Pets or Pests: Parakeets in London
I still remember the first time I saw a flock of parakeets in London. My jaw dropped, both in awe and intrigue, as these exotic-looking birds flew between the trees in my garden. The green feathered birds did not look native to the UK. Were they parrots? Escapees from the Zoo perhaps?
Turns out, I’m not the only Londoner who has been bewildered to see these bright green birds flying around the British skies. I was also right — this bird is not native to the UK. The ring-necked parakeet is actually native to West Africa and the Indian Himalayas.
How did parakeets end up in London?
Parakeets can actually be found all over the UK, including Wales and Scotland. However, they have the largest population in Greater London. This has made Londoners come up with all sorts of theories as to how these birds populated London in the first place.
One of these theories involves American Rock Guitarist: Jimi Hendrix. The rock-star was rumoured to have released a few parakeets at a show in Carnaby street in the 1960s.
Although, he did release a few birds in his show… it is unlikely that he is to blame for over 30,000 parakeets all over the UK!
Another theory is that whilst shooting the film ‘The African Queen’ the ring-necked parakeets escaped from the film set. These fun theories add to the mystery of parakeets, however, the most likely reason that there are so many parakeets in London is much less compelling.
So, how did parakeets really end up in London?
In the 1950s, Parakeets were very popular pets in Britain, mostly owned by the rich and seen as a symbol of wealth. Some parakeets were accidentally released into the wild by pet-owners. Whereas, some pet-owners purposefully released these birds back into the wild. For reasons, we can only guess, perhaps they felt guilty for keeping them in a cage…
One widely accepted reason for intentionally releasing parakeets was due to a rumour that was circulating at the time about parakeets spreading harmful diseases. This likely led to panicked pet-owners desperately trying to get rid of their pet parakeet and releasing them in their gardens.
Over time, due to plenty of bird-feeders and an increasingly warmer climate in the UK (thank you global warming), parakeets have thrived and taken over the skies of London.
Due to the nature of these birds, they are considered predators and out-compete with most birds native to the UK. This leads to the final question…
Parakeets — pets or pests?
It depends on who you ask. In parts of India, many locals would regard these green birds as pests. Parakeets tend to fly in big flocks and destroy agriculture and farmland. Some farmers may even go to extreme measures and shoot them to avoid all their crops being eaten.
Once upon a time, these birds were pets in the UK. However, since their rapid population growth (30% increase in parakeets each year in London alone!), farmers have found parakeets to be a nuisance and in 2010 they were classed as ‘agricultural pests’ by Natural England, UK Government.
Regardless of how these birds came to thrive in London and what brought them here in the first place, it is undeniable that parakeets, Britians pets turned pests, naturally bring a smile to many peoples faces — especially when seeing them for the first time.
Love them or hate them, pets or pests, these birds are here to stay.
