Invasion of the parakeets

[Al-khiyal]

It's been a case of pretty polly up to now, but it may not be for much longer. Government scientists are to investigate the activities of the flocks of rose-ringed parakeets breeding in London's suburbs, amid rising fears that they may be harming native British bird species.

The brilliant green parakeets have hitherto been a popular sight in the parks and gardens where they are to be found, squabbling and dashing from tree to tree, in a broad swath of south London from Croydon in the east to Esher and beyond in the west. But since they first began breeding in the wild more than 40 years ago, their numbers have built up to a point where now some ecologists fear their population is exploding, with potentially damaging results. It is feared that the parakeets, which nest in holes and crevices in trees, may be displacing British tree-nesting species such as woodpeckers, nuthatches and starlings.

There is as yet no hard evidence that this is taking place, says the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). But as a precaution the society has asked the Government to investigate the risk from the parakeets under its recently launched strategy for dealing with invasive non-native species.

The strategy is focusing on troublesome plants such as the rapidly-spreading Japanese knotweed, whose eradication from the Olympics site in east London alone may cost millions of pounds, and invertebrates such as the Chinese mitten crab, which is doing much damage burrowing under the banks of the Thames and other rivers.

The rose-ringed parakeet, Psittacula krameri, which is native to a great belt of land stretching from Africa across to India and the Himalayas, is the most obvious bird which in Britain today could be seen as invasive and non-native.

No one knows how it came to start breeding in London, although it is certain to have been the result of the accidental or deliberate release of captive birds. One persistent theory is that an entire flock escaped from Shepperton Studios in Surrey in 1951, during the filming of the adventure drama The African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn.

They are now particulary plentiful in west London, especially in the wooded stretch of the Thames from Kew to Hampton Court; they have become a permanent feature, for example, at the Royal Botanic Gardens, where their sharply-loud screeching call and long flight silhouette are as distinctive as their brilliant emerald plumage.

The ecologist Tony Drakeford thinks their population must be in excess of 30,000, and rapidly expanding. He is convinced they must be displacing native birds. "Recently I went to Bushy Park where there thousands of parakeets and very few native birds," he said. But he thinks it may be too late to do anything about it. "A major cull would meet with a lot of opposition," he said.

News reports of the Government inquiry, to be carried out by the Central Science Laboratory, have prompted local paper headlines that a cull is imminent, backed by the RSPB. But an RSPB spokesman, Andre Farrar, denied the society was backing any mass killing. "We have simply asked the Government to study the situation," he said. "Some people think they are doing harm, but as yet there is no hard evidence that they are."

If it were proved that the parakeets were causing a reduction in the conservation status of native British bird species, "then a cull might be the right answer", Mr Farrar said - pointing out that of the 1,200 globally-threatened species of birds, 340 were threatened by introduced non-native species.

But, he said, at the moment the RSPB was not calling for any cull, merely for an inquiry.

Invasion of the parakeets

[Al-khiyal]

Parakeets have colonised parts of Britain so successfully that they may have to be culled to prevent them from driving away native birds such as robins and woodpeckers.

Ringnecked parakeets are native to the Himalayas but an estimated 30,000 now live in Britain, mainly in the South East.

Whitehall officials are so concerned that they have ordered a study to identify where parakeets are concentrated and what effects they are having on native birds. Among the issues to be considered is whether their numbers are sufficiently large to warrant a cull.

It is not known when ringnecked parakeets, Psittacula krameri, first escaped into the wild in Britain. They may even have been released deliberately. One theory is that they escaped from the set of The African Queen, filmed in Ealing, West London, in 1951. Other suggestions are that they escaped from an aviary during the storm of 1987, and even that the release of a pair by Jimi Hendrix in Carnaby Street, Central London, in the 1960s, may be partly to blame.

Tiny populations have been spotted in Britain since 1855, but only in recent years has the number started to increase sharply. Colonies of the birds, also known as rose-ringed parakeets, have become established across the South East, including, for years, a large roost of about 6,000 around Esher Rugby Club in Surrey. Parakeets have been seen as far north as Manchester, but only in small groups that are thought to die out because of inbreeding. In time, however, they are expected to spread more widely.

