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EAST ANGLIAN LIZARD CANARY ASSOCIATION 2009 SHOW REPORT
by JUDGE HUW EVANS
　
The East Anglian show was the first All lizard show that I attended. 1989 if I remember correctly. It was the only regular All lizard show in those days and attracted entries from all over the country. All the top breeders were in attendance, and this was the first opportunity for them to weigh up the competition, but also renew friendship. Even though times have changed, and we now enjoy four all lizard shows across the British Isles, the East Anglian has never lost that buzz that comes from being the first big show of the year.
The 2009 event was no exception Norman Reeve, Stan Bolton, John Martin, John Record and Nigel Irwin were still there twenty years on, but so were several other exhibitors who have made their mark in recent years and yet others who were just starting out with Lizard canaries. Who was going to put down a marker for the 2009 show season?
I had over 120 Lizards to judge, 25 of which were Novice birds, which is nice to see. That’s where I started in 1989, so I deceied to give them the honour of starting the 2009 show season in earnest.
Novice classes can vary enormously. Sometimes you see a host of high quality birds, on other occasions they are well off the pace. This year’s crop were somewhere in the middle, with quality of the gold’s
being pretty good, while the silvers were below average. One bird stood out, however a near-non cap gold cock benched by Peter Gooda. I would liked to have seen darker beak and legs, but never the less I instinctively felt this bird would give the champion’s a run for their money.
The champion classes started well with six clear cap gold cocks of good quality Stan Bolton went on to win this class with really nice bird excellent spangles, decent colour, dark legs and nice feather quality. It’s only fault was that the cap was a fraction too long. This augured well for the other classes. The clear cap silver cock class wasn’t quite so good. Even though the winner [ another Bolton bird] had a nice cap and good spangles, it’s colour was a bit frosty for a cock bird. And it lacked the rowing’s that I expect in a top quality specimen. The next class, the broken cap gold cock class was the best class in the entire show with sixteen entries, with real quality in depth. Some of the birds that didn’t get into the top seven displayed a quality that would have been good enough to win some of the other classes. The winner yet another Bolton bird was outstanding, spangles that never wavered throughout the show. It’s only fault was a lop sided cap, which although within the boundaries, gave the bird an unbalanced look. Stan took the 1st, 2nd & 3rd in this red hot class, and the writing was on the wall for the other exhibitors. Some got close, for example john record’s Clear cap gold hen, Andy Williamson’s clear cap silver hen, Geoff Louth’s broken cap silver hen which were all 2nd in their respective classes. Joe Coakley managed to break the Stan Bolton strangle hold with an over-year silver that had retained it’s spangles, but that was the only time Stan came second best.
Mid October is early in the year for show birds and it was obvious that some of them weren’t ready. The gold’s were clearly superior to the silver’s.
This has become a regular occurrence in recent years, and is a trend that is beginning to cause me some concern. Nevertheless, three silvers did catch my eye, two Bolton bird’s: a lovely non-cap silver hen of all round quality, and a Broken cap silver cock with super spangles. The 3rd was Geoff’s broken cap silver hen, a dark bird with some of the best rowing in the show.
When it came to judging the specials, it was an all Bolton line-up. The novice non-cap was the only bird bred by another breeder to get in the top six. In the end the clear cap gold cock edged out the broken cap gold cock for best in show award, with the non-cap silver hen taking 3rd best.
Well done Stan.

by Huw Evans Judge.