So familiar is the emerald flash and jarring shriek of the ring-necked parakeet (Psittacula krameri) in parts of the south-east that it is hard to imagine a landscape without them. They remain oddly exotic though, with long tails, bright red beak and pink-flushed neck ring that gives them the alternative name ‘rose-ringed’.
Equally colourful are some of the stories as to their source, although theories that they escaped the film set of The African Queen or descended from birds released by Jimi Hendrix have little substance. They have been popular pets since the time of Ancient Greece, with escaped birds recorded in Britain since the mid-19th century.
It wasn’t until the 1970s that they became truly established, with colonies appearing in suburban Surrey and Kent. Since the 1990s, numbers have exploded and their range expanded. Today, the repeated squawk, not unlike the sound of a dog chew toy, can be heard from the parks of Plymouth to Edinburgh, and they are familiar visitors to bird tables.
The UK climate might seem unsuitable for an equatorial native, but in their natural range, ring-necked parakeets are found in the cool air of the Himalayan foothills and have established feral populations in several European countries.
In Seville in Spain, greater noctule bats have declined dramatically following attacks by parakeets and calls for control are loudening there and elsewhere. Their impact in the UK is a concern for many, but one beneficiary is the peregrine falcon, which has increased in urban areas and is partial to parakeet.
Top image: Ring-necked parakeets in St James's Park on November 06, 2020 in London, England (Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
