Reports from UK national newspapers, The Daily Mail and The Telegraph, tell of plans by Natural England to relax the rules protecting Ring-necked Parakeets.  Natural England has officially designated the bird as a pest under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, meaning it is legal to shoot it without a licence. From January 2010, it will also be possible to destroy nests and take eggs, as long as there is proof that the animal is causing a nuisance to agriculture, public health and safety or the conservation of other wild birds.

The birds – which are thought to number around 40,000 in London and South-East England – have been blamed for destroying crops and bullying smaller native species in the hunt for food and nesting space, but the London Wildlife Trust said there is ‘little evidence’ that a cull of parakeets – with their bright green plumage, red beaks and ear-piercing screech – is justified.

The Trust said a cull was ‘misguided’, and raised the possibility of similar-looking indigenous birds, like the green woodpecker, being at risk of being shot in error.

Mathew Frith, Deputy Chief Executive of London Wildlife Trust, says: “The evidence is scant, and our view is that there are already existing licence arrangements that can be used if parakeets are damaging cherry trees, for example, in a farmer’s orchard. I think this is just jumping the gun. We also know that green woodpeckers look like parakeets. They’re very bright green when they fly. This could be yet another reason for people to cull other birds.”

Mr Frith did, however, add: “I quite like Ring-neck Parakeets, but I’m lucky I don’t have to live near a flock. When they fly they look like Spitfires.”

Matthew Heydon, Natural England’s licensing expert, said: “It’s true that at the present time the scale of this problem is relatively minor. That is because the birds are relatively limited in their distribution, but as they spread out of London, you can expect the problem to get more severe.”

The exemption from the Wildlife And Countryside Act 1981 will allow ‘owners or occupiers of land’, or their agents, to kill or take the birds, provided it is done in a ‘quick and humane manner’.

Other species added to the ‘general licence’ hit-list include the Monk Parakeet from South America, which can occasionally be found in the northern Home Counties, the Canada goose and the Egyptian goose. All three are considered to pose a threat to native wildlife, public health or public safety. They join woodpigeons, crows and magpies on the list of birds that can be legally shot without special permission, if damage is being done.

The Chief Executive of Natural England, Helen Phillips, said there was a ‘vital’ need to control exotic and non-native species.  ‘Non-native species are a major threat to global biodiversity and it is important that licences can operate as an effective tool in helping to tackle the problem,’ she said.

However, Matthew Heydon, a licensing expert at Natural England, warned that homeowners could not shoot parakeets without special reason.  He said: ‘We don’t want people or kids going out with air rifles taking pot-shots at these birds. It has to be done humanely and for a proper purpose.’

Grahame Madge, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, was confident that the new rules would not be abused.  “Parakeets have been causing localised problems to some fruit growers and this will allow them to control the birds without a licence,” he said.  “There is no suggestion that Ring-necked Parakeets are currently posing a threat to native wildlife. However, lessons from around the world have taught us that non-native species have caused extinctions around the world. Non-native species even had a role in that most iconic of extinction stories – the demise of the dodo. So, we have to remain vigilant.”

The Ring-necked Parakeet was brought to the UK from India, but nobody is quite sure how they actually came to be in the wild. One theory is that they escaped from Shepperton Studios in Surrey, during filming of the 1951 movie, The African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.

Another is that  a pair escaped from a container at Heathrow airport.  The rocker, Jimi Hendrix, is also said to have released two parakeets as an alternative symbol of peace in the 1960s.

Since they started breeding in the wild in 1969, the Ring-necked Parakeet has become London’s 15th most common bird. They nest so early in the year – often in January – that they use up the good holes and nest boxes, driving away native species such as woodpeckers. In Esher, Surrey, one roost has an estimated 7,000 noisy birds.

Also known as Rose-necked Parakeets, these birds were kept as pets by the Ancient Greeks and Romans.
They originate from the foothills of the Himalayas – so can cope with the chilly British weather.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1217403/Open-seas ….
www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6227531/Parakee…
www.rspb.org