Parakeets in Scotland (1 Viewer)

[Stonefaction]

Ring Necked Parakeet is the one bird I have on my life list that I don't have on my Scottish list and I'd like to sort that if at all possible. Numbers do appear to be creeping up year on year in Scotland. Does anyone have details on (semi-)reliable sites for them (preferably as precise as possible - particularly parts of parks etc). Headed west tomorrow, so Glasgow area is main focus of question, but info on anywhere else in Scotland is very welcome, just in case we miss out.

 

[edenwatcher]

Are they tickable in Scotland yet Barry?

Rob

 

[Stonefaction]

Under my own list rules, Rob - yes. |:d|

 

[david kelly]

Are they tickable in Scotland yet Barry?

Rob

According to the latest Scottish Birds, Category C, so yes.

David

 

[allanpcameron]

I had someone say they had seen them in Tollcross Park in the east end of Glasgow. There's a wee zoo type thing there and I was told the parakeets were around there. However, this is second hand at best. I've never been there to look myself.
Hope it helps.
Allan

 

[JTweedie]

Keep an eye on sightings at Victoria Park - they've been there for the last two years. I'd recommend signing up for the SOC Clyde Birds mailing list if you're an SOC member https://www.the-soc.org.uk/local-branches/clyde/.

 

[Stonefaction]

Thanks for the info.

 

[JTweedie]

29 parakeets reported in Victoria Park yesterday morning. I'm going to head over today to see if they're still about.

 

[allanpcameron]

I took a walk through Victoria Park today looking for the parakeets. For all I've lived in Glasgow most of my life it was my first visit to the park. There's a boating pond which had a family of mute swans, a number of mallards and tufted ducks, coots, moorhens and little grebe (pictured). Quite a lot of black headed gulls were around, probably some other gulls too. Around the trees were long-tailed tits, great and blue tits, chaffinch, goldfinch, robins, blackbirds. There were a good number of Redwings around and some Fieldfares (photos). A sparrow hawk flew over, and disturbed a couple of birds. I focused on the hawk, but would be pretty sure by the silhouettes and the cries that they were parakeets. However, I didn't see them through the binos and they didn't reappear. So the chances are there are parakeets there, but I can't positively say there are.
Allan

 

[gilbouk]

I used to live across from Victoria Park, Glasgow and used to visit regularly. There are loads of parakeets there but they can be difficult to spot. Toward the back of the park in the trees that lie inbetween the park and Victoria Park Drive South, and also within the enclosed pond and garden area behind the main pond. Listen out for their shrill squawking which gives their location away. In summer just past there were over a dozen and they have been known to bully the magpies.

 

[Acanthis]

Didn't know we have a self-sustaining population here in Scotland!
I've been fascinated following the progress of certain cat.c passerines on the continent using eBird's mapping but hadn't gotten around to looking at parrots yet.
The parakeet is not even on my British list yet so a trip down the M8 is on the cards.

 

[allanpcameron]

Success at last! I managed to get a good view of at least six parakeets in Victoria Park this afternoon. Unfortunately only had my binoculars and a mobile phone, so the silhouette photo is the best evidence I can provide. But I had some really good views in flight and on trees, so my positive identification is clear, after all they are pretty unmistakable for anything else! Chalk that up as a lifer.
Allan

 

[JTweedie]

Good stuff.

 

[Dougster800]

NEWBIE here. One male in East Kilbride this week.

Friendly wee chap too!!

 

[Dougster800]

Been a while since I used VB but trying to attach image file.

(It worked, daily visitor in EK)

 

[delia todd]

A lovely picture that Dougster. Excellent!

Maybe they'll come to Blairgowrie yet LOL.... never saw the London ones, they weren't really there when I lived there.

 

[JTweedie]

Talk of culling the Victoria Park parakeets.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-47911103

 

[Gander]

There has been a Rose-ringed (Ring-necked) Parakeet popping up in Kirkcaldy for a few years. Most sightings have been at Beveridge Park, so when reports of two parakeets at the park were made this week, I decided to have a go seeing them.
This morning, I headed out at six to beat the dog walkers. The park is only 5 minutes drive from my house, so I was soon parked up and heading for the area they had been reported in. There was no sign of the parakeets, but I knew I was in the right spot, as I had been told that they have an ongoing feud with a pair of magpies, and the magpies were very evident.

I hung around in the target area for 10 minutes or so, before deciding to broaden my search. I had hardly taken a a dozen steps though when I heard the distinctive call, and a parakeet flew into one of the trees adjacent to me. It perched for 30 seconds or so, but sadly I could only get blurry photos, as the camera refused to focus through the obscuring twigs around the bird.

When the bird took flight again, it headed at speed across the playing fields. On its way, it was joined by a second bird, but I was unable to confirm if it was another parakeet.

I know they are an invasive species, but I quite like the idea of having a few about.

 

[JTweedie]

I was out looking for the ring-necked duck in Bingham's Pond, Glasgow today and bumped into a bloke who volunteers at RSPB Lochwinnoch. He was telling me a more reliable location for the parakeets in Glasgow is Dawsholm Park near Anniesland. That's a couple of miles north of Victoria Park - it might be that those seen in Victoria Park now and then are from a population resident in Dawsholm Park, as he was saying Victoria Park isn't as reliable a place to see them.