Mike Dilger’s wildlife spectacles
The broadcaster, naturalist and tour guide shares the most breathtaking seasonal events in Britain
LITTLE BY LITTLE
ROOSTING RING-NECKED PARAKEETS
Noisy flocks of emerald-green birds are becoming an increasingly common sight in the UK
David Attenborough on ring-necked parakeets, Tweet of the Day
SURELY EVERYONE MUST HAVE HEARD of the red arrows, but Britain now has its own wild equivalent in the form of a burgeoning population of ring-necked parakeets. Impossible to miss while either tearing across the sky in British towns and cities, or when forming large and raucous winter roosts, the future for this introduced species appears to be as bright as its plumage.
Myths abound as to how this colourful addition to our avifauna first came to settle in London. One popular theory was that the birds escaped from the Shepperton Studios’ set of the 1951 film The African Queen, while another rumour was that Jimi Hendrix released a pair in London’s Carnaby Street as a gesture of peace and love in 1968. However, the more prosaic truth is that their original introduction and subsequent spread was a consequence of repeated releases and escapes from captivity. Not recorded as breeding in the wild until 1969, the most recent survey suggested that 12,000 pairs bred in Britain in 2016, with the population continuing to steadily rise.
About the size of a collared dove, with a long pointed tail and rounded head, the feature that always strikes you first when taking in the parakeets is that emeraldgreen plumage. These ‘posh pigeons’ also possess a deeply hooked and crimson-red coloured bill, with the males developing a delicate black-and-pink collar and bluish nape during the breeding season. As their flights are often accompanied by a harsh, screeching ‘kee-ak’ call, they’re also frequently heard well before being seen.
“One rumour was that Jimi Hendrix released a pair in London’s Carnaby Street as a gesture of peace and love in 1968 ”
Comprising four different subspecies in their African and Asian ancestral homes, DNA research work from the University of Kent has traced the majority of our parakeets back to populations from Pakistan and northern regions of India. In the Indian subcontinent, many of the parakeets are found in the Himalayan foothills, which may well explain why they find our winter climate such a breeze.
“The scientific community is hesitant to label these invaders as a problem”
Undoubtedly also helped by a recent run of mild winters, the parakeets’ expansion outside their core populations in north Kent and South West London must also be due to our passion for bird-feeding. Small parties will visit gardens for peanuts and sunflower hearts during winter when more natural foodstuffs are in shorter supply, but the place to catch up with large numbers is at a few, select winter night-time tree roosts.
With a December dusk approaching, birds begin arrowing towards the roost from distances of up to 25km away. As small flocks begin coalescing closer to the roost, this can turn into quite an aerobatic display where the birds tumble out of the sky down to a tree-top branch, on which they’ll spend the night. The accompanying soundtrack as the birds fly in from their feeding areas also has to be heard to be believed. In many communally roosting birds this behaviour is at least partly thought to be a mechanism for deterring potential predators, as each parakeet, for example, will achieve a higher level of personal safety by keeping in the crowd. Sparrowhawks or peregrines will find it harder to pick out a single target from among the rapidly moving flocks. Another purpose of these night-time roosts may be to serve as an information exchange, whereby birds that fed poorly during the day could potentially follow better fed birds out of the roost the following morning.
The parakeets can sometimes dominate garden bird feeders, making it harder for our smaller native species to feed, and they may also compete with nuthatches, woodpeckers and even bats for tree holes. However, the scientific community currently appears hesitant to label these brightly-coloured invaders as a problem in the UK, preferring instead to monitor the situation. So, with Christmas just around the corner, why not take a break from shopping and conduct a spot of impromptu parakeet monitoring yourself ?
Did you know?
Ring-necked parakeets have become so familiar with people in London’s parks, they will land on the palms of visitors to feed
LOOK CLOSER
Other interlopers
In amongst the massed ranks of ringnecked parakeets, do look out for the occasional monk parakeet. Hailing from the tropical forests of Brazil and Bolivia, these escapees have caused problems due to their habit of nesting on pylons and phone masts, resulting in Defra controlling numbers.
Be a citizen scientist
With ring-necked parakeets popping up in all manner of places across the UK, why not help monitor their spread by using the BirdTrack app, which is managed by the BTO, among others.
Up close and personal
Long after Ken Livingstone banned folk feeding the pigeons in Trafalgar Square, a similar situation has sprung up in some of London’s green spaces where bold ring-necked parakeets will land on the hand of anyone offering food.
NEXT MONTH
Mike shares his tips on where to see foraging wild boar