner and best rare overall went to a well marked and nice type Texas Clearbody light green cock of Emma & Marstin Nee from the beginner section. Sue & Rod Clarke were second with their Easley Clearbody skyblue cock of good variety marking. Sam Wildes was third with a Texas Clearbody light green hen of good size.

Cy Thorne came on top in the young bird section with a nice deep masked Texas Clearbody grey green cock of good marking. Another Texas Clearbody and this time a stylish light green hen from Les Cutler was second followed by Pete Holiday’s slate hen of good length.

Best English Fallow, G & J Al-Nasser; best Slate, M. Hann; best Texas Clearbody, E & M Nee; best Easley Clearbody, S & R Clarke; best Rainbow, R. Day; best Saddleback, M. Anzara.

A.O.C.

R P Watts

C THorne

There was a further increase in the entry for this section to 104 for Martin Bagnall (past president of the Rare Variety & Colour BS) to judge. The winner of the any age section and best overall A.O.C. was a lacewing opaline yellow cock of immense quality staged in good condition and was a perfect show specimen bred by Rick Watts. Guppy & Barnes were second with another lacewing, an opaline white hen, of quality. Tim Neil greywing light green cock was third; another bird of quality for its variety.

Cy Thorne staged another quality lacewing, a yellow hen, to win the young bird C.C. A grey yellow cock from A & D Woan was the runner up followed by Jerry Donovan’s violet cock in third place.

Best Olive, S. Speed; best Mauve, J. Farnham; Best Violet, J. Donovan; best Lacewing, R. P. Watts; best Greywing, T. Neil; best Yellow, A & D Woan; best White, Thorpe & Stanley.

TEAMS

Only one team was benched by G & A Hill consisting of 4 Texas Clearbody opaline grey green cocks.