wiley

Anyone seen the many green parrots flying around Richmond Park or is it me
seeing things?

no@emails.thx

On Thu, 23 Mar 2006 03:59:07 -0600, wiley <wk40@hasnone.com> wrote:
>Anyone seen the many green parrots flying around Richmond Park or is it me
>seeing things?

It's OK - you're not going mad ... there has been a colony of
Ring-necked Parakeets in that part of England for quite a while now -
if you Google for them there are a few websites out there.

I drive through there sometimes and have seen quite big flocks around
Kempton Park, Richmond and ones and twos flying over the M4 as far
west as Slough.

The range hasn't spread out much since their introduction and I am
told this is because they are a very gregarious bird and they prefer
to roost together in large flocks.

Chris R.

David Lee

wiley wrote...
> Anyone seen the many green parrots flying around Richmond Park or is it me
> seeing things?

No you're only suffering from a normal degree of insanity! These will be
Ring-necked Parakeets (psittacula krameri - AKA Rose-ringed Parakeet)
They have been around for years in London (first recorded as breeding in
Norfolk in 1855 and Gravesend in 1969). They are officially classified as
an established introduced species in the British list. Estimated population
was around 1000 in 1986 and 1500-2000 in 1998. Since then numbers have
exploded with single flocks of up to 3000 being reported (Esher Rugby Club).

David

Bob Hobden

"wiley" wrote
> Anyone seen the many green parrots flying around Richmond Park or is it me
> seeing things?

Very common around the R.Thames area.
Local legend has it that a barge sank near Wraysbury (where they were first
seen in any numbers) and the bargee let his birds go to stop them drowning,
another is that they were used for a film at Shepperton Studios and got out
afterwards.
There are two or three species living wild in the UK but the most common is
the Ring Necked Parakeet (native to India) which is the one we get in our
garden occasionally trying to get at the bird feed. I have seen over 50
birds in one flock pass over our house going to roost in the evening and
there must be many hundreds of them locally.
Seen nesting in holes in large trees in The Savill Garden etc, Syon Park,
and there is a large colony estimated to be approx. 3,000 or so at a Rugby
Club in Esher.
They do a lot of damage to the young shoots on trees in the spring.

http://natureali.org/roseringed_parakeet.htm this site has their sound as
well.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/r...keet/index.asp
Interesting that it came out in the top 20 garden birds in London during
the great garden birdwatch.
--
Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK

MCC

On Thu, 23 Mar 2006 03:59:07 -0600, wiley wrote:

> Anyone seen the many green parrots flying around Richmond Park or is it me
> seeing things?

There's quite a large colony of ring-necked parakeets in King George VI
Memorial Park in Ramsgate, Kent.
--
MCC

e.hutton

wiley<wk40@hasnone.com> wrote on Thursday 23 Mar 2006 9:59 am:

> Anyone seen the many green parrots flying around Richmond Park or is it me
> seeing things?

If you go to Eltham Palace or Footscray Meadows in SE
London you will almost certainly see some. Several
of my friends in the Eltham/Sicup/Bexley area get them
in their gardens. Unfortunately in Petts Wood where
I live they are quite uncommon:-(.
--
Edwin Hutton (use edDOThuttonATlsaevaPOINTuklinuxSTOPnet for email)
....Grant we beseech Thee that, ... during our journeys through the
Internet we will ... treat with charity and patience all those souls
whom we encounter. Amen.From <http://www.catholic.org/isidore>