Cage & Aviary Birds Magazine

18 September 2024

We’re big on native birds this week with, on the cover, the wheatear: a superb lively chat which undertakes marathon migrations in the wild, but is quite happy in a spacious well-fitted aviary. We also learn about its gift for mimicry – and why its name is actually a bit rude! Across in the finch fancy, all-rounder Mark Jones coaches us in the football-like tactics of transfers and substitutions required for a good breeding season. Part 1 of a terrific budgie-zebbie double article introduces us to a dynamic partnership, and our regional round-ups take us to both the North-East and South-East. Lots of other regulars too – and an important heads-up for those who need to register their birds in Scotland. A bumper issue this week as we look forward to the birdkeeping jamboree that is the National Exhibition on October 6. We hear from the stalwarts at the Parrot Society and event sponsors Johnston & Jeff, who do so much every year to lay on a treat for us all. Sharing their memories of the National are Chris Smith – show co-ordinator supreme – and Austin Middlemiss, who remembers the great event back in its Alexandra Palace days. And we jump back a full century to find out how it felt to be part of the fancy (and the National) in 1924. That’s not forgetting our regular expert insights – and a memoir of a very special birdman, Bernard Sayers, who left us this year.