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CLUB News & Chat |
Solway Parrot Club's Next meeting : Sun. MAY 18th 2008 10:30a.m. Waverton Village Hall, Nr. Wigton, Cumbria | |||||||
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Last Updated 20 Jul 2008
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Nest Box Designs
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We would like as many Members and their Friends as possible to attend the Rosemary Low Meeting
Wed.17th June
- Sadly 2 Local Members have had birds escaped on
them this week:
☼8th
June
BRILLIANT Turn-out of
51 Members to listen to a very interesting talk on the workings of a
Birds' Crop, crop problems, digestion and how a BIRDS' POOP can tell
you about its eating habits, digestion and state of health plus any
potential illness!!! Vicki-the-Vet (Avian Vet) gave
an illustrated Talk on a Birds' Crop and
associated problems with it and the Birds'
Digestive system right thru to the Birds' Poop,
which can tell her lots about the condition of
the bird and what's its been eating. i.e.
If the Urate part of the bird's dropping (which
is a birds urine) is white then usually all is
well but if it is off colour ie.
Yellow then the liver has been compromised and
the bird could be pretty ill.
The colour of the Main part of the dropping
usually shows the colour and texture of the
foods that the bird has been eating and is not
as indicative of health as the Urates part. It
tends to be the other way round in mammals.
☼25th May
I
get lots of emails and enquiries from people who are "new" to
keeping birds or would like to
either purchase their first pet bird or "start" their first Aviary.
They ask basic questions on
what Breed of bird would be easiest or best for them to start off
with.
Which birds would go into a mixed Aviary, safely and happily.
What to feed, how to go about breeding etc.So, I thought I would write
a Page with the
absolute Beginner
and Novice Bird-keeper
in mind.
I hope that this new page will point the New
Bird Keeper in the right direction and then they
can use other pages on the website for more in
depth information on anything they need to know
further. The page is still under
construction but I thought I would put
it on site now and add to it as time goes on.
If anyone has any thoughts or snippets you would
like to add to the page - let me know?
☼
2nd week Jan '09
Trip to the Dutch National
Show at Apeldorn in the Netherlands
Full Details
later
☼ XMAS PARTY I have had a phone call from Ken Graham, the Stocksman venue in Wigton is not available for our Xmas Social on the 5th. Dec. but it is available for Friday 19th. Dec. Have also checked with the Duo and they are also free on this night, so when you send out a newsletter can you please alter the date ~ cheers DC. ☼ 9th May - Have just put a new page on CUT-THROAT FINCHES ◄ Have a look and if you breed them and would like to add any comments or send any photos - all info etc., gratefully recvd.
☼
Sun.18th May
SOLWAY PARROT and Foreign Bird Club will
hold a DISCUSSION FORUM
EXPERTS
on AMAZONS, PARROTS & MACAWS, PARROT-Like,
LOVEBIRDS, FINCHES & CANARIES will be there,
offering advice and answering your questions on
keeping and breeding Aviary birds in general.
They are available to answer any Questions from the
audience and discuss any problems you may be
experiencing. So, feel free to come along.
You will be
made very welcome. (Non-members can join on the day)
It should prove very interesting and educational.
We couldn't use Waverton Hall for this Meeting so it didn't quite go to Plan so we will be having the Discussion Forum at a Meeting later in the Year - I will keep you all informed EVERYONE WELCOME. Bring your friends. Email: keswick.9glaramara@virgin.net Tel: 017687 73216 / 01900 603211
☼
Fri. 25th
April
Has anyone seen THE FIRST SWALLOW of the year yet????
My husband said he saw ONE in BRAITHWAITE, Nr. Keswick, Lake
District on Tues 22nd April - has anyone seen one sooner
than that? If so where and when? Let me know?
