These parakeets are Britain's only naturalised parrot. Sometime during the 1960's when they were a popular caged bird, some of them either accidentally escaped or were deliberately set free in the South East of England. It was thought that they wouldn't survive their first English winter but in fact they soon aclimatised and bred and now there are huge flocks of them in some areas. I've seen the odd one very occasionally but I've never photographed one before so I was pleased to see this one. After visiting Christopher in South Croydon we then visited cousin Lynne in Kent and I spotted this in a tree in a neighbour's garden. It was quite a long way off so not easy to capture.
Quite something to see in the UK Sue. Reminds me of when we lived in Twickenham - we used to see huge flocks of these in Bushy Park. Have to admit the first time I heard about them from a friend I was convinced he'd been drinking - or gone mad - or both!! Parrots?! In the UK?!
There are loads of parakeets in Springfield Park London. Apparently they escaped from a zoo some years back and have since multiplied and spread. Good capture.
