What are these tropical ring-necked Parakeets doing living in a park in Glasgow?

When you think of birds in Glasgow, you’d be forgiven for thinking of a pigeon or a seagull squaking as they rain down half-eaten chips from overheard. It might surprise you to hear that Glasgow is home to sizeable amount of wild tropical parakeets.

Many Ringneck Parakeets reside in the city of Glasgow - identifiable by their distinctive bright green colour and long tailfeathers. They don’t look any type of natural British bird, god love their souls but they’re a bit dull when it comes to their colouration, and that’s because the Ringneck Parakeet is native to arid tropical stretches between West Africa and Southern India, where it is a fairly common bird.

It’s not common at all in the UK though, and that’s because no Parakeets migrate to the UK of their own volition, they were brought over as exotic pets in Victorian times and were then released or escaped from captivity.

While no one has been able to pin point the exact incident (or series of incidents) that led to the proliferation of the species in the UK - it’s likely the original breeding colony was a park in London, due to the largest congregations of the species in Britain being found in London. Over the years, the Ringneck Parakeet has slowly expanded from their London base, to the point where we’ve got at least two colonies of the species in Glasgow now.

Some birdspotters have even claimed to have spotted the bright-green bird as far North as Aberdeen.

It’s believed that the original breeding colony of Ringneck Parakeets in Glasgow was in Victoria Park, but a splinter colony has since appeared two miles north in Dawsholm Park.

Despite their tropical origin, parakeets are able to cope with the cold British winters, especially in suburban parks, large gardens, and orchards, where food supply is more reliable. They feed on a wide variety of fruit, berries, nuts, seeds, grain and household scraps. If you live near the parks in question, no doubt the Parakeet’s are frequent visitors to bird tables and garden feeders, particularly during the winter months.

Eve Trainer from Maryhill often visits Dawsholm Park to feed the Parakeets after happening upon the tropical birds while walking her dog in the Dawsholm woodlands five years ago.

She’s not the only community member to take interest in the parakeets, as Eve says that ever since the lockdowns more and more visitors have been coming through the woods to visit, feed, and photograph the Parakeets.

In the UK bird and animal protection communities there’s a hot debate over whether Ringnecked Parakeets should be culled on mass and labelled an ‘invasive species’ due to their proliferation and non-native origins. Some people in the animal protection community believe the birds pose a risk to the UK’s native and naturalised species of birds, as they take up nesting space, territory, and resources - but so far little to no evidence has found that the parakeets have caused an overt damage to the UK’s ecosystem.

Still, some campaigners believe that the same thing that happened to the Red Squirrels species in the UK with the introduction of Grey Squirrels from North America, could happen to the native bird species in the UK when Ringnecked Parakeets are introduced to the British eco-system.

To learn more about Ringnecked Parakeets in Glasgow, check out the Scotsman’s video at the top of the page.