ABOUT THE CLUB

We are an informal, friendly Club with over 120 Members, most of whom are Bird Owners &/or Breeders. Our Members come from all walks of life and live throughout Cumbria, well up into Scotland, Ireland, Yorkshire and the Midlands.
The famous Harry Sissens is one of our Members and regularly comes to give us Talks and invites us to visit
his premises to see his fantastic collection of rare and beautiful parrots.

 (We are affiliated to the Scottish Foreign Bird Club).  So, between us all there is a vast wealth of knowledge and hands-on experience to be shared.   This covers most species of Pet and Aviary Birds, ranging from Finches /
Canaries / Parakeets up to the larger Parrots, Amazons  and Cockatoos.  You should always be able to find
someone amongst our Members who keeps the breed of Bird you are interested in or would like advice about.

We invite all Bird Owners, whether you have just bought your first Pet Bird or are venturing into keeping/breeding
your first Aviary Birds or even if you have kept Birds for years, to join us.  Hopefully, we can help to broaden your knowledge and enthusiasm into keeping your Birds fit and healthy through correct management and healthy feeding regimes.  Also, to help you to recognize when your bird is perhaps not 100% because once a bird looks "fluffed-up"
or not just itself, it can in fact be much more poorly than you may realize!  They are very adept in hiding any signs
of illness until they are indeed very ill, because in the Wild, if they showed any weakness, they would soon be
caught and killed by Predators.  Therefore, the sooner you can recognize early signs that your bird is "off colour"
the better chance you have of getting it to a specialist Avian Vet and helping it on the road to recovery.

What Happens at the Club Meetings

The Club meets every 2nd Sunday in the  month at 10:30a.m. in the Village Hall in Waverton Village (Nr. Wigton)We start with Tea/Coffee and biscuits while enjoying an informal chat amongst ourselves before the Meeting starts.

At the start of the year we decide on a CALENDAR of EVENTS which will take place throughout the year, including dates for the regular Meetings.  At some of these Meetings we invite Speakers (including well-known celebrities in the Bird World + local Avian Vets).  The Talks are on a wide variety of Avian Topics and Bird species, often backed-up with Video or slide presentations.

We do Pie and Pea lunches at some of the Meetings, esp. those with Speakers. 

We have TRIPS to visit Breeders and Bird Gardens and Bird Sales both in this country and over in Holland or Belgium. 
All these Trips are subsidised by the Club, so our Members get a good Day out or a Mini Holiday for a nominal Fee.

MONTHLY NEWSLETTERS

These Newsletters are produced every Month.  They include info. from the Meeting of the month before and tell you when the next Meeting will take place.

They give Dates for Your Diary, inc. Dates of other Major (and minor) Bird Sales, Shows and Events up and down the Country, esp. those that the Club is organising Trips to.
Show Secretaries are invited to send their Show Dates and contact info. for FREE Inclusion on the Website.

We also run our own, highly successful and well-attended Bird Sale twice per year, in the Spring (Feb)
and again in September, at the Sands Centre in Carlisle. 
There are lots of Bird Feed & Equipment Stalls, incl Aviary Mesh and cages, as well as a wide variety of Birds.  

 S.P. Club Members with Email facilities receive constant News re: Birds Wanted & For Sale + other Bird-related info. 
 

 
There is a section in the Newsletter and on the club's Website, where Members can place 
Adverts for Sale and Wanted (this is Free for Everyone!) 
This is a perfect way to reach all our 130+ Members. 

We often have a "Tips & Hints" section, which we encourage our Members to share anything to do with Birds
and Bird-keeping that they may feel would be of interest of help to other Members.

These Newsletters are posted out to Members every month. 
If you have an email address, we can let you have yours over the Internet (in the form of Microsoft Word).
 

So, if this is your first foray into owning a Pet Bird, make sure you do the best for your new Pet by learning
as much as you can about how to look after it properly . . . Each Species has different needs
and dietary requirements - what you could feed an Amazon you couldn't feed a Galah!

You cannot buy a bird and leave it in a cage with just seed and water but no company 
. . (Esp. if you are out at work all day)!   At least make sure they have a radio or Television left on in the room.

A Bird is a very intelligent creature  ...  (An African Grey is credited with the intelligence of a 3year old child). 
So it needs a variety of stimulation, exercise plus a healthy and varied Diet to help  prevent it becoming bored and developing problems associated with boredom, such as Plucking, Screaming etc.  Then ultimately becoming unwell through an inadequate Diet and stressful life style.
 

 Solway Parrot & Foreign Bird Club Contacts

Click on any email address below to connect to that Person' Email
N.B.   Please ensure that you put "SOLWAY PARROT"  in the Subject Line of any Email 

Secretary  :  Babs Harbage Tel: 017687 73216  
Email:  info@solwayparrotclub.co.uk

Chairman  :  David Carruthers  Tel:  01900 603 211  
Email:  david@aestiva.force9.co.uk

Show Secretary  :  Robbie Young  Tel: 01900  822 136 
 Treasurer  :  Pauline Young                     
Email: cooleye1977@hotmail.com

Scottish Affiliated Representative :Peter Osgood Tel: 01698 342444   
Email: parrotpete@googlemail.com