Cage & Aviary Birds Magazine No.5798 How to Box Clever Back Issue

MY MATE BILL the fireman is one of the most organised people I know. This is a bloke who knows exactly how many more shifts he’s got left to work before he retires (and he’s younger than me.) When he does
retire, he knows exactly what he’ll be doing every week, till kingdom come, I think. It makes impressive pub talk. Bill’s great principle, which he loves to intone, goes like this: “If you’ve only got one plan, you haven’t got a plan.” Which is illogical, but true to life, I think. Consider the do-ers that you know, as opposed to the bods who only daydream. In my experience, people who actually realise their ambitions tend also to talk a good plan: in fact they may juggle twenty plans in the air at any one time. But the point is that out of twenty they will actually make one
happen, while the people who may write them off as big talkers sit there and listen and don’t achieve a thing. These musings were prompted by contributor Dave Brown’s account to me of his visit to the amazing garden setup created by Bristol fancier Steve Peacock, described on page 13. Dave found so much to see that it’s going to take two articles – yet that still isn’t enough to do justice to the richness of what Mr Peacock has achieved. Tucked away out of all Dave’s photos is something extra, quite unexpected and non-birdy: a little Japanese tea-house where Mr Peacock and his friends can sit and contemplate the fruits of his labours.
Hats off to this outstandingly creative birdman. Not looking good for feral ringnecks, is it? Here’s another scientific study that concludes they’re harmful to native species (see News, page 3). The evidence is a bit, er,
indirect, but that’s Nature for you. Mark my words: one of these days there’ll be a serious effort to remove them. Have a great week with your birds.