Increasing flocks of parakeets spotted in West Sussex

Sightings of the birds – which for years have colonised a number of London parks – are being reported in and around Crawley and Horsham. The parrot-like birds have been spotted at Ifield Wood, Faygate, Rusper and Warnham.

And local resident Carole Furmanski says she has ‘hundreds’ of the brightly coloured birds visiting her garden. “We’ve never before seen as many as we have this year,” she said. “We’ve seen a couple of hundred at one time. It’s amazing to just look out the window and see so many.

“Just seeing a tree full of parakeets has been quite special.”

She said she first spotted a few of the birds around four years ago “but this year the flocks are big and noisy. I think they’re roosting here – most activity is early morning and around five or six o’clock in the evening.

“Every day we are seeing multiples. They seem to be eating the seeds and the nuts from our trees – we have acorns, hornbeam and ash.

"I’m enjoying seeing them but I know they are controversial. I know they can be disruptive.”

Carole received mixed reactions when she shared her sightings on social media. Most people responded with delight but some condemned the parakeets as ‘invasive, aggressive, vermin.’

One woman said: “I love them!! The most I’ve ever seen is six but for the last few years only three, so this is wonderful.”

Another said: “I’ve had three on my bird feeder today in Horsham. There is a flock nearby as I hear them at dusk every night but haven't managed to pinpoint their exact location as yet.”

Parakeets are the UK's only naturalised parrot. They are medium-sized with a green body, long-tail and red beak. They can live between four and six years and are one of the most vocal birds in the parrot family.

They have been in Britain since the 1800s and are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

There are a number of theories of how the birds started to thrive in London. One is that some birds escaped from the West London set of the 1951 film The African Queen. Another was that famed musician Jimi Hendrix released a pair in London’s Carnaby Street in the 1960s.

But whatever their origins, the birds boomed in the capital and have been moving slowly south ever since.