Yesterday I saw four rose-ringed parakeets,as they are also known, flying above my garden heading west in the direction of Reading. I have been seeing them much more frequently in recent months and it started me wondering whether they were beginning to colonise areas away from their hot-spots around London.
It would be interesting to hear from forum members in the south east of your sightings and get an impression of just how widespread they are.
Also, how are they coping in this prolonged cold spell given that they originated from South Asia and Africa. Are they invading gardens more often?
On my local BerksBirds website there was an appeal for volunteers to assist Dr Alexa Lord of Imperial College to carry out a census of these birds. She is carrying out research into the effect of this bird on native species.
Here's a couple of links if you are interested.
http://www.berksbirds.co.uk/archive/2009/11/parakeetcensus.asp
http://www.projectparakeet.co.uk/
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
We lived in Ascot for nearly 20 years and the parakeets were always in Windsor great park/ Saville gardens and their numbers were increasing year by year. I have also seen them in Hyde Park. My daughter has seen them in Bromley, Kent. in a local park.