Lizards a-go-go: the Amigos show 2025

Posted on 18/11/2025 by Huw Evans 5 Comments

I’ve been to bird shows in all sorts of venues: great exhibition centres, sports halls, village halls, pubs and marquees, but the Club Amigos del Canario Lizard show was the first time I’ve ever seen canaries exhibited at a dance hall. The 2025 edition was held at an hotel complex in La Carlota near […]... Read More

National 2025 BIS u/f mealy cock Gary Cook-FSS

National 2025 Best White Best O/Y LF-FSS

The London Fancies at the National Exhibition 2025

Posted on 15/10/2025 by Huw Evans 2 Comments

Show report courtesy of Andy Early, Secretary of the London Fancy Canary Club: A last minute change of heart by Gary Cook had a big impact on the London Fancy section at the 2025 National Exhibition. He sent a WhatsApp message to me on the Thursday before the show asking if he could bring four […]... Read More

Amigos 2023 getting ready for the prsntn-FSS

Amigos del Canario Lizard show 2023

Posted on 16/01/2024 by Huw Evans 2 Comments

I spent a very enjoyable weekend at El Prado at the end of October this year. You might recognise the name as home to one of the greatest exhibitions of art in the world. However the El Prado I visited was not the one in the centre of Madrid, but in Yuncler, about half an […]... Read More

Cassino, Part 1: the Associazione Ornitologica Albatros

Posted on 03/01/2024 by Huw Evans 6 Comments

The last World Show I attended was at Matosinhos, Portugal in January 2020. I was there to give the second presentation on the London Fancy in our quest for the breed to be recognised by COM. One of the OMJ assessors came up to me after the presentation and asked if I would like […]... Read More

Mission accomplished: the London Fancy recognised by COM

Posted on 10/12/202214/12/2022 by Huw Evans 15 Comments

I imagine most of my readers will have heard the news that London Fancy canary passed the final examination at the Gouden Ring show last week. The breed has been formally recognised by COM.... Read More

Nat 2021 Best spangleback (RKnowles)-FSS

The National Exhibition 2021: the London Fancies

Posted on 10/10/2021 by Huw Evans 3 Comments

These are exciting times for the London Fancy canary. We were denied a show season in 2020 thanks to lockdown, but the photographic evidence showed that the breed had made significant progress that year. Several breeders including Antonio Cientanni, Joe Coakley, Andy Early, Richard Knowles, Martin Walker and Andy Williamson had produced excellent specimens that […]... Read More

A London Fancy canary circa 1850

Posted on 03/09/2020 by Huw Evans 9 Comments

Wonderful news. A specimen of a London Fancy canary dated to circa 1850 has come to light; the holy grail for canary historians. We can thank Hein van Grouw for the discovery; he seems to have made a speciality of investigating birds that became extinct. (1) Hein’s photograph of the bird was first published […]... Read More

fine spangled sort

The London Fancy and the Lizard canary

London Fancy