Forum Topic

Parakeets

This evening at about 6.00pm I was walking through Southfield Recreation Ground and could hear the sound of many birds chirping away in a group of trees. When I approuched the trees I realised that they were all Parakeets and there must have been over a hundred of them, possibly as much as two hundred.As I don't walk through the park very often I was wondering if anyone can tell me if this a regular event there or just a one off occurrence.Either way it was an amazing experience and a wonderful example of how much wildlife you can find in an urban area like Acton.

Bob Little ● 3978d22 Comments

the gentlemanly thing to do when people turn nasty. Your're  a gent !

Beryl Bashford ● 3974d

the gentlemanly thing to do when people turn nasty. Your're  a gent !

Beryl Bashford ● 3974d

I rest my case.

Keith Iddon ● 3976d

"Destructive and aggressive" a perfect description of yourself and mankind, btw like I give a f what you think :))

Gary Sinclair ● 3976d

You can't do much to stop them destroying the nests of the small birds who live in parks and in the wild etc. And parrots have hardly competed with man on their or anyone else's terms.If they weren't destructive and aggressive to small birds which already have squirrels, magpies, cats and idiots like you to 'compete' with, I wouldn't have a problem with them.

Keith Iddon ● 3976d

Honestly any animal that competes successfully with man on his terms is labelled by some as a pest which has to be culled. No! As Lorna says there are easy ways to stop them mobbing and taking food intended for smaller birds. I have parrot visitors and a host of small birds and they seem to live peacefully in co existenceYours PLF

Gary Sinclair ● 3976d

I've also heard that they escaped from a Pinewood film set. Another Urban myth.

Kim Rugg ● 3977d

I first spotted them in the late 70s/early 80s. The urban myth is that when Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg were living in the Kew/Syon Park/ Richmond area (not sure where), they owned a pair which were released and that started the whole thing off.  As I said, it's an urban myth but I love it.

Anne Brown ● 3977d

Whatever next?

Keith Iddon ● 3977d

There have been some trials in contraception for parakeets. When I last heard, they had sourced 50 pairs and were trialing a sort of libido inhibitor (or somesuch) but this must have been five years ago so obviously nothing very effective was done.

Sara Nathan ● 3977d

What more evidence do we need of the broken society we live in. Thank goodness we have Comrade Corbyn to put things right and heal these great social divisions.

Bob Little ● 3977d

In our garden (near Acton Town station) we seem able to coexist in a fairly harmonious way - the parakeets can only access peanuts and fat balls as I've put garden wire round the seed feeder which allows the smaller birds to access the sunflower seeds but not the parakeets. They usually comes in 2s and 3s, although numbers are larger in the middle of winter (as many as 12-15, squabbling over the food). The smaller birds just wait patiently in the adjacent trees and come down as soon as the parakeets depart. They've only been coming to the garden for the last 10 years - before that they were only audible north of the Uxbridge Road (though may well have been in Gunnersbury Park).

Lorna Dodd ● 3977d

Cant put seed out for the finches,tits and the rest any more.The parakeets just come in and take it all in one fell swoop.

Tessa Russell ● 3977d

The parakeets have been reported in Ravenscourt Park and Chiswick House grounds since the 1960s and 1970s. A history of the Stamford Brook area published in the 1990s said that they had been introduced in the late 19th century.

Derek Chambers ● 3977d

'If ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise'..;-)

Keith Iddon ● 3977d

Well thanks for shattering my illusions guy's.There's me naively thinking I've discovered something exotic on my own doorstep and all the time we're being invaded by an alien force.I wonder if the hawks they used to kill the pidgeons in Trafalger Square could be brought into sought them out.

Bob Little ● 3977d

These pests are a nightmare for small indigenous birds and should be culled imo.

Keith Iddon ● 3978d

They are in Southfield Rec every morning and usually in full voice by 7am. The pathway under the trees is evidence as it's coated with bird droppings.

Frank Dacey ● 3978d

They also damage trees. They may be pretty and exotic but they are very forceful.I witnessed a flock of them giving chase to a heron in Acton park.I have an ongoing challenge outsmarting them to keep them off my bird feeders as they can strip one down in a few minutes and intimidate other birds away from my garden.

Kim Rugg ● 3978d

Can be seen just before dusk in most Acton Parks they are making their way back  to Wormwood Scrubs.Over 1000 Parakeets return there to roost overnight

John McNamara ● 3978d

I think these are the Kew Gardens parakeets - they have invaded the open spaces of southern England and can be seen quite frequently in Acton Park too. Only problem is they are aggressive little things and have a tendency to drive out the indigenous birds.

Sara Nathan ● 3978d

They sometime put in an appearance at the bottom of my garden (Central Line in West Acton), though I've often seen flocks of them on the old Barclays Sports Ground near the North Circular.

Vlod Barchuk ● 3978d