While seasoned Londoners may be used to seeing green exotic birds flapping around the city, to visitors, parakeets can be quite the surprise.
The ring-necked parakeets to be precise, are native to sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, but made themselves at home in the capital city.
The birds were originally located in London and the Home Counties, but have now spread north, even being spotted in Aberdeen.
There have always been intriguing urban myths surrounding how the birds became London locals.
Some Londoners will insist it was Jimi Hendrix who released a breeding pair in Carnaby Street in the 60s, while others swear the birds were released from a film set at Shepperton Studios in the 50s.
Despite the public’s fondness of the little green invaders and their lore tied to the city, the birds population is booming, and some ecologists are concerned.
Iona Cunningham-Eurich, PhD student at University College London (UCL), explains why we are seeing so many of these birds in the city below.
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