Escapee Parakeets

14/09/09

50 Ring-necked parakeets came to visit my garden of my previous home in Surrey a few weeks ago. I spotted them from out of my old bedroom window as I was finishing a painting. Suddenly I heard a sound that reminded me of being somewhere exotic, the squawking couldn't be coming from the usual garden birds. I looked out of the window up to a tree top where there were many of these little green lively parakeets.

A memory came back to me, I had seen a number of these parakeets a good few years ago in Richmond Park, so I was fascinated to discover that they now live nearby! They were flying to and from the tree displaying their distinctive long green tails, adding to this scenic setting in the bright summer evening light.

The following day when I headed back to London, I was walking on Acre Lane in Brixton when a flock of eight flew over my head adding a flash of green to the grey sky. I really hope I have further sightings soon but I am not sure what happens to them in the Winter.

So, I did't manage to photograph the parakeets this time but I did finish my Woodland painting (above) while I was waiting for them to appear.

Suggestions as to how the parakeets are in the UK include that perhaps they escaped from Shepperton Film Studios when 'The African Queen' was being filmed 1951, maybe they were accidentally released from quarantine at Heathrow Airport in the 1970s or that they are the descendants of domestic pets which escaped from their owners' cages. My favourite suggestion is that they derived from a pair released by Jimi Hendrix in Carnaby Street in the Sixties as a symbol of peace.

It is nice to have the parakeets here, although there are concerns that they could threaten our native wildlife. I hope they can all survive successfully together, it seems that this is working as the parakeets have been here for quite a while.

On the subject of birds, the most beautiful bird I have ever seen is the Asian White-tailed Paradise Fly-catcher. I saw this beauty on the Kinabatangan river in Borneo and discovered it is incrediably rare. A couple we met had actually travelled here specifically to find this particular bird and were outraged when me and my dive buddy reported our sighting! We thought it was funny but I could relate to their frustration. I imagine it is comparable to being the only ones on a dive boat not to see the whale shark.