I first kept birds as a teenager from 1968 till 1975 mainly a mixed collection of foreign and British birds.
When I moved to Lanark in January 1992 I decided to return to bird keeping as a pastime. Providing a feature aviary in the garden and complimenting the landscaping and small garden pond. Between 1992 and 1999 I kept a mixed collection of foreign birds, with various aviaries built around a shelter ( 9 ft x 6 ft). At one time I had 5 individual aviaries.

SPECIES OF INTEREST

Parakeets, mainly Bourkes, Splendids, Turquoisines and Kakarikis together with Chinese Painted Quail and Diamond and Zebra Doves. These would remain for a number of years with breeding success in the Bourkes, Kakarikis, Diamond and Zebra Doves and Quails.
Following a lot of losses (due to worms) it was decided to change from Australian Parakeets to Lineolated Parakeets and Kakariki. This proved unsuitable, so the Kakarikis were reluctantly sold. The Lineolated were set up in a colony and were bred with a small success up until 1999 providing great pleasure and interest.
In Jan 1999 I decided to change over to softbills, rebuild the aviary and refit the bird room.

Later in 1992 an aviary built from rustic pine poles was attached to the front of the shed and was 9ft wide 8ft long and 8ft to the apex with a Victorian type facet at the end. The base was of 3x2 paving slabs extending 6ft and an area 9ft by 2ft at the end of gravel for a soak away. The rear wall was weatherboarding, a corrugated PVC roof covering the paved area and open over the gravel area. Water was collected from guttering and fed directly into a bath in the aviary. Some grasses were planted in the gravel to soften the look and give cover for the quails.
This was later complimented with a smaller aviary 6ft by 6ft at the opposite side of the bird room because of the different species requiring separate accommodation. This factor was the deciding feature in 1999 when a major rebuild took place.

REBUILD PROJECT

The design was 23 ft x 11 ft x 10 ft in the shape of a Victorian faceted conservatory the roof is 80% covered by PVC with the far end open to the rain and sun. (see opposite)
I started on 2nd January 1999 building each panel in the garage and a temporary aviary to fit inside the existing one, small enough not to hinder the erection of the new one. The construction was completely designed, manufactured and built by me.
On the 25th June 1999. It was declared open and the birds were released I watched for two hours as they explored every inch. It was amazing and very rewarding. I missed the breeding season however during the construction, the birds still tried to breed.

As a keen gardener I planted up the centre area with three conifers, bamboo, dwarf apple, birch, acacia, honeysuckle, Chilean grape vine, firethorn, cotoneasters, climbing roses small shrubs and a willow tree stump (7 ft high). There is a paved walkway all around the planted area. Some 12 hanging baskets (not shown in the photo) are in place to create a dense foliage until the permanent growth is established.
All non-natural perches are over the hard area for easy cleaning, a gravel soak away (11 ft x 3 ft and 3 ft deep 50mm graded to 20mm gravel) is at the far end.
Birds need live food so I decided three areas would be needed to culture these:

(1)Three mounds of stones, to hide fruit fly cultures, these hatch and the birds collect them, also birds seem to explore in this mound and take refuge (typically the waxbill chicks).

(2)A collection of growing plants, various plants prone to greenfly and black fly infestation (my ga rden pointed to these species).

(3)A pile of garden refuse, this was leaves, branches, twigs and banana skins (fruit fly's breed readily on these) the pile was left undisturbed. The amount of insects generated was amazing and a nest was built in the core by who I don't know.

THE AVIARY