A visit to Bushy Park in London puts me among birds that I do not regularly encounter on the home patch. These are namely Ring-necked Parakeets and Egyptian Geese. Both introduced bird species are mainly confined at present to the south and east of the country but their numbers are swelling and they are spreading. Some welcome the 'intruders' but others worry about their ecological impact but the bottom line is they are most likely here to stay.
An Egyptian Goose preening 
The parakeets present more of a challenge as they like to stay high in the trees but are easily found from their calls and can be frequently seen flying very rapidly between trees.
or just lurking
The best opportunities for photography are when they land on a trunk.
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5 comments:
That's a surprise! Parakeets in the UK. Who would have thought? Well, I guess that's a result from people having their exotic pet getting away... We have a similar problem in Florida with Pythons, Komodo Dragons and Indian Peafowl.
Great shots as always!
Cheers, Klaus
Amazing collection of photos!
Beautiful photos!! I love the goose!
Many thanks for your replies. The parakeets are a relatively recent phenomena and rapidly increasing in numbers in the London area. There are two schools of thought on them. Firstly they make a very colourful if noisey addition to our bird fauna, whereas other do not look upon the favourably due to assumed compeition iwth resident whole nesting birds. Whatever the view they are great fun to photograph :)
Cheers
Rich
Rich - the RNPs have been around in the South East for several years now. I saw my first two (above the garden) in 1985 when I moved here. Now, I have several in my garden every day and in the Spring and Summer 20 - 30 on a daily basis is nothing unusual!
I would agree, they are very photogenic but you have managed a great capture of one in flight - something that still eludes me!!! (Other than those I've captured on video)
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