JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: I did always wonder why there were

parrots here when I was a kid. I just thought it was really cool

that we have this really vibrantly coloured bird flying

around our street.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Acid green birds fill London skies and now

they're spreading to other parts of the UK too. The ring-necked

parakeets native to Asia and Africa are growing in numbers

but how do they get here and how are they thriving in Britain's

climate? We're off to the capital to look for them at

Morden Hall Park with Johnathon Miller-McCall otherwise known as

J Talks Nature.

I'm Ranger Rosie Holdsworth. Welcome to Wild Tales and the

London Parakeet Mystery.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: So I've grown up in South London all my

life but I've seen a vast array of species that are really cool

and really interesting and a lot of people maybe overlook them.

Dogs are also part of the urban wildlife. Probably telling me

where the parakeets are. It's like over there, over there.

So my name is Johnathon Miller-McCall I'm a naturalist,

content creator and conservationist and today we're

at Morden Hall Park.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: And Johnathon is the perfect person to show us

the parakeets here. He's a local who's been coming to this patch

of green in South London his whole life.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: I came to Morden Hall Park a lot as a

kid. I was a huge, huge nerd who loved catching bugs in

containers and just looking for any cool wildlife that I could

find. I've always been drawn to the outdoors, so Morden Hall

Park was the perfect place to be.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: The park is a green oasis in the city. Open

access, quintessential English countryside, just three minutes

walk from the closest tube station. The riverside setting

is shrouded in trees, with no visual hint of its position deep

in the capital. Only the hum of the city and the inevitable

sirens give its urban backdrop away.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: It's such an accessible green space

to me, to be honest, because... It's in walking distance, I can

get the bus here. So up to now it's always been a place that I

can easily get to.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: And Johnathon is at the park today to look for

ring-necked parakeets for us. But as he heads into the

parkland on this very wet day, it's worth considering exactly

how they ended up in the UK.

Before they took to open skies, they were already being kept as

exotic pets here in the 1800s, in aviaries or cages. How they

transitioned to the wild has long stirred curiosity and

sparked all sorts of theories. But two in particular have

attracted more attention than the rest. And it's probably

because they involve movie stars and a pretty well-known

musician.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: So there's quite a bit of culture

around the origin of parakeets in the UK. There's two quite

hilarious myths that people think are the reason parakeets

are here. And one of them is...

I think in 1968 Jimi Hendrix released a breeding pair of

parakeets on Carnaby Street and also some parakeets were

released in 1951 on the film set of a film called African Queen

and I think it's quite funny that there's a there's like a

load of lore and myths and legends around the origins of

parakeets which kind of gives them a bit more like character.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: But in 2019, in an effort to put the myth to

bed, researchers from Queen Mary University set out to understand

how the birds had ended up in the UK. They studied DNA

samples, the British newspaper archive, and also used

geographic profiling, a technique originally developed

in criminology.

And while their conclusion of the Jimi Hendrix and African

Queen theories was that there wasn't enough evidence to

support the stories as anything other than urban myth, what

their research did support was the view that most

ornithologists have. That the spread of parakeets in the UK is

most likely as a consequence of repeated releases and

introductions, particularly during the spread of a rather

unpleasant disease.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: Around the 1930s there was an outbreak

of Psittacosis, which is a zoonotic disease.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: The disease, able to spread from animals to

humans, scared the parakeet keepers. Who then released the

birds into the wild to save themselves before a ban on

importing exotic birds came into play from 1939 to 1966.

And although researchers found little evidence to support a

further myth that parakeets escaped when a plane crashed

through an aviary roof at Scion Park in London in the 1970s,

researchers did concede it was possible that numbers were

boosted in the 1980s when an apocalyptic weather event

brought down 15 million trees.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: There was a storm in 1987, the Great

Storm, that damaged a lot of captive aviaries that allowed

parakeets to escape.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: And so it wasn't one thing that led to

parakeets being in the UK.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: The general consensus is that

repeated releases and escapes are the reason why parakeets are

in large numbers in the UK.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Johnathon is heading towards the boardwalk by

the River Wandle to see if he can spot some parakeets in their

now natural setting and share more about how they got here and

how they've adapted to their British habitat. But on the way

he spots something high on a tree on the riverbank.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: Oh there's a cormorant. They're

very very cool birds. They actually don't have any oils

that make their feathers hydrophobic. So they actually do

get wet. So they have to spend time drying off. And they do

this by putting their wings out and standing there. They're kind

of like a statue.

