Canaries Month by Month: JANUARY
THE year 2021 saw UK birdkeeping place a foothold onto the ladder of returning towards normality, although it has proved to be a somewhat slippery climb.
Having come out of various Covid lockdowns and braved the betrayals of Brexit, in November and December we were thrown into further crises brought about by the now-annual avian bird flu epidemics. I was delighted to read Georgina Probert’s article in C&AB December 8, which underlined how DEFRA were no longer introducing blanket bans, and which allowed our domestic canary shows to continue.
Well, sadly, we spoke too soon and in the same month DEFRA called ahead and cancelled our Northern YCC show in Northallerton because it was near to an avian flu epicentre in Thirsk.
Really? Were our canaries truly at risk, enclosed in show cages, inside transport boxes, locked