☼ Tues 22nd April - What a beautiful sunny day it was here today in the Lake District. This is what I and the birds would call the "First Day of Spring". Last year the first similar day was the 22nd Feb. So, we are running late this year! It's all these cold winds and rain we have been having that are upsetting the birds breeding cycles.The birds were full of the joys of Spring today. The cock birds were displaying to the females. The un-mated females were making all the relevant noises and posturing to attract their partners - so fingers X that things start to pick up. It could be in 2 weeks time (the average time from putting a pair of birds together and the first egg being laid) that the birds that haven't already laid, will start laying a, hopefully, fertile batch of eggs for us all. To press, quite a few club members, have had fertile eggs which ended up D.I.S. (Dead in Shell) with only a few chicks actually hatching. They have also had lots of clear eggs. (I've put a page on the website covering ►Chicks Dead in Shell as it is very disappointing when you know your eggs are "full" and then they fail to hatch. So, do have a look at the page - it may give you some thoughts as to what has gone wrong with your eggs / birds if you are getting D.I.S.
☼ Thurs 10th April :
The
Bassenthwaite
Ospreys
have returned on 10th April to the same nest site as they used
last year.
They are the same
pair as last year and miraculously arrived within minutes of
each other, which is no mean feat when you think they have flown
over 3000 miles from Africa to get here.
Last year she was
"the new female", as the original one didn't arrive. She laid 3
Eggs and all hatched in June. The chicks fledged in August and
the whole family departed for warmer climes in Africa at the beginning of September.
There are Osprey
Viewpoints, with high-powered telescopes manned by knowledgeable
volunteers, in Dodd Wood on the Bassenthwaite side of the Lake.
Then Winlatter Visitor Centre above Braithwaite, has big plasma
viewing screens with different time-lapsed views of the Nest
from the Webcams. The Webcams capture the nest-site every
10 minutes and record the moment. There is also a Live Webcam on
the Osprey Viewing Website.
There will be
"Osprey-viewing Buses" laid on this year which will be
travelling between the view points.
Tues 22nd April The latest is that the pair don't seem happy with their old Nest site and are looking round for another - just hope it's in a place where they can set up the Webcams.
Thurs 24th April
Apparently
the Ospreys appear to have chosen a new Nest-site on the east
side of Bassenthwaite Lake (they were on the West side last
year) and are using a purposely-placed platform, put there to
try and attract other migrating Ospreys to the area by the
Osprey management Team. They are now trying to put Webcams
in place.
Wed.17th June The
Ospreys have laid and hopefully hatched out chicks. The
Cameras are not as well positioned as last year as they
were in place over last year's Nest but since the Ospreys
have changed location (to the opposite side of Bass. Lake)
☼
Sun.13th April -
Members Table Top Bird Sale Day.
There was an excellent turn-out of "Buyers" but sadly not quite as
many Birds as we would have liked. But I s'pose this was to be
expected as most or your birds have been paired up by now and have
started their Breeding Programmes. ☼ We are still looking for Speakers for : 14th Sept. - if anyone has any suggestions please let me know? ☼ In the meantime, if any of you are looking for birds to either replace one you have lost or to complete your Breeding programme etc., Get in touch. You can either put an Ad on the Website or check the Breeders Directory to see if there are any local Breeders who can help you out. Failing all that I have a Data Base with all our members and the Birds they keep and breed. I don't hand out details but can put them in contact with you.
☼
Sun
June 8th
►
Vicki-the-Vet has agreed to come and give us a Talk
backed-up with a Power-point Display.
☼
HAVE
YOU ALL SEEN THE FANTASTIC PHOTO GALLERY PAGE of ALL THE WONDERFUL
BIRD PHOTOS
☼
REDRUMP PARAKEETS
☼
There
was a fairly big write-up in the Cage and Aviary birds this week
(27th March '08) on
Breeding Charts
and how useful they are to keep Records of your
Breeding Birds, what they lay, when they lay, when the eggs are due,
what hatches etc.,
☼
BIRD BREEDING CHARTS
Info
I know a lot of you will be starting to think about selecting your birds for the start of the Breeding Season.
