Cull of the parakeets

Flocks of parakeets which have colonised parks and back gardens in south-west London, Surrey and Kent could be culled.

The move is prompted by fears that the estimated 30,000 invaders from India and sub-Saharan Africa are putting indigenous birds at risk.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said today that gamekeepers could be licensed to shoot or poison the roseringed parakeets to protect native species such as woodpeckers, owls, starlings and robins that have to compete for food and nesting space.

Other options for controlling the numbers - parakeets are now in the top 20 of the most-spotted birds in the UK - include introducing a predator or a virus to kill them off.

A Defra spokeswoman said: "We are looking at ways of working with the RSPB and others to tackle this problem. We have commissioned the Central Science Laboratory to do a desk study of available parakeet data to get a fuller

picture of the issues." RSPB spokesman Tim Webb said the parakeet population was at a worrying level and a cull would be the safest way to reduce it.

However, he added: "The idea of introducing another species or a virus to control the population of the parakeet is an absolute no-no.

"Our indigenous species eat the same foods, share the same environment and would have no resistance to any introduced species or virus. Poisoning would be too blunt an instrument and could result in the deaths of native birds."

Mr Webb said that, at 16 inches long, a parakeet was larger than many garden species so shooting them "should not prove too difficult". But he added: "Of course, many people would be distressed to see any animal shot.

"It would have to be done sensitively, if possible, but the problem is that these birds like to hang out in people's gardens so the cull could be a very public affair."

Ecologist Tony Drakeford, who lives close to Bushy Park, where the number of parakeets has increased by 30 per cent in the past year alone, said: "They are very pretty and exotic birds but are having a serious impact on our woodland tree-crevice nesters.

"There is no rightful place or ecological niche for these birds."

Mr Drakeford predicted the parakeet population would treble by the end of the decade if action was not taken.

He said: "Something needs to be done with immediate effect but the options are complicated. In the past we have managed to control the rapid growth of other wild animals. With Canada geese we pricked the eggs to prevent offspring and with grey squirrels we dished out the birth-control pill. But these types of solution just won't work for the parakeet. There will be a tremendous outcry if we cull them but it may be our only hope."

But Gary Wilcox, founder of charity Birdline UK Parrot Rescue, said: "To shoot or poison these beautiful creatures would be very cruel.

"They have lived here for 40 years and this is their home as much as it is home to any other species. I would be disgusted if a decision were made to slaughter them."

Parakeets can live for more than 30 years and nest high up in trees. They are robust and adaptable and have learned to survive our winters. They have an unmistakable squawk.

Where did they all come from?

The most common theory on how rose-ringed parakeets started breeding in the wild in the UK is that an entire flock escaped from Shepperton studios, Surrey, during the filming of The African Queen in 1951.
The film, which starred Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, right, used a variety of exotic birds and animals shipped in to recreate the jungle. It is thought around 20 birds vanished from an aviary on set.
Other suggestions are that a pair were released by Jimi Hendrix in Carnaby Street in the Sixties as a symbol of peace, or that they are the descendants of domestic pets which escaped their owners' cages.