Aussie Finch Forum

my old mate and friend to so many across our hobby Les Milton passed away yesterday .
Les died peacefully at home in the arms of his loving wife Nell and daughter Dianne .
Those that knew Les will remember him as a man generous with his time and knowledge and those that visited his home will recall Les and Nell’s hospitality. invariably after tea and scones you would find yourself out at the aviaries with Les just sitting and enjoying watching the birds
his contribution to our hobby cannot be overstated. Many of the birds we keep today would most likely not be available if it wasn’t for his efforts and a few others of his generation. In a time with no internet and very few publications at amazes me how successful he was.
Over the past 30 years I spent countless hours with Les and drove thousands of kilometers visiting other breeders , travelling to sales , collecting grasses, white ants and everything else we chase for our birds .
My kids new him as poppy Les , to me his was my old mate .
Next time I am out in the bush I will boil the billy and sit quietly with my cup of tea and just listen to the birds .
I’ll say, what was that one Les?

Very nice old bloke.
One of the genuine pioneers of finch breeding in Australia.
I can well remember my dad taking me to Les' place many times when I was an infant. Several times stayed for so long I would look at all his birds with the adults, then go back & fall asleep in the car while they kept talking birds.
He had an amazing finch collection and bred many exotic species now extinct from Australian aviculture.
He also had by far the best & most complete Australian bird egg collection I have ever seen (including museums).
I regarded Les as the last surviving long-time elder of finch aviculture in the Hunter Valley. Many years of friendship & cooperative breeding between himself, Eric Brown (Morpeth) and Tom Gibson (Weston) and their mentorship of many other finch breeders over many years put the Hunter Valley firmly on the map as the finch breeding capital of Australia for the 1960s, 70s & 80s at least.
Condolences to his family & friends.

Well said Tiaris. All though i had met him on a few occasions

Condolences to his family and friends.

Regards

Craig the AFF team.