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.

Attract birds to your garden with Haskins’ top tips on creating homemade bird cakes

Haskins Garden Centres has released some top tips on how to create decorative homemade bird cakes.

Birds forage for food in the winter as they need high fat foods to provide energy and survive the colder nights.

Alasdair Urquhart, plant advisor at Haskins Garden Centre, Ferndown, said: “Looking after your feathered friends this winter can be a fun and rewarding activity for children. Help them out by creating high energy treats.

“This simple recipe takes just 20 minutes to complete and you can use up all sorts of kitchen scraps such as bread crumbs, dry porridge oats and grated cheese. These homemade cakes are a fun alternative to our premium, pre-mixed food for bird feeders, available at all Haskins centres.”

What you’ll need

• Bowl
• Saucepan
• Spoon
• String or twine
• Grease-proof paper
• Cake shapes or cookie cutters

Ingredients required

• Lard or suet
• Wild bird seed, peanuts, bread and cake crumbs, oats, currants, sultanas or grated cheese

Method

• Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl, using a ratio of one part fat to two parts dry mixture.
• Gently melt some lard or suet in a saucepan and add to the dry mix. Stir well to ensure all the fat is absorbed and the mixture sticks together.
• Place a sheet of grease-proof paper onto a tray and lay out the cookie cutters and cake shapes.
• Spoon a half layer of the warm fat mixture into the moulds and place a long loop of string on top.
• Then fill the remaining mould to sandwich the string.
• Leave to set in the fridge overnight.
• Push the shapes from the moulds.
• Hang the cakes in a tree or shrub and wait for the birds to arrive.

Haskins Garden Centres are located in Ferndown in Dorset, West End in Southampton and Roundstone and Snowhill in West Sussex. For more information, visit www.haskins.co.uk.

The Gardman Poppy feeder  is lovely – and it can

Help Gardman Wild Bird Care Raise £200,000 for The Royal British Legion

Gardman Wild Bird Care has partnered with The Royal British Legion to help raise £200,000 for serving members and veterans of the UK Armed Forces and their families with the launch of an official Poppy Bird Feeder and charity Wild Bird Seed Blend… What Gardman say: Over the past year Gardman have been working with The Royal British Legion to create a stunning cast iron Poppy Bird Feeder. Through sales alone we have set ourselves the challenge of raising £200,000 for The Royal British Legion by Remembrance Sunday 2016. So help them and buy a gardman poppy to feed the birds in your garden today!