Results are in for Heligan’s

First Rare Breed Poultry Show

The Lost Gardens of Heligan played host to its first Rare Breed Poultry Show, with an invitation to take part opened out to all local poultry and waterfowl keepers.  There were over 80 categories and the event saw just under 700 people on the day, which was co-hosted with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, Poultry Club of GB and the Rare Poultry Society and was the third Rare Breed event to be held at Heligan this year.

“Thanks must go to the representatives from RBST, Poultry Club of GB and Rare Poultry Society who gave great assistance in the planning and delivery of the event. It was a fantastic day and we are absolutely delighted as a Rare Breed Park to be able to be a platform for events such as this within the South West.” Laura Chesterfield, Heligan Livestock Experience Manager.

Judges Kevin Dowrick and Simon James commented on the quality of the birds shown, especially the waterfowl and turkeys. Many of the birds entered met competitive show standards and were fantastic examples of these rare breeds.

Angela Kingsnorth from the RBST, who co- hosted the event commented “holding an event like this that purely highlights the rare breeds is an important progressive step for RBST in collaborating with farm parks that creatively bring rare breeds to a wide audience”.

The show received entries from 10 of the 11 heritage rare Turkey breeds, which in itself is a rare sight and makes it the third largest turkey show in the UK, held this year. Kind support was given to Heligan by Turkey Club of Great Britain, who sent rosettes for the turkey classes.

Heligan’s very own poultry made their debut in the show ring and made exciting placings with their beautiful Silver Appleyard Drake taking 1st place in the Appleyard class, their 2018 hatched Shetland duck winning the Shetland class and their lavender booted bantam winning the 2018 hatched bantam class.

Winners and results 

Best bantam- Nankin bantam cockerel, owned by William Merrell

Best Duck- White Campbell drake named Wilbur, owned by Peter Hayford.

Best goose- grey Toulouse Male, named John. Owned by Ed Whiteman.

Best Turkey in Show, and Best female Turkey- bronze hen, owned by Ian Waterman.

Best Male Turkey, crollwitzer Stag owned by Angela Kingsnorth.

Best hard feather chicken- Le Flèche hen owned by CS&S Davies.

Best child Handler- Lowen Smit Chesterfield (7) with Lavender a Booted bantam

Best juvenile – Josh Trew (13) with Millie, a Lemon MilleFleur Sablepoot.

Reserve Show Champion cup, donated by Roger Thomas, awarded to the Best Bantam.

The Heligan Show champion cup was awarded to the Best Duck.

Not a hugely cheery subject but one beekeepers need to be aware of: Asian hornets.
I’ve got a monitoring trap out at the moment and keep checking it regularly to see what’s in it.

The BBKA Asian Hornet map is updated each time a new sighting is confirmed by Defra.

There’s a video for the monitoring trap instructions here. Well worth making one. If you’re in a beekeeping group then you might already have discussed having an Asian hornet action team, and perhaps have had a day of making traps to ensure everyone has one.

The BBKA have a leaflet that has the identification information on. This can be given away to anyone who might spend time outside and might observe insects!

GARDEN-LOVERS GIFT GUIDE: Quintessentially British Christmas gifts for garden-lovers from the National Garden Scheme

Treat your garden-loving friends or family members to horticulture-inspired gifts and Christmas cards from the National Garden Scheme – and all proceeds will help support nursing and health charities such as Marie Curie, Hospice UK and Carers Trust.

Visit www.ngs.org.uk/shop to order.

• The Garden Visitors Handbook 2019

Inspire a year of garden visiting with the Garden Visitor’s Handbook 2019 – the essential guide to over 3,500 gardens opening for the National Garden Scheme next year. With detailed descriptions of every garden, stunning photos, and handy maps and calendars, all of the information you could possibly need to visit a beautiful garden is right at your fingertips!

Pre-order the handbook as a Christmas gift and you’ll receive a printable gift voucher to give to your loved one, letting them know they’ll receive the Garden Visitor’s Handbook 2019 hot off the press in February 2019.

£13.99

• Christmas cards

Send festive cheer to your friends and family with the National Garden Scheme’s range of three Christmas cards, all featuring beautiful National Garden Scheme gardens in winter.

Pack of 10 cards £4.25

• Apron, tea towel, notebook, tote bag

Whether you’d like to inject some colour into someone’s kitchen with the National Garden Scheme apron and tea towel, add to their stationery collection with a beautifully illustrated notebook or help them transport plants home from a garden visit with a canvas tote bag – your loved one will be sure to treasure one of the National Garden Scheme’s quintessentially British gifts.

Prices range from £6 – £14

Please note, last order date to receive items in time for Christmas is Monday 17^th December at midday.