And this one's getting wet in the rain right now. Probably why

it's chilling there. Oh, it's the first time I've seen a

cormorant in my local area. That is a good spot.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: And after the impromptu pause, it's onwards to

search for the parakeets.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: Cool, so we're coming up to the

wetland boardwalk where we should see some parakeets. For

me, parakeets have always been part of the landscape. They've

been around as long as I've been around. I was born in the 2000s,

so they've been here more so since the 1990s, but there's

records of them breeding from the 1960s.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: And in the 1990s those numbers began to

grow noticeably, especially in London and parts of neighbouring

Kent. From 1995 to 2004 their numbers surged 25-fold, an

increase of nearly 2,700%. Latest estimates suggest that

there are now in the region of 30,000 birds.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: Which shows a huge explosion in their

numbers and really, really highlights their adaptability.

There's a nice little viewpoint on this boardwalk that gives you

a bit of an elevated view of the wetlands. Hopefully we should

see some parakeets darting across.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: But you can't take a self-confessed nature

nerd with binoculars into the outdoors without them seeing

what else they can spot.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: This is like elite bird watching

territory.

I'm just gonna have a look and get my binoculars out and see

what this bird is.

I think there may have been a Cetti's warbler, which is a

migratory bird.

They have a very very signature call. I hope it calls again.

It's just far away. I can hear wrens, a lot of robins as well.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: And then there's the signature squawk of

the parakeet.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: Yeah, one thing about parakeets is you

will hear them before you see them. And they do make

themselves known.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: But they're non-visible from the boardwalk

platform. So Johnathon heads off into the tree cover again.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: Cool, so we're just going to go back

over towards the woodlands.

Well, hopefully all the parakeets are chilling because

it's raining.

There we go, there's three, four flying overhead.

That's that signature squawk of the parakeet. It's a very, very

common contact call that they make. It's like they're all

shouting at one another.

Oh, there's a few now. I feel like you notice the parakeet by

the way they're flying. They have that really, really sharp

pointed tail.

They definitely dart across from one tree to another.

There's a few. Oh, there we go. There's one. They almost fly

quite erratically, like they're in a rush, like they're late to

a meeting. There'll be a huge flock of them flying. It's

almost like to form one bullet just flying overhead or they'll

just be scattering.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: The sight of the parakeets darting overhead

is now not just a spectacle reserved for London and Kent.

They've been spotted across the south from Brighton to Cardiff

and they're spreading north too and have been seen in cities

including Nottingham, Liverpool and Bradford. And incredibly

they've spread over the border into Glasgow and Edinburgh.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: One thing about parakeets is they

have specific dialects amongst different groups. So one group

of parakeets will sound slightly different to another group and

that's how they know who's part of what group which is really

really cool.

It's kind of like they have their own almost language. So in

different parts of London you'd have different groups of

parakeets that have different dialects to one another and then

also as they expand northwards those would have different

dialects as well.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: So northern parakeets would sound northern?

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: Maybe.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Northern accents aside though I live and

work between Manchester and Leeds and I know how cold those

places get. We tend to associate parakeets with hot countries and

tropical paradises. So how are they surviving in the UK's

cities?

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: So scientists traced their lineage

back to the region that they originated from and they found

that they are from northern Pakistan and India, which have

regions that can get very cold, much like the UK. Also, on top

of the fact that we're having warmer winters, it almost

benefits these birds.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: And there's another reason why London

temperatures are just right.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: In London, there is the urban heat

island effect, which means that the climate is warmer within the

London area, which perfectly suits parakeets and means that

they don't really have to be as resilient to extreme cold

weather. And I think that's also another reason as to why they

love being in London.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: It all adds up to a strangely perfect mix of

just the right amount of cool weather and the right amount of

heat for the parakeets to thrive. But there's more to

their survival story than the correct weather. Parakeets

congregate in suburban parks and gardens where there are nesting

opportunities.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: They also breed early in the year,

around January. So that gives them a head start compared to

native birds in terms of finding nest locations. So they are

cavity nesting birds. They nest in old woodpecker holes and

cavities in trees.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Urban parks and gardens also offer the best

source of food.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: Parakeets are very highly

