GB CHAMPION WICANI DARLING BUDS OF MAY
'Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May'....
so wrote William Shakespear ...............
but time has been kind to our Darling Bud..!!!
AGE ELEVEN YEARS....BUT TIME IS STANDING STILL..!!!
FIRST IN VETERAN BITCH...CRUFTS 2008 AGE 11 YEARS.
Linnet is now elevan years of age and our first English Champion. Her sire is Rickwood Nickolas Silver at Fernlark....winner of two Reserve CCs, her dam being the ever lovely Wicani Queen of the May...winner of one Reserve CC. Linnet is third generation home bred Wicani but can trace her ancestry back to our first ever show bitch born in 1974, and to our first affix in the breed..namely Vallymist. Linnet has aged with grace and beauty and can be found in the pedigree of many of the Collies in our Wicani worldwide family.
She has proven to be popular amongst breed specialists and all-rounders alike and at ten months of age after winning Best Puppy in Breed at the Scottish Breeds Championship show (13 Breeds) she finished reserve Best puppy in Show...the Breed judge that day was the late specialist Mr. 'Andy' Anderton (Karava) and the 'In show' awards were judged by Mrs. Pat Clayton (All-rounder)
Recent critiques:
"8 years blue merle of excellent colour, very nice head, lovely eye and expression, good conformation with excellent neck, moved well." Trevor Hayward.
"Lovely coloured blue merle put down to perfection, retaining a very nice head and expression, good reach of neck, well angulated rearquarters, moved out effortlessly, credit to her handler, best veteran in show" Hughie Jones.
and her latest critique by Mrs. P. Hutchinson after taking BIS at Northumberland and Durham Collie Club 2007
"Ch Wicani Darling Buds Of May, ultra-feminine & elegant b/m matron of correct
size & length, in tip-top condition & beautifully presented, at 10˝ years young she
can certainly show the youngsters a thing or two, coarse-textured fitting jacket of
steely blue with sufficient petticoats to finish her off nicely, good length of head, reach of
neck, back & tail, angulation is good & pasterns still have plenty of flexibility, deep chest &
good spring of rib so plenty of heart room, pleasing head with the gentlest & sweetest of
expressions, well filled foreface, good underjaw, dentition good for age, & lovely dark eyes,
ears correctly set & always at the alert, though they tend to drop a fraction low. Showed
non-stop & moved freely as conformation suggests. BIS, apparently I gave her this same
accolade some 7 years ago & my impressions have not changed"
CRUFTS critique 2008: by judge Mr Jack Wigglesworth.
" 1 Harvey’s Ch Wicani Darling Buds Of May, most lovely type of merle in superb condition, lovely head type, sweet expression, neat ears which she used continually, beautifully balanced with correct angulation & this really showed when she was asked to move. I can never recall an 11 year old move with such grace & freedom "
photo age nine years by Marja-Liisa Aapoaja
still a star....and age eleven is proving ageless and evergreen.
homeward bound on her morning walk....age eleven.
