Tropical birds flock to garden (From Harrow Times)

Tropical birds flock to garden

9:05am Sunday 10th December 2006 in News By Alex Ali

RARE tropical birds have flocked to a Harrow man's garden.

Colin Craigs, of Ventnor Avenue, Belmont Circle, has four Indian ring-necked parakeet's in his aviary at the bottom of his garden.

But over the last few months he has noticed more and more wild ring-necked parakeets flocking into his garden.

Colin's son, Robert, 21, said: "They have come here for the past year and now about 50 to 60 of them are coming at any one time.

"It's such a strange thing to see them, all you see is a sheet of green and they come from every angle.

"People who come round to the house can't believe it. You have to see it to believe it."

Ian Hayward, of the wildlife team at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said: "The ring-knecked parakeet is the UK's only naturalised parakeet, over the last 30 to 40 years, more and more of these birds have been released into the wild and have naturalised themselves.

"Their native habitats are the Himalyan foothills, so they are able to withstand the cold winter nights that we have here and the seed and fruit stuffs have enabled them to flourish."

Ian added: "They can be quite noisy though."

Ring-necked parakeets are large, long-tailed and green with a red beak and a pink and black ring around its face and neck.

Click for more information on ring-necked parakeets in London and pictures.