Yesterday, walking around the grounds of the abbey at Bury St Edmunds, I found the small row of aviaries in the park. Thought that the species list may be of interest to some. The list concerns the inhabitants of each of the six aviaries, starting from the leftmost and working right: 1. Domestic canary Gouldian finch (Unsigned) 2. Zebra finch 3. Zebra finch (Unsigned) Asian blue quail African grey parrot (Signed, not seen) 4. Barraband or superb parrot Bourke's parrot Cockatiel (Unsigned) Fischer's lovebird Peach-faced lovebird (Domestic colour mutation; just one of each lovebird that are not signed specifically) Domestic dove (Unsigned) Golden pheasant (Signed, not seen) 5. Budgerigar 6. Rainbow lorikeet
Delighted to know these aviaries are still there. As a small child, more than half a century ago, I saw my first peafowl there. They also had monkeys (maybe only two individuals, possibly Vervets which were in the pet trade at the time). In mire recent years they had several species of pheasants, and even a pair or two of teal. Interested to hear anyone else's recollections of the place.
I live near Bury so have been to Abbey Gardens quite a few times and saw the bird garden in the half term on the 22/2/2022 (I think, it was a Tuesday) and took a few pictures with my phone that I might add to the gallery if I deem them good enough. I think some of the species may have changed as I don't think I remember seeing some of the species listed but of course most of them such as the Rainbow Lorikeets are probably still there as I remember seeing a pair.
I went down to the aviaries on a visit to Bury St Edmunds today, and there have been a fair number of changes to the bird list. These are the inhabitants of the aviaries, in order: 1. Domestic canary Zebra finch 2. Domestic canary Zebra finch (I think aviaries 1 and 2 may be connected, via the off-show area at the back of both aviaries) 3. Rainbow lorikeet 4. Barraband or superb parrot Bourke's parrot Cockatiel (unsigned) Domestic budgerigar Domestic lovebirds (a pair, both mostly bright yellow) Golden pheasant 5. Domestic budgerigar The sixth aviary now contains gardening equipment.
