Did you know that south Manchester is home to a large flock of parrots that you would typically find in India?
It’s safe to say Manchester’s most famous wildlife is probably crowds and crowds of grey pigeons, but surprisingly, tucked away in the green parks of south Manchester you will actually find the UK’s only naturalised parrot, the parakeet.
The UK’s population of parakeets has been steadily increasing since the ’70s and you can find the bulk of them in London, but there are at least 1,000 in Manchester.
They’ve made permanent homes in Alexandra Park, Birchfields Park and Platt Fields Park and are not frightened of the other birds, or even humans.
Unfortunately, our native ones can’t talk. But they are noisy little birds that you’ll probably hear before you see, despite them being an almost luminescent shade of green.
They’re pretty adept birds, overcoming anything that Fallowfield might throw at them, from urbanisation to house parties and even never-ending rain. In fact, they have become an invasive species in the area, posing a threat to all other wildlife.
So where did they come from? Well, there are a few rumours flying around.
One of the most popular theories is they all came from the filming of The African Queen. The film, which finished filming in the early 50s, required parakeets, you know, for authenticity – making London look exactly like Africa or whatever.
Once filming finished, ‘little green parrots’ began arriving in local gardens and popping up here, there and everywhere.
Perhaps they couldn’t be bothered taking them back to their native land and instead let them free in London. The story goes that they bred like wildfire and moved across the UK in every direction. A pretty long flight for a bird the size of a ruler.
Other stories feature Jimi Hendrix, thanking him for releasing a single pair of parakeets on Carnaby Street back in 1968.
It’s unlikely that those two little love birds created 30,000 parakeets all over the UK in just 60 years, though.
So then we turn to the students of Fallowfield. One bloke, who was after a bit of extra cash to successfully enjoy his uni days, turned to breeding parakeets. Let’s face it, we’ve all thought about doing it. Rumour has it, his flatmates got sick of their house being full of parrots so let them all out.
So was it Jimi Hendrix, a 1950s film or a Manchester Uni student that released all the parrots?
Well according to Jamie Dunning, a research student, Manchester’s population of parakeets are born and bred Mancunian, which means they definitely came from Manchester, completely independent from any of those found in London. But no one really knows how exactly they got here.
The most sensible conclusion zoologists have come to is that they were caused by either accidental or purposeful release of pets.
Parakeets are the third most popular pet in the entire world after cats and dogs so it does make sense that a few might escape their cages and brave the big bad world that is Alexandra Park.
So put it on your list of things to do when the lockdown is over, or take the kids to the park on your daily walk to hunt for the parrots!