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Similar Faroese goose, Cnemophilidae, New Caledonian lorikeet, Green parakeet, Cantabrian capercaillie | ||
The Kingston parakeets, also known as the Twickenham parakeets, are feral rose-ringed parakeets (Psittacula krameri) that live in the suburbs around Kingston and Twickenham, South West London, England, and around some european cities numbering at least 6,000 in the UK, with some estimates suggesting the UK population could be as high as 50,000 individuals. The origins of the flocks are subject to speculation.
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Origin of the flocks
How the parakeets came to be living wild in England is not known. Consistent with the dates of their first widespread photography is that a pair of, or probably more, breeding parakeets escaped or were released in the mid-1990s. More specific introduction theories have been published such as that:
Parakeets in Britain
Escaped parakeets have been spotted in Britain since the 19th century, the first recorded sighting being in 1855. The numbers remained very low, however, until the mid-1990s, when the population appeared to start increasing 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, Esher. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) estimated that there would be a population of 50,000 wild parakeets in Britain by 2010.