In London last year the parakeet, whose call is a sharp and carrying kee-ak kee-ak, was among the 20 most-sighted birds, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) estimates that their number will rise to 50,000 by 2010.

Yesterday the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it was working with the RSPB and other agencies to address the issue.

A spokesman for the department said: “We have commissioned the Central Science Laboratory to do a desk study of parakeet data to get a fuller picture of the issues. In the meantime, landowners can apply to Natural England [the conservation agency] for an individual licence to control the species.”

Natural England said that birds would usually be culled by shooting or trapping. A spokesman said that licences could be granted for one of three reasons, and that individuals or groups could apply.

He said: “People have to apply for a licence for a reason. One reason is conservation, another is for agriculture or to protect crops, and a third is for public health and safety.

“There is usually an escalating scale of what people can do. The first is non-lethal scaring, for example using noise or something visual to move the problem away. Then you can move up to lethal scaring, where there is a specific time-frame to shoot a certain amount of birds. Then there is population control.”

Tim Webb, a spokesman for the RSPB, said: “People are starting to have concerns about the numbers. We want to make sure that this is looked at before it becomes a major issue and suddenly we are all caught unawares. We do see a cull as a last resort, something only to be considered if a native species were to be under threat.” Andre Farrar, a colleague at the society, said that there was no evidence that native bird populations were in decline because of competition from parakeets, but the situation was being monitored.

A recent study found that of all native British birds the nuthatch is the most likely to be ousted by the parakeet. Researchers found “a suggestion” that when parakeets move into a wood, the nut-hatches move out.

The starling, which has suffered an unexplained slump of more than 60 per cent in 25 years, is also feared by some bird enthusiasts to be affected by the parakeet. Graham Appleton, of the British Trust for Ornithology, said: “One of the concerns expressed is that they might be outcompeting starlings by taking over nesting holes in trees.”

The birds are roughly the size of a collared dove and get their name from the rose-coloured ring around the throat. They have a bright red beak and distinctive pointed wings.

Some farmers in the South East have complained that the exotic species eats crops. However, with milder winters and no natural predators, parakeet numbers have grown rapidly.

The birds became so prevalent in the tall poplar trees at Esher Rugby Club that the under-17 girls team was named the Parakeets and players wear a picture of a parakeet on their shirts.

Last year the RSPB said that the birds could now be found in every London borough.

Clever – and tough like Bogart

* Records suggest that parakeets have been living in the wild in Britain since 1855, but in recent years the numbers have risen sharply

* They starred as escaping extras in The African Queen, with Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, partly filmed at Ealing

* One of the chief complaints made against them is that with their tough beaks they peel open garden feeders

* “People love them or hate them,” according to the British Trust for Ornithology. “They are either colourful or noisy, depending on your view”

* They lay three or four eggs in a hole in a tree and can live for up to 34 years. They outnumber barn owls, nightingales and kingfishers

* An invasive species, the parakeet is present in several European cities as well as Iran, Florida, South Africa and Japan

* A cull might not work. They are intelligent birds and would quickly learn to avoid guns. Poison would wipe out other animals. Gassing or netting would be costly and difficult

* In India, parakeets are believed to have been kept in captivity for 3,000 years

* They join Chinese mitten crabs, Japanese knotweed, goldfish and grey squirrels as some of the nonnative invasive creatures giving cause for concern in Britain

Population boom puts parakeet invaders on the hitlist

[Al-khiyal]

Bushy Park, London

[sakuracat]

Bushy Park, London

Thank you so much for your precious news, Al-khiyal.
In the case of Japan, in Japan's news ,I have also ever read news paper and have watched TV news that large flocks of the parakeet which became a wild bird have appeared .
They were kept originally by a human being .
However, they run away from a basket by some reason, and it seems that they became a wild parakeet .
The parakeet's viability is very stout.

[Cheba_Mami]

That is one of the few nice invasions there can be in this world.

[Cheba_Mami]

that was very predictable eh? that i would reply positive on this thread

[liberte]

I remember walking in Hyde Park a few years ago and a flock flew overhead...I thought I was hallucinating! They're lovely but very loud!