They say good things come in threes, and this show season has been no exception.  First the Lizarddag in Holland, then the LCA Classic in England, and most recently, the BPC* show in Belgium.  All had excellent Lizards on display.

The BPC* covers all the recognised varieties of type and frill canaries.  There were 2347 birds on show, including many varieties that are rarely seen in the UK.  I was the judge of the Lizard canaries, and while most varieties were judged under artificial light (!!!), I was able to judge the Lizards in the foyer which had perfect natural light.  My steward was Marko Dielen from Holland, who did a superb job.  He is a train driver by profession – no wonder that Dutch trains run on time.

Here is a gallery of the birds that caught my eye.  There is one omission: the non cap gold hen of Jean Degroot (the maestro of the Belgian Lizard fraternity) which had the best rowings on show, but sadly the photograph didn’t do her justice.  There was no catalogue, but as far as I am aware, all the birds shown here were bred by Jules Etienne.

The show was judged by the British system i.e. the top seven birds in each class.  This year (and I believe for the first time) two British breeders took up the challenge and entered birds, both colour-fed and natural.  They had birds in the top seven, but this experience was all about measuring themselves against the best in the World.  They will come back stronger.

During the judging of the classes, four birds stood out: a clear cap gold hen; a broken cap gold hen; a clear cap silver hen; and a clear cap silver cock.  It was the cock that I expected to be victorious, but when it came to the finale, he crossed his wings and I had to reject him. My second choice, the broken cap gold hen, was looking tired; the clear cap silver hen was still in contention; but it was the clear cap gold hen that held her composure best.  I believe that this is the same bird that won Best Lizard at the Lizarddag.  Congratulations to Jules.

My thanks to Ronald Wauters for supplying the Liege 2015 results

Footnote:

* BPC = Belgische Postuurkanarie Club (Belgian posture canary club).