Alf chats with Eric Peake during our visit to Preston in the 1980s. Many of the top studs today have Ormerod birds in their background. How would I form a stud? I say a ”stud” because in Budgies there is no such thing as a strain comparable to those we have in Pigeons.

Alf Ormerod, sharing ideas with Eric Peake, during our visit to Preston in June 1984. They are put in long stock cages again with show cages on the end and left for two or three days to settle down.

Alf Ormerod, Gordon & Sylvia Hallam, Pilkingtons, Gerald Binks and Geoff Corser to name a few. There was a Newcastles outbreak at the time that led to a ban on exports so we were able to visit and check out birds without any pressure to buy.

Spangles were first exhibited as a new variety in 1976. The first Spangle to the UK was brought in by the late Alf Ormerod in 1977. Memoirs and notes written by the late Alf Ormerod states "I owned the very first Spangle which was brought to this country - despite statements to the contrary which have appeared in the fancy press". A record ...

In 1983 I obtained a quality pair from the late Alf Ormerod which started me back with Lacewings. The variety is sex-linked, like the Ino, and therefore hens cannot be split for Lacewing while cocks can.

From what has already been written about this variety by our well respected fancier, the late Alf Ormerod, and that knowledgeable Australian, John Scoble, the mutation first occurred in an aviary of a fancier in Traralgon, Victoria, Australia, who was breeding on the colony system.

Harry Bryan, Alf Ormerod and Reinhard Molkentien were among the first fanciers to obtain this new mutation. They paired the Spangles to their very best birds, they bred well, and it wasn’t long before the Spangled variety was taking top awards at shows up and down the country.

Clifton and Marion must have been one of the very first breeders in our area to have this variety, which came from the Alf Ormerod line. Our first pairing with this Spangle Opaline cock was with a quality Normal Light Green hen, which produced three rounds totalling 13 chicks of which 6 Spangles were produced.

The Club Show Greats are: 2013 Alf Ormerod, Havenhand & Ruthven, Eric Lane, Harry Bryan, Peter Sanderson and Derrick Bowley. 2014 Arthur Dexter. 2015 Frank Punchard. 2016 George Booth, Dennis Brown, Ray Brown. 2017 Eddie Geary. 2018 John Alcock. 2019 None. 2020/2021 Due to Coronavirus and there being no Club Show, there was no new banners.

I have now been involved with the Spangle mutation for some thirty years since acquiring my first specimen, a small Grey Green Spangle cock from the late Alf Ormerod during 1982. This early start just a couple of years after the first Spangles were introduced to the U.K., was supplemented in 1983 by six further Spangles acquired from the well ...