With this thought in mind, I
formulated a Breeding Chart,
which I hope may be of use to any of you who like to keep Breeding Records
of your Birds.
i.e. when they lay, how many eggs, when they start to sit and details what hatches and of the youngsters etc.,
I have put a page on the website for you to use - or not - I hope
some of you may find it useful.
I certainly do.
If you wish to print out the Chart - simply
highlight it, go to File, press "Print" > Chose Landscape > Press the
"Selection" and click "Print". This should ensure that it's just the
Chart that is printed out and not the whole page.
If you find this sort of thing useful -
check out the Pedigree
Lineage Chart
I have created -
(i.e. Your Birds' Family Tree), so you can fill it in ~ from chicks parents' to their great-great Grandparents. Which is quite useful to have to study colours. genes and traits in your birds etc., You can then see which bird is related to which and which carry good and bad traits etc. ☼ A few Notes from the last Meeting Sun. 9th March '08
John Watson has managed to book
Rosemary Low (Author of many Parrot-keeping
books and well-know authority on many species of Parrots,
Cockatoos, Lories, to come and speak at the Club on
Sun 10th August. She's a well-sought after Speaker
and not easy to get hold of - so it's rather a feather in our
cap to have actually secured the booking, thanks to John. She is
an ex-curator of Loro Parque (well known Bird Park in Tenerife)
- we would like as many Members and Non-Members to attend that
day as Poss. So please pencil it in your diaries and onto
your calendars.
I am
thinking of getting in touch with other local Bird Clubs to see
if their members would like to come - so if you know of any bird
Clubs who may be interested please tell them and also let me
know.
We would, ideally, like over 100 to be there on the day. I have sent in a Notice to C&A re: the above and dates below - it was in 27th March issue under "Club Notices"
☼The
Trip to Peter Lockharts Animal Park on 11th May
combined with the Falkirk Wheel is filling
fast.
It was decided to charge Club Members £10 which will inc. the bus Fare, the entry to the Park and also the "snax Buffet" that would be available. The Club will subsidise and shortfall in total price - so that's a really good deal and day out. Get booking - Alan Pen is once again in charge of the Bus. Book and pay up front again please. Tel: Alan 01228 541 497 Email: :member@apennington5.wanadoo.co.uk ☼ Bus Times & Pick-up Points for the Day - on Club Calendar page
☼There is
talk of putting on a
Trip to the Dutch National Show at
Apeldorn in the Netherlands 2nd week in Jan 2009
- so that's another date to keep in mind. I will have further details and confirmation at a later date. ☼ "Raiders broke into an Aviary in Millom, West Cumbria and broke the necks of 25 birds ( 14/15th Feb) "Raiders broke into an Aviary in Millom, West Cumbria and broke the necks of 25 birds. One other bird was stolen or released. There were Budgies and Fischer Lovebirds in the Aviary at the time. A quantity of bird nests were also missing.
This
happened at the Bridge End Cafe,
Millom. The Cafe
has a garden where visitors can
watch & enjoy the birds plus
other animals. They
have had this for three years. The
Owners went to the Aviary
on Friday morning to
find all the birds
laying dead. They were
absolutely distraught at this needless act of barbarism.
They are appealing for any
information to help find the sadistic people who carried out
this appallingly cruel act on defenceless, innocent birds.
