Report by George Booth

Spangles were the best supported colour at the World Millennium Convention Show held at Eastbourne with a total of 95 entries. Judge for the variety being Vic Wills from the Western Counties Budgerigar & Foreign Bird Society.

Presidents win Spangled B.B.A. Convention Trophy

The Trophy for Best Spangle in Show, presented to the Convention by The Spangled Budgerigar Breeders Association was won by the Spangled B.B.A. club Presidents, Sue and Rod Clarke with their superb Double Factor Spangle cock.

Spangle Green Series

Best Spangle in Show and winner of the Best Green Series Spangle Challenge Certificate was a good style Double Factor Green Series Spangle cock shown in excellent condition by Sue and Rod Clarke. This was a bird that was totally free of any green suffusion and marking and stood well. It had good width of head and excellent feather quality and was a worthy winner for this popular husband and wife partnership from Northamptonshire.

Spangle Green Series Opposite Sex

The winner of the Best in Show, Gavin Carter recorded another good win with his Spangle Grey Green hen which took the Spangle Green Series Opposite Sex award and also the special for 4^th best Novice. This was a bird that displayed good width of head and depth of mask, was a well marked Spangle but could have had a little better spots. It was a good overall bird with good feather and was in good condition apart from a short tail.

Spangle Blue Series

A Grey Spangle cock shown by Ghalib and Janice Al-Nasser cam out top of the Spangle Blue Series birds. This was not the biggest of birds but excelled in width of head and had a surperb face and mask. It was a good feather bird that showed style, stood well and demanded to be looked at. As is the case with many Spangles, it was let down by a poor set of spots and very faint wing markings.

Spangle Blue Series Opposite Sex

Winner of the Spangle Green Series Opposite Sex award was another bird that stood well on the day. Shown by L. & D. Stanley this was a good solid Spangle Grey hen with a nice wide deep mask. This was a hen of real quality and displayed good Spangle markings and spots, it was also a finer feather bird. Again this was a bird with a shortish tail.

The number of Spangles shown at this prestigious event shows that this is still one of the most popular varieties and the overall quality of the Spangles on display was very good. There were some birds of real quality in both size and style and many displayed all the markings and qualities so necessary in this attractive variety of bird, but as it often the case, some of the better birds were let down by poor Spangle markings. 

Challenge Certificate Winners