ALTON bird man Derek Holloway and fellow aviculturalist and brother-in-law Ernie Oakley are celebrating another good season of showing and breeding cage birds.

For Derek, 68, who has been keeping and showing birds since he was 14, this has become an all-consuming hobby.

A former Courage brewery worker, and later taxi driver, Derek currently has around 80 birds, all British bred but originating from far-flung corners of the world, including Pekin robins whose native home is in the Himalayas, soft-bill zosterops from tropical Asia, and zebra finches from Australia.

And he loves nothing better than to show them.

In more recent years, he has teamed up with Ernie, a former pigeon breeder who, when he moved to Alton in 2014, decided to change his allegiance and together they do the rounds of the cage bird shows, starting with the New Forest Show in July and ending in February, to give way to the breeding season.

This year they have won more than 300 rosettes with their feathered friends, adding to their tally on January 7 when they competed at Carshalton Cage Bird Society Open Show where they picked up awards in four classes, including Best Current Year Bred Parrot Lookalike and Best Zebra Finch.

A member of Aldershot and Totton, Guildford and Reading Cage Bird Societies, according to Derek, some shows may attract as many as 500 birds, with up to 100 in a class, so the competition is tough.

On a good day, Derek may take up to 20 birds to a show, most of which provide an opportunity to buy and sell, and are a lifeline for breeders like himself.

Having gleaned years of pleasure from keeping and breeding his own birds, Derek is keen to encourage young people, like his 22 grandchildren, to get involved.

The shows run special classes for junior exhibitors, aged from eight to 16, and he likes nothing better than visiting local schools to talk to the children about how to care for cage birds and about the enjoyment he has derived over the last 54 years from a hobby that was once more commonplace but one that is now becoming quite rare.

Although there was a time when it was possible to buy birds quite easily from around the world, the majority of birds are now homebred and while he tries to replicate the environment in which his birds would have lived, because they are all used to and have adapted to the UK climate, he doesn’t invest in such luxuries as special heating.

A former steward at the NEC Championship Show, his joy is in caring for his birds, in sitting outside on a warm day and listening to their song, and to breeding birds which take championship awards at cage bird shows across the country.

“They are all superheroes to me!” he said.