The Rose ringed Parakeets of Kensington Gardens 3rd July 2018

Rose ringed Parakeets are a non native species of parrot that has become naturalized in England since 1969 when captive birds either escaped or were deliberately released and they have increased ever since, so that as of 2015 the population in the UK was 31,100 and is likely to be even more now.

They are normally native to Central and West Africa and the Indian sub continent and it is considered that the birds now breeding and thriving in Britain are of the sub species that inhabits India. They are robust and can easily withstand British winters and as a consequence their numbers are continually increasing. Their raucous calls and bright green plumage, together with the fact they are essentially an urban bird, mainly concentrated in the populous southeast of England, means Rose ringed Parakeets have become a familiar bird to those living in London and the counties around the city. I can recall going to see a huge roost of 6000 birds at Esher Rugby Club in Surrey some years ago and also hearing and seeing them flying around every day when I worked at London Heathrow Airport. We even have a small population in Oxfordshire at Henley and there are now other small, scattered populations in Liverpool, Studland in Dorset and south Manchester.

The media, usually ill informed but when did that ever get in the way of a good story, are occasionally fond of suggesting they need to be culled as they breed in holes in trees and consequently may have a deleterious effect on British hole nesting bird species such as starlings and woodpeckers but there is no suggestion this is going to happen, although the situation is being monitored by the RSPB.

My wife goes to London once a week on business and she came back from one of these trips to inform me that on walking through Kensington Gardens by The Serpentine, to view a huge waterborne modern sculpture by Christo called The Mastaba, she came across a mass of tourists feeding some Rose ringed Parakeets, that were so familiarised with humans they were flying down from the surrounding trees and perching on the tourist's heads, arms and hands as they held out apples for the birds to feed on.

I felt that I too would like to go and see The Mastaba and at the same time I could also take in the parakeet/tourist experience which was only a few hundred metres away from the sculpture. So the following week I accompanied my wife to London and made my way to Lancaster Gate and crossed into Kensington Gardens.

It was another day of sunshine and warmth in this marvellous and so very welcome summer we are experiencing as I walked by The Serpentine and through the populous gardens. I could be in no doubt as to where the parakeets were, for soon their loud, harsh cries could be heard as they regularly rent the air. Walking in the direction of the calls and on turning a corner I discovered a mass of tourists, mainly from abroad, judging by all the different languages being spoken, standing under the overhanging trees holding out apples to which the parakeets were attracted, flying down to perch on their arms and then sidle down them to feed out of their hands.

Some even perched on the heads of people and two, maybe three at a time, would perch on someone, bickering amongst themselves as they fought to eat a proffered apple or fighting over discarded apples on the ground.

I estimated there were between twenty to thirty parakeets present, perching in the trees, screeching loudly, peering down from the branches above and then, presumably when they fancied some more apple, flying to perch on the tourists outstretched arms. In the sunlit trees the parrot's yellowish green  plumage merged surprisingly well with the sun dappled leaves of the trees they chose to perch in, so that, often, they were hard to notice until they moved.

It was quite a scene and obviously gave great pleasure to the tourists, especially the children and a free meal to the parakeets. More importantly it also provided a rare opportunity for people, especially the children, who will be growing up into a world where disconnection from nature  is becoming ever more prevalent to connect with the natural world for absolutely free and enjoy a moment of intimacy with a wild creature. 

The majority of parakeets that I could see appeared to be females or young birds and I could find only a few adult males amongst them but what beautiful birds these males are. Basically you could call them green but the varied shades of green, its intensity in places such as on the head and shot with bluish iridescence on the tail made it far from the mundane. Under the tail and wings the feathers were lemon yellow and on the head a rose pink half collar wrapped around the side and rear of the bright emerald green head, the collar suffused by a blush of palest blue and the other half of the collar, black this time, ran under the neck and formed into a black bib. Top this off with a raspberry pink bill and long pointed tail and you have a real looker.

