Did you know?

What a great Easter weekend, as lockdown eases we were able to go to my sisters and see my Dad, brother in law, and nephews, sit in the garden and have a Good Friday lunch. On Saturday we had a video call with my bestie and her husband in Perth WA, followed by a visit to the care home where my eldest sister lives for a conversation through the window. Then the pièce de résistance was seeing SMD and her partner Easter Sunday. The sun had come out and so had the vast majority of the population of South London. It took us over an hour to travel two miles to Richmond Park where we met up.

Thankfully SMD is in my support bubble, and even better because of her job she has had both doses of her vaccine, so a sneaky cuddle was not out of the question, I am sure her partner doesn’t mind not having to give me a hug! 

I love Richmond Park there was no chance of getting really close to others. No sooner had we arrived the squawking of the parakeets could be heard. I thought I would devote this post to enlightening readers about the parakeet population in South London. Did you even know it even existed?

What do they look like? Well, they are ring-necked parakeets also known as rose-ringed parakeets and look like this:

 

So how did they get here? They are clearly not a native bird to the UK, and this is where the theory varies, I still don’t know whether to believe Wikipedia, the times, somebody else’s blog, or just hear say. The explanations range from

1.Jimi Hendrix released a breeding pair during a 1960s Carnaby Street stunt. Definitely not true. There's no record of the stunt. Plus, we once met Hendrix's former girlfriend Kathy Etchingham, who told us she'd never heard of the myth until recently.

2.The blighters escaped from the set of The African Queen, which was filmed at Isleworth Studios in 1951. This is the part of town where large flocks were first noticed. But that didn't happen till the mid-1990s. Where were they hiding for 40 years?

3.They made their bid for freedom in the Great Storm of 1987

4.   SaSadly, the likeliest theory is the dullest: that they escaped from multiple cages, and – being a smart, sociable and highly adaptable species – lost no time in flocking together and finding nesting sites. But whatever the truth behind their expansion, London’s parakeets are well on their way to becoming a ubiquitous feature of city life.

It is estimated by the RSPB there are 8600 breeding pairs in the capital. Parakeets are not afraid to approach humans, and often visitors can nab a photo rather close to the green coloured birds.Anyway, whatever the reason SMD had fun following them around with her camera trying to get a few shots.

We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon walk and catching up with them both hearing about their jobs.
We said our goodbyes knowing that they were both fully rested after their week of annual leave.I know this post is a little different from the norm but I thought I would share with you the story of these funny little green birds.Until Friday, keep well and stay safe.