RUMOURS HAVE BEEN FLYING AROUND

Stories have been posted on social media about Parakeets being spotted in Southampton. 

The non-native species first became established in the wild in the 1970s after captive birds escaped or were released. 

Mostly concentrated around London and the surrounding areas they drifted across southeast of England, with regular sightings in Southampton and they can be seen all year round. 

Parakeets generally have slender bodies and long, tapered tails and colours can range from rich greens to bright yellows, reds, oranges, blues, violets, and more.  

Ring necked Parakeets are originally from India. The birds get together in large numbers, they are mostly in areas by Riverside Park and the Mansbridge area. It is likely they bred there a couple of years ago. 

Carmen Green, ecology manager at Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust says: “It can be useful for conservationists to be informed of sightings, so we would recommend people submit any records of parakeets they have seen to online data bases such as BirdTrack, Living Record or iRecord. 

Parakeets are very sociable animals and like to be together.