Jimmy Hendrix released them from his flat in Soho – Myth.
At the end of filming ‘The African Queen’ in Isleworth they were released into the wild – Not true.
The Blue Peter garden has also been blamed — along with countless other wild claims.
What are we talking about?
Ring necked parakeets or to give them their correct name Rose ringed parakeets.In all probability unwanted pets were released, or escaped, and of course the great storm that destroyed many aviaries is the most likely reason why we have these beautiful birds in the wild.
I saw my first Rose ringed parakeet in Kew gardens around 1979, almost 30 years after ‘The African Queen’ was made and you will not see any of these birds in this famous film. However, once in print, these myths continue. It was in the late 70’s that these birds really started to colonise in our area. They have now spread out in all directions reaching as far north as Manchester.
These birds are native to India where they are very common and a popular cage bird. It is estimated by the RSPB that there are now 50,000 of these birds in the Britain and they are still spreading.
Stephen Moss the producer and author who gave a talk to our residents last year told me that he had organised a camera crew to film the famous roost of over 6,000 parakeets at Esher Rugby Ground only to find that the week before they had moved en masse to Stanwell. Les