Ron Payne's Budgerigars - About The Moonraker Stud
My Pedigree
I have been breeding budgies since 1975 and have had them permanently ever since; despite two house moves. My first experience with birds came with a few small foreign finches - a visit to a local show and I could not leave the budgie section. I was hooked and soon sold the finches and purchased my first budgies. Since then three children (and two grandchildren!) have arrived and still the birds go on!
My first birds were purchased when I lived in the delightful Suffolk market town of Beccles. I can still remember the first bird, a cinnamon opaline cock bred by Frank West of Great Yarmouth. I purchased birds from here, there and everywhere (just the opposite to all the recommendations!) and remarkably bred some winners in my first breeding season. My first show was a table show at the Norwich and Norfolk BS and I was astounded to be awarded best in show with a cinnamon opaline grey green hen (bred from the West cock).
Success in the young bird section at local open shows followed and I struck up a friendship with a delightful couple, Russell and Greta Wells of North Walsham. We remained friends for many years (they were god-parents to our first child) and Russell and some friends built my first purpose-built birdroom for me. This served me well for many years and survived one house move. I was offered a builders site-hut and decided to change over. It doubled the size and despite a move from Suffolk to Swindon is still in use today, albeit with an extension.
Open Best In Show
Although I was successful showing locally at CBS shows and the odd CC at Championship Shows my first open show best in show came at the now defunct championship show staged at the Newmarket club. This was a grey green cock and we still have the beautiful cut-glass vase awarded to best in show. The one show that I really wanted to win was my local club, the Norwich and Norfolk, but success was not to come there until I had moved almost 200 miles away!
In 1987 my job took me back to my hometown of Swindon and I immediately joined the Swindon B&FBS. Roy Dixon was known as “Mr Swindon” in those days and he introduced me to many well known fanciers. In fact, Swindon had a week-end trip organised to the Blackpool area on the first week-end we were back in town. Roy could not understand why I decided no to go with them, believing that 48 hours was long enough to settle in and I couldn’t possibly be threatened with divorce if I went with them!
My first show season in Wiltshire saw real success on the show bench with this “unknown” taking best in show at the Somerset BS show and CC’s at Weston-super-Mare and Swindon. Within a couple of years I had taken a team of birds back to Norwich and won four CC’s and Best in Show!
Consecutive Wins
Perhaps my most enjoyable success was consecutive best in shows at Somerset with a grey-green cock. The first year he was a breeder and then an adult. The year he won it as an adult I took best breeder with a nephew and best opposite sex adult with his mother! Unfortunately, that proved to be the end of that particular family as they proved almost impossible to breed with. Just the odd chick here and there and the family was lost within three years.
In 1994 I bred another family, including grey-green and grey cocks that were successful on the show-bench. Indeed, the grey cock took best-in-show at Swindon but again the family were almost infertile.
In 1997 I was left a percentage of a fellow fanciers birds in his will, some 20 useful birds but they did not mix with my own birds. The quality dropped alarmingly but the vitality and fertility shot up! I have worked with these birds since then, with a few good birds coming from John Thornton before he unfortunately died just as his stud was coming to fruition.
Since then I have started another family of birds based on the late Jim Moffatt’s line. This is starting to come along nicely and I have high hopes for the future.
BS Judge
After much deliberation I decided to apply to go on to the BS Judges Panel. I was extremely fortunate that most of my nine subsidiary engagements with full panel judges were a delight to fulfil with some real great guys helping me along. People like Roy Aplin, Gren Norris, Geoff Bowley and Ricky Watts having great patience with me and passing on many useful tips and much knowledge. One of my fondest memories and most poignant was my final engagement at Sough Midlands BS with Mick Wheeler. Mick was full of his forthcoming trip to South Africa and was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, Mick did not return from SA, collapsing and dying out there.
I successfully took my final test at the BS Club Show and was fortunate to be awarded the top judge trophy, something I felt very honoured to receive. I have enjoyed my judging experiences, culminating in 2002 with invitations to judge the BS Club Show and the Specialist and Rares Show. Most enjoyable.