Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

I saw a pair of parakeets - distinctive by their calls, their green coluring and the fact they they were flying in a pair - flying over the houses on the St Ann's Road side of Green Lanes, in the direction of Duckett's Common.

Parakeets are known to have gone wild in the South East of England in the mid-1960s, possibly earlier.

Until a few years ago, London's parakeets had been confined to West London (Richmond Park and the suburban Grand Union Canal), North West London (Hampstead Heath) and South East London (Gypsy Hill, Burgess Park, etc.) In late summer/early autumn last year, I started seeing them in Clissold Park, Stoke Newington, and along the Hackney Central stretch of the Regent's Canal, and heard parakeets in the skies above Alexandra Palace. I finally caught sight of parakeets above Ally Pally last week.

I'd heard what I thought were parakeets above my garden a week ago, and know I've finally seen them in the neighbourhood. They have arrived in Harringay. With so many green spaces around - Duckett's Common, Lordship Rec, Downhill's Park, Railway Fields, I'm sure they will make themselves at home. 

The West London parakeets are Indian parakeets, and the North London parakeets are Monk's parakeets. This raises the possibility of a distinctive London hybrid parakeet emerging in the near future.

Tags for Forum Posts: birds, parakeets, wildlife

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They do squawk a lot in the day, that's true, but I imagine they roost at night like other birds.

Saw about 50 parakeets in Downhills Park last Sunday evening.
I saw two this morning. They were feasting on berries in a neighbour's tree. I hadn't realised we have wild parakeets in north London now.

I've moved to Tottenham now and I see or hear parakeets flying over my garden practically every morning when I leave for work (I'm near Lordship Rec and the Bruce Castle grounds.) I see them all the time around Stroud Green Road now. It's rare not to hear them whenever you step out the door in daylight around there. I'm beginning to see bigger and bigger flocks of them there too.

I read somewhere that they're now officially pests, you cannot be prosecuted for shooting them. While they don't compete with any other birds for the sort of seeds they eat (which is why they've been so successful) apparently big flocks of parakeets are now starting to drive the more indigenous urban garden birds away from bird tables and feeding stations.

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