Les Rance, Editor, The Parrot Society UK | www.theparrotsocietyuk.org


his time last year we were experiencing Avian Flu with an outbreak in Diss in Norfolk that started on 3rd June 2017 and as African Grey parrots had been up- listed to Annex ‘A’ of CITES we are advising people on what was required from DEFRA to ensure that all Greys that are sold have the correct Article 10 papers. We had to inform people thinking of buying an African Grey that they must ensure that it had the yellow CITES documentation, it is an offence to buy a Grey if it is not correctly licenced. On 15th June 2017 Alan Jones and I travelled to the DEFRA offices in Bristol for a meeting with officers responsible for the implementation of the CITES regulations. Well in the past twelve months sellers have become much more aware of the up-listing of African Greys to Annex ‘A’ of CITES and the numbers of calls to our office on this subject have greatly reduced. However we did have a scare regarding Newcastle Disease in Belgium during the run up to this year’s National Exhibition at Stafford, this infection was in holdings of poultry and the authorities in Belgium managed to contain the outbreak and it did not arrive in the UK. We all know that bird keeping is a


04 BIRD SCENE


INTRODUCT T


| les.rance@


relaxing past-time, however, for hobbyist breeders that keep their birds in unheated aviaries through the poor weather experienced during the winter months it can also be a rather worrying time, however, with careful preparation and planning we can mitigate the worst of the weather. If aviaries are exposed to the wind then the provision of clear plastic sheeting wrapped around three sides of the aviary improves the conditions inside remarkably and at a very low cost. During the winter moths it is always important to feed your birds each day, not only to ensure they have plenty of food but also to study your birds and make sure they are not distressed by the weather conditions. Those who keep their stock in breeding rooms where they can easily turn up the heating however are in a far more satisfactory position. In this edition of Bird Scene we are very pleased to have an excellent article from Rosemary Low on the problems that mice can cause, this is very apt at this time of year because it is now that many mice are wanting to ‘move in’ and thus avoid the cold outside. There is also a nice article from Ray Holland regarding Pagoda Mynahs and his experiences with these delightful softbills. Also there is an article by myself on the


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