Male Rose ringed Parakeet

Oh! I did  see The Masataba which  was huge, almost too big for its surroundings and dominated The Serpentine. A truly amazing sight. I also had time to view Henry Moore's sculpture The Arch on the opposite side of The Serpentine before I left, so felt my day in London had also been a success culturally.

The Mastaba by Christo

The Arch by Henry Moore

On the way home I reflected on whether the parakeets would be so well attended come the winter months but who wants to think about that while the sun shines on and the air is warm and balmy every day.






























  

Wood Whites 2nd July 2019

I decided to try a different wood today rather than go to my favourite Bernwood Forest for my usual fix of Purple Emperors, so made my way to Bucknell Wood, owned by Forestry England and which is near Silverstone, in the nearby county of Northamptonshire. It was another perfect day of sunshine and I got to the wood just before nine in the morning and headed up the pleasant main ride through the wood. What a pleasure it was to walk it with no dog walkers anywhere to be seen, such a contrast to Bernwood. I had the place virtually to myself.

I had come here to try and find a valezina type Silver washed Fritillary which is a rare aberration in which the normal bright ginger colouring is replaced by greenish grey brown. It sounds dull but believe me when you see one it is very much the opposite. There were masses of Silver washed Fritillarys speeding up and down the ride, searching the vegetation for females and occasionally stopping to feed on the profusion of bramble flowers growing on the verges but sadly there was only one fleeting view of a valezina.

Silver washed Fritillary

Three  remarkable sights did greet me however, the first being a profusion of White Admirals. During the whole morning I counted almost thirty, easily the most I have seen in any wood, mainly nectaring on the bramble flowers, often three or four to a bush. They do not possess the macho personality and striking colouring of a male Purple Emperor and their flight is slightly less powerful and more diffident but they could still glide through the glades and up the ride with some energy and speed but always looking graceful as they alternately flicked and then glided on horizontally held, dark brown and white wings. 

White Admirals

The second remarkable sight to greet me was the large number of Purple Hairstreaks that were also flying around or crossing the ride, flying up from brambles into the higher parts of the trees, although some were content to remain almost at ground level.The grey undersides to their wings, caught momentarily by the sunlight were made to appear even paler than normal, almost silver, betraying their presence as they flew erratically in a wild whirling flight across the ride and between the trees on either side.

Purple Hairstreaks

The third sight was totally unexpected, as on walking further to where the ride came to a more open area and a cross road of tracks, I came across some Wood Whites, a butterfly I have not encountered for a very long time. Small and almost a transparent white, like tissue, a couple fluttered with their characteristically weak flight along the verges. It was the last real chance for me to see them this year, part of a first brood that was nearing the end of its time but here they were, for today at least, fluttering hesitantly amongst the yellow flowers of Meadow Vetchling, one of their food plants. Its flight is slower than the other whites so its wings can be seen to be oval and are attached to a pencil slim body.

Wood White

They are the smallest and most fragile looking of the white butterfly species found in England and by far the rarest, although Northamptonshire remains one of its last few strongholds. It is estimated that colonies of Wood Whites in Britain now number no more than fifty in total and most  consist of only a small number of butterflies and are very vulnerable to disturbance and habitat loss. A familiar story to all butterfly enthusiasts

I watched a female going about her task of laying her eggs, fluttering endlessly around the yellow flowers of Meadow Vetchling growing by the track until she found the precise spot to lay her egg, carefully curving her fat egg filled abdomen under the leaf to deposit a single egg and then fluttering to search for the next suitable flower or leaf, never straying very far from her original location.

Of course there were visitations from a number of H.I.M. His Imperial Majesty, the Purple Emperor, throughout the morning too.

I saw up to nine, one of which looked to be a female, sailing around some Sallows looking for somewhere to lay her eggs but for the most part all kept to the trees, perching on leaves or flying up the ride and through the trees. One, a male, did settle briefly on a bare part of the track, enough to tantalise with  the merest flash of his purple magnificence before he was up and away, swooping through the trees.