Parakeets in London

Green coloured parrots / parakeets are commonly seen in parts of London now. They are not native to the UK, they are an Afro-Asian species. They have only resided in London in significant numbers since the 1990s and are thriving.

The ring-necked, or rose-ringed, parakeet is the UK's most abundant naturalised parrot - it became established in the wild in the 1970s after captive birds escaped or were released. They are easily identified by their bright green colouration and the male of the species has a distinctive red ring around the neck.

They obviously survive the cold winter temperatures and maybe competing with the smaller native birds for food.

See more on RSPB site.

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UPDATE 2019

In Dec 2019 the media was full of these style headlines "parakeet crime map debunks myths". These are various myths about how the parakeets arrived in the UK as its never been known for sure.
See one of the many articles on BBC page.