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Thousands of loud and incredibly charismatic green birds have been thriving in the UK and London in particular, for around 50 years now. They have been termed feral parakeets by experts, defined as an introduced, non-native wild-living species. The population of feral parakeets in our local are consists mainly of rose-ringed parakeets; a species of parakeet with a bright red beak. Males also have a dark coloured ring around their neck. These birds have an incredibly distinctive squawking call that can be heard from afar.
It seems that these birds are nature’s equivalent of marmite in the UK, as local citizens are completely divided on their opinions of them. I asked members of the Friends of Tooting Common Facebook page, whether they considered parakeets exotic beauties or annoying pests.
Here is what a few of them had to say:
Angie Leach: “I love them. We have up to 25 come a few times a day to feed in our garden. I enjoy watching (and hearing) their 'pecking order'. They are beautiful and occasionally leave us a feather or two.”
Rose Johnson: “I love them too though have had to make the bird feeders in the garden harder for them to access as I felt they were emptying them too fast and the little birds weren't getting a look in.”
David Nel: “Cull the noisy b*******.... can't stand them. They've taken over... you can hardly here any of our own beautiful song birds tunes any more.”
Tove Bellingham: “Beautiful as they are, l have read that they are way too successful and taking over habitats (nesting holes and feeding grounds), making life hard for other species. That’s why there are more and more of them. I think they need monitoring so we don’t end up with a mono culture of parakeets.”
Kate Cane: “I love that they drown out the traffic noise on the Common. And how they circle around like little flashes of brightness.”
And Nicholas Martin simply commented: “Pest”.
It is clear that there are definitely a good few issues with their prevalence in the local area. One and probably the biggest, is their impact on the populations of our native bird species. The parakeets actively compete with many native species such as woodpeckers and starlings for nesting sites and food sources. Often, due to the parakeets being bigger and louder, they will out-compete the smaller native species and this can lead to a subsequent decline in their populations. As touched on by Rose Johnson above, this behaviour is also apparent at bird feeders in gardens, with many smaller species being forced away by the parakeets.
However, their beautiful bright colours and tropical calls are a breath of fresh air in the area, and it is wonderful that so many of us can also appreciate all of the joy that they bring to our busy city lives. They have increased the diversity of bird species in our area, and although they are thriving and their populations continue to grow, the RSPB is not in favour for a cull of this species. Instead, accurate monitoring schemes are in place so that steps can be taken, when necessary, to control their numbers if they get uncontrollable and have detrimental effects on crops and other species.
A huge thank you to everyone who shared or commented on my post. The engagement it got was amazing and it has been so interesting gathering everyone’s thoughts on this controversial species!
If you would like to find out some more about parakeets in the UK please have a look at the RSPB website here: https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/our-positions-and-casework/our-positions/species/invasive-non-native-species/ring-necked-parakeets/