Solway Parrot Club Member,
Colin Jones
has kindly offered to donate 17 cockatiels to help re-stock
the Aviaries. The Cafe Owners were over the moon with the offer. This has helped soften the blow to a degree. If anyone out there, knows anything that would lead to the apprehension of the culprits - they would appreciate them getting in touch - sooner rather than later to give them peace of mind once the Aviary has been re-stocked." I think they may still appreciate the offer of any other surplus Birds - if any of you can help. Phone number of Russell Townsend and Gina Hine of the Bridge End Cafe, who lost the birds...is 01229 77415 Anyone with information should contact Cumbria police on 0845 330 0247 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
☼
£500
cheque donated to Air Ambulance at Sands Bird Sale Day 24th
Feb '08
☼
S.P. Club Meeting Sun
10th Feb
42 Members attended the Meeting hoping to see the Rep. from the Local Air Ambulance who was due to come and give us a short Presentation and Talk before being presented with a cheque for £500 which was raised from our Raffle of Pledges over Xmas time. Their Rep. was due to arrive at 11am, so we continued with our Meeting until then and had quite a lot of lively banter and discussion inc. the forthcoming Sale Day on 24th Feb. Sadly, NO-ONE TURNED UP!! We dissolved the Meeting at 11:45a.m and quite a few members hung on until well after 12noon in the hopes that someone would eventually arrive - but sadly no-one did. That was a really big disappointment - we had Stewart Carruthers, who is a Professional Photographer with his camera to capture the moment. I had been to the Bank and got one of those enormous cardboard cheques for the "Photoshoot" and was planning to do a Write-up to send in to the Local Press and also Cage & Aviary - which would have helped publicity for our forthcoming Sales Day as well as for the Air Ambulance themselves! David C. apparently got in touch with the Air Ambulance the following day and I still don't understand what went wrong as they said a Rep was due to attend - there doesn't seem to be an explanation as to what happened to him/her. David has rescheduled the presentation for Sale Day - not sure how it will work - so we will just have to wait and see I spose. ☼ David C's thoughts on the World Show Trip to Hasselt, Belgium - Jan 2008
The trip to the world show was
very well organised by Alan and Robbie { Judith and Pauline}
our party travelled to Hull
by car and met up with the main
party prior to boarding the ferry, everything went like
clockwork, a very pleasant
crossing. We left the ferry and
Rotterdam about 9.15 on Friday morning a very pleasant 2
hours journey to Hasselt
the site of the show.
The show is rather like the
national that used to be held in Birmingham, although the
hall was not as bright or well
lit, the staging was very well
done, we can learn a few lessons re the staging and welfare
of the birds on show.
The side hall with birds for
sale was very busy, all sales were dual priced euro and £,
the private sellers and dealers
were obviously expecting a lot
of British buyers, anyone interested in canarys and british
were amazed at the different
colours and mutations they
certainly know how to breed and feed over there, there were
a number of feed merchants
in the main hall and the choices
were eye opening.
We left the show about 4pm to
travel to our hotel in Maastricht, this was also first
class, spent a very relaxed evening
following our evening meal.
On the saturday a number
travelled back to the show {I understand it was very busy}
and the rest of us spent the day
exploring the city, very lucky
with the weather fine and dry but cold.
Sunday morning left the hotel at
a leisurely 10am. and travelled to two dealers the lads had
persuaded to open up,
then to Breda for a comfort and
coffee stop before travelling to Rotterdam for the ferry
home, another very smooth
crossing, leaving Hull about
8.30 am for home.
I cant finish without mentioning
the driver of our local coach, a very smooth journey and
very helpful and friendly.
☼ Another S.P. MEMBERS' Thoughts on the World Show Trip :
Yes, the best Bird Trip I
have been on and I've been on a lot !!!!
Everything went like clockwork the Bus Driver was
spot-on & the hotel great. Met a lot of friends.
Better than going all the way to Dover and then up to
Holland. It took the Newcastle group from
6.30am Thursday morning until 9pm Friday night, to get
to their hotel, near where we were staying - A long time
on a coach!! Good on Alan & Robbie and
every one else that helped to make it great!
thanks John
☼
I have put 9 new pages on the Website - CLICK on the following links
to have a look - (Jan'08)
☼
A GOOD
IDEA TO PROTECT A WOODEN FRAMED AVIARY FROM CHEWING DAMAGE
☼
* AC HUGHES ~ Bird Ring Manufacturer have
specified DARK BLUE for their 2008 colour
AVIARY
SHELTERS
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