It is January ...
And despite the blue sky in my picture, it was very cold
So, what is this bird doing sitting in a tree by the lake near Rickmansworth?
It is a ring-necked, or rose-ringed, parakeet and is native in a broad belt of arid, tropical areas stretching from west Africa to lowland India, south of the Himalayas. However, in the 1970s a number of captive parakeets escaped or were released in the south of England and despite their tropical origin, they have proved to be able to cope with our winters, especially where food supply is more reliable.
Their numbers have grown and they are now the UK's most abundant naturalised parrot. In fact they have been calls for a cull because of concerns about their potential impact on native bird species such as woodpeckers, starlings and nuthatches. However the RSPB believes it unnecessary at the moment.
(The first of a couple of blogs this week)
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