I was back in Richmond Park at dawn this morning looking for sone good light but it wasn’t to be.  Really rather dreary. But tomorrow looks like it might be better.  On the way back to the car park I was surrounded by the calls of the local parakeets (“locally common, introduced resident”). They can’t be mistaken (my guidebook describes their voice as “Loud frenzied squeals and screeching calls, especially in flight.”  Yeup, once heard they are unmistakable - it’s an absolute racket and easily able to smother the booming calls of the red deer stags.  

Despite this, as groups of these really bright green parakeets landed into the trees (sweet chestnuts) they simply dissolved into the foliage.  I was a bit surprised to realise that their plumage is almost a perfect match to the green waxy foliage and the bright green spiky seed husk.  Most of the birds seemed to be feeding in the inner branches but `i could see one or two on the outside of the tree where they were quickly removing the nuts (big, strong bills making short work of the trees’ defences).  

The one shown here is a female (no ring around the neck).  This is a very successful bird and I’ve seen them all over the world.  Locally they can become a nuisance but, honestly, I can’t bring myself to dislike them even though I experienced a really noisy an ‘all night party’ roost at a hotel near Pretoria in South Africa on one occasion.