Ring Necket Parakeets

[jamiewade94]

Hi all!

Has any body ever been lucky enough to see wild Ring Necked Parakeets? I saw some in London a few weeks ago:

[JeffH]

My first sighting of Ring-necked Parakeets was when we had one in our garden here in Cambridgeshire some 30 years ago and, like you Jamie, I saw several in a south London park a few months ago.

There's now a well established wild population of these birds in this country but in very localised areas. I seem to recall reading somewhere that several thousand roost (very noisily) in trees near a rugby ground in the Ealing or Enfield area.

Jeff

[solus]

Wrong "E" Jeff - it's Esher!

[Bwrack]

Originally Posted by jamiewade94

Hi all!

Has any body ever been lucky enough to see wild Ring Necked Parakeets? I saw some in London a few weeks ago:

In this part of South East London/Kent..they absolutely abound !! though they are very common they still manage to take the eye ...recently I saw a crowd of them mobbing a grey heron....I thought that was a bit of a cheek because I still think of them as aliens !

[Seajay]

Does anyone know how fast they are spreading and to where? When they form these colonies what holds them there? Presumably some food source. Do people who have them locally have any problems with them? Are they OK with other species? It would be most interesting to hear.

Colin

[JeffH]

Originally Posted by solus

Wrong "E" Jeff - it's Esher!

Cheers Solus - I knew it started with an "E" but nearly threw Epping in as well

Jeff

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Seajay

Does anyone know how fast they are spreading and to where? When they form these colonies what holds them there? Presumably some food source. Do people who have them locally have any problems with them? Are they OK with other species? It would be most interesting to hear.

Colin

They are very widespread in many parts of the London area now + apparently increasing by between 15-30% per annum- the birds are long-lived, have no real natural predators + good recruitment of young birds.

They can be aggressive + there are anecdotal stories of individuals displacing other species from the nest sites, yet to date there's been no real evidence that other species have declined because of these invaders.

In Richmond Park where there are probably several hundred (difficult to census) there have been monthly bird count transects for c8 years now + each year there has been a large annual increase in RNP numbers, yet none of the other cavity nesters have shown a decline + a couple of these species have also increased.

There's been some concern as to whether they may have a detrimental effect on bats using trees, though again I'm not aware of any hard evidence.

These successful birds are probably here to stay, but there may be some selective controlling in the future, especially if the species comes into conflict with agriculture.

There's also the possibility of other parrots becoming established- there's a couple of small colonies of Monk Parakeet around London (now common in parts of southern Spain) + I've had a Senegal Parrot (originally a pair) around my area for over a couple of years which now associates with a RNP.

[agrumpycow]

There's a small-ish flock just outside Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. I usually hear them way before hearing them but they're not hard to spot.

It makes you wonder if they have followed the Thames as they spread, I've often heard that Red Kites tend to follow motorways as they spread.

[Seajay]

Thanks to you both. What do they feed on? They would be interesting to study and to watch the effects on the flora and fauna as they advance. They undoubtedly will it would seem. I do so hope they haven't some sort of disease that affects other species. They appear to be settling in without harm though.

Colin

[agrumpycow]

According to the RSPB their diet includes fruit, berries, nuts and seeds. It's no more specific than that so I guess as long as the numbers in a flock is so large that food supply is not limited for native species, which I doubt it would, I would presume there wouldn't be a problem.
It doesn't mention any diseases so I guess there are non known at the moment.