As I left for work this morning I noticed 6 or 7 green 'parrot-ish' birds in a tree outside my flat. They were making a right old noise and were chomping away at the tree like maniac's?

There were tons of twigs all around the tree where the birdies had obviously been at it for a while?

Where have the come from? Never seen them before? and will the strip the tree bare?

They have been living in UK for years http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3869815.stm they do a huge amount of damage to trees etc where ever they settle and the noise can be tremendous. Luckily they look lovely

I suppose they are about to breed and making a hole in the tree for a nest?

They are ring-necked parakeets. They don't make their own nest holes but mainly use old woodpecker holes. That's one of the main problems with their being here - they compete (very successfully) for these tree holes with native hole-nesting species like starlings and nuthatches.

They were pretty - but noisy and had already made such a mess!!! They must have just "arrived" as I would have noticed them before.

No wonder my poor little cat was going beserk at the window this morning - she was aching to get out there and scale to tree to play with them

There are a lot of them over Kingston way in the parks round there....my in-laws even have them feeding from the bird feeder in their back garden on occasions.

I always see the parakeets when I visit Richmond Park. I go there to see the deer, but it is difficult to miss the brightly coloured noisy birds flying around!

We get them alot in our garden and we're in Hampton,so not too far from Kingston.
I heard years ago that some birds escaped while they were making a film at Sheperton studios,and they've been breeding ever since.

I'm in Islington, North London??

There are a lot along by the river in Twickenham, loads in Bushey Park, and we have them often in the trees at the bottom of the garden (Sunbury) - never heard the story about them escaping from Shepperton Studios, but I would imagine anything is possible.

They were not there when I got home last night but this morning there was 11 of them, chomping away at the poor tree!!

We've not seen that many this year - perhaps you've got ours!

I'd imagine that they would thrive quite well in London, as it is generally a wee bit warmer than the surrounding countryside, with plenty of shelter, loads of trees and loads of scraps for food.

You see a lot in London, I live in Hampstead and see them all the time, have also seen them in really built up areas like Notting Hill. There was a documentary about them on tv a while ago.

I like them, but they make some folks cross.

You can have them back - they are driving my cat crazy she has literally been trying to climb glass


I am no tree hugger but the amount they have chewed off of this poor tree in the space of a few days is astounding. It's a communial garden though so not much I can do (not that I'd do anything anyway really?? Maybe "set" the cat on them LOL)

Ohh I'm jealous - I wish we had such exotica in Nottingham!

Where I grew up in Wales we had the Welsh Mountain Zoo not far away, and there were forever winged 'escapees'. Actually, they were usually just taking a temporary holiday from the zoo as they always seemed to go back there. Anyway, we used to see allsorts; macaws, eagles, condors - it was brilliant. I even saw a hummingbird in the back garden one year at a honeysuckle - not so sure if this was from the zoo or that he'd escaped from a private aviary - but he was one of the most peculiar little things that I've ever seen.

You may well have them in Nottingham sooner or later - they are spreading fast! They arrived here in Sevenoaks (NW Kent) a couple of years ago and now I see them most days. Their native range includes cold mountainous parts of India so our winters are not a problem for them.

Are you sure your hummingbird wasn't a hummingbird hawkmoth? They are amazingly hummingbird-like, and not uncommon visitors to the UK. Check out this clip of one doing its thing: http://www.flickr.com/photos/haxhinexha/2746382957/

I grew up in Surrey and they became regular sightings.

After I moved to Caerphilly four years ago, one ring-necked or rose ringed parakeet came to our garden. There are no records of parakeets breeding in Wales but there has been the odd sighting. This could become like the Collared Dove and start spreading quite fast!!

I heard the story that a person brought these parakeets from abroad and they escaped from his avery in Wraysbury nr London. The rest is history.

That's a lovely clear video aiki. I live in Spain and get lots of these in my garden. I love to watch them.