The ring-necked parakeet is an Asian parrot, and parrots are
not indigenous to this country - mainly because parrots prefer
warmer climates and it gets a bit nippy here in the winter.
So the first birds here must have been captured or caged
birds that escaped and then survived. That first winter must
have felt very chilly to them. But the ones who survived were
tough cookies. Now they've been here for so long that they
are classed as native to the UK.
They are bright green, noisy and boisterous yet have not
won many fans here. Notorious trashers of fruit, many bird-
lovers dismiss them as unwelcome hooligans. But they are
swift and agile flyers, and whatever you think of them, they
make a brash and colourful addition to our native birdlife.
In India, where they are native birds, they cause enormous
amounts of damage to crops, and there are concerns that this
might happen here. Their habit of occupying old nest holes in
trees could also be a problem for some of our longer-standing
native birds. But for now, these raucous green imps are here
to stay.
While I was filming the sitcom 'Black Books' in
Teddington Studios in west London around 2001, I heard a
story about how these birds came to be here. The fanciful
tale was that in 1951, some birds were brought over for
particular scenes in 'The African Queen', part of which was
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