The Curious Tale Of The British Wild Parakeet

In the Southeast of England, there exists a thriving population of African rose-ringed parakeets. Their numbers are estimated to be around 32,000. What makes the fact remarkable, is that they are a non-migratory bird, and therefore have no business being in England.

As we were out in the park today my daughter spotted a parakeet in a tree, and we made a short video about it which you can watch below.

A Royal Introduction

As I mentioned in the video the legend for how the birds got here, stems from the filming of the 1951 epic; The African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.

The legend goes, that the birds were used for filming and then were released or escaped. The film took place in a branch of the famous Ealing Studios, called Iselworth Studios. The birds are sometimes referred as Kingston Parakeets, as they populate that area more densely than others.

Green Feathers & Purple Haze

Another legend is that Jimi Hendrix started it off by releasing a pair at his London home in 1969. However most believe this to be fanciful, although certain ornithologists claim the pair could have contributed to the current population.

In my opinion of all the legends this is the least likely to be true. I can't see how just two birds could turn into two hundred, let alone 32,000.

Stormy Weather Makes Fluttered Feathers

Yet another legend states that the parakeets first got a proper hold in London after the great storm of '87. Whereby London was battered by 200 mile an hour winds, in a then unseen meteorological event in the capital.

The thinking is that major damage was done to some large aviaries with sizeable parakeet populations, and these escaped and bred.

This is a plausible theory, however there are still some holes in it when you start drilling down into the actual figures, many of those birds would have been killed in the storm.

The Historical Truth

Parakeets were first spotted in Eastern England in 1855 and their numbers remained in the low to mid hundreds until about 1983.

Apparently by 1991 their were an estimated 1500 British parakeets living in and around the home counties of London. They went through a population boom in the late 90s to early 2000s, and there really isn't any explanation as to why.

The fact is they are clearly hardy birds and can survive England's fairly harsh winters. Although the winters in the UK get more severe the further North you are, which would explain their geographical location.

That being said, their have been more and more sightings further North recently. Prompting the UK government to set up a Parrot Watch to monitor the environmental impact, along with their effects on commercial farming.
At this point no decision has been made, but the government are not ruling out a cull.

In my mind the African Queen theory is the most pleasing, though I suspect it isn't true. There are no records for how many parakeets were used in the 1951 film, or indeed if any were imported at all.

Still though, it's a romantic and appealing vision; thousands of parakeets taking flight in an avian symphony, to mark the end of a truly epic and iconic film.

In truth the population has probably been fed by various escapes from aviaries. Those institutions hold large numbers of breeding pairs and so are perfect to seed a population.

What is particularly remarkable about that fact, is that during these escapes, parakeets won't be the only birds to escape. Other non-indigenous birds will also take to the skies, only to fall foul of an unfriendly and unfamiliar environment.

The parakeet however thrives and flourishes, I'd love to be able to take a future peek, say one hundred thousand years down the line, to see exactly what the British Parakeet will become.

Further Reading

Feral Parakeets In Great Britain: Wiki

Is Jimi Hendrix responsible for London’s parakeet population?

HAD YOU HEARD OF THE BRITISH PARAKEET BEFORE? OR PERHAPS YOU LIVE NEAR A NON-INDIGENOUS SPECIES? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!

Cryptogee