- Kingston parakeets
There are estimated to be at least 6,000
Ringnecked Parakeet (psitticula kraneri)--often referred to as the Twickenham or Kingston Parakeets--flying wild in the South London suburbs. Their specific origins are unknown, but most likely they originated from a single pair of breeding parakeets which escaped or were released in the mid-1990s. Other origins, however, have been attributed to them: the most popular theory is that they escaped fromEaling Studios , West London, during the filming of The African Queen in 1951; they may have escaped from an aviary during the 1987 hurricane; and it has even been suggested that the pair released byJimi Hendrix in Carnaby Street, London, in the 1960s, is to blame.Parakeets in Britain
Escaped parakeets have been spotted in Britain since the 19th Century, the first recorded sighting 1855. The numbers remained very low, however, until the mid-1990s, when the population appeared to start increasing more rapidly. While parakeets have been spotted as far north as
Manchester , they are most common in the South East of England and the largest population (6,000 in a single flock) is believed to exist in the South London suburbs where, until 2007, the birds nested principally in Esher Rugby Ground (known locally as "Grists"),Twickenham . The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB ) estimates that there wll be a population of 50,000 wild parakeets in Britain by 2010."Ownership" Controversy
Locally, there is some dispute over who "owns" the (wild) parakeets. Are they the "Kingston Parakeets"--belonging to
Kingston upon Thames , on the south-side of the river--or the "Twickenham Parakeets"--belonging to Twickenham, on the north? While the birds are more often referred to as the Kingston Parakeets, their more regular nesting-ground appears to be in Twickenham.External links
*http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/3869815.stm
*http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/forums/treehouse/19548-ring-nect-parakeet-psitticula-kraneri.html
*http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article1550997.ece
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