intelligent and I feel like they know where the food is. There's

this term called synanthropic, which means an animal that

thrives in human proximity. They go to bird feeders in people's

gardens and feed off the bird seeds. So they have that memory

of where the food is. That's why London is essentially a

stronghold for parakeets, because there's people, which

means there's food.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: It also means there are are houses and their

bricks and mortar have been discovered to be another source

of food for parakeets.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: Recently in the news they were

filmed clinging to the side of a house in large numbers and what

they found out was they were eating the clay and mortar that

was in the brickwork and the clay and the mortar contains

essential salts and minerals that the parakeets need to

supplement their diets and also neutralize toxins from fruits

that they've eaten.

This is is very very similar to parrots and parakeets in the

Amazon that cling to the sides of collapsed riverbanks and

consume the clay to also supplement their diet the same

way and that just reinforces how intelligent they are they're

essentially scanning their environment problem solving and

problem solving and figuring out ways to survive. It's a very

powerful thing to be that intelligent and navigate through

this new ecosystem that they're living in. We're now walking

under into a little woodland that is a bit further into

Morden Hall Park as we've just heard some parakeets.

I feel like they're in this big tree.

Yeah there is. Oh there we go, there we go. There's two on this

tree, on this big cherry tree. I've just got my binoculars out

so I'm gonna have a closer look. Well there we go, there's one

right here eating cherries.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: It's scenes like these that Johnathon, as J

Talks Nature, will grab footage of in an effort to spread the

word online about the wonders of the wildlife we have in the UK.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: A lot of my videos I'm outside either

filming as like a voiceover but you can see me filming outside

or I'm kind of doing, I like to call it the David Attenborough

style where I'm like here we have this species and I'm

talking about how it's so cool and nerding out about it. And

it's something that, again, encourages them to go out and

find it themselves.

Because it's like, oh, if he's just walked into a park and

found this bird, then I can go and do it, you know?

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: For Johnathon, his social media presence is

about showing people that nature is for everyone.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: I'm of mixed heritage. My mum's

Ghanaian and my dad's Scottish. Growing up, I never saw any

conservationists or naturalists that looked like me. And so I

wanted to show the younger generation that... This is a

cool thing to be interested in and a conservationist or

naturalist doesn't have a particular look.

It can be anyone. As a black man I think that I would inspire

other black men to pursue their passion. If they're interested

in nature it's not something to feel weird about or feel ashamed

of. If someone says, oh I didn't expect that you'd be interested

in nature, I'd be like, well I am.

There's no particular blueprint for the average conservationist.

It's just about opening the door and... Supporting one another to

pursue that passion so that we essentially create a sector that

is full of flourishing diverse individuals that can all work

together in harmony just like an ecosystem you know.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: For Johnathon it's a similar story for the

parakeets.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: They are like if you if you search up

parakeets there it says that they're the only the UK's only

naturalized parrot. So I champion them as much as UK

wildlife because they are a part of the ecosystem now. If you can

go very, very far back and like we said, parakeets have been in

the UK for decades. So they are carving out their own niche in

the ecosystem. There are a lot of split opinions on parakeets.

People think that they're almost like invaders or they're not

meant to be here. But ultimately, they didn't have a

choice in being here. They were brought over here and they

thrived. I champion parakeets because I love them. I love

their adaptability. I love how intelligent parrots are. I just

love how it adds a splash of colour to our urban

environments.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: But should their numbers be a worry? Are

they fitting into our ecosystem? On the walk back, Johnathon

hears them again.

JOHNATHON MILLER-MCCALL: There we go, you can hear them.

They really do like to chill right at the tops of trees.

I guess protection from predators because they do

actually get preyed on by peregrine falcons. So female

peregrine falcons as well as female kestrels are able to feed

on parakeets because they're big enough. They're bigger than the

males so they can take them down.

Which is I guess it's a nice thing because it shows that

native wildlife are also interacting with these birds. In

the form of birds of prey using them as a food source. So that

can be a benefit going forward to really help the population of

birds of prey.

Okay, so we're taking a stroll back to the main exit and we've

just passed the same cormorant that we saw at the beginning

accompanied by a load of parakeets which just shows how

they're a part of our ecosystem. They're this confident green

bird. That makes themselves known. They've got a lot of

character, they're very adaptable, and in my opinion

they are carving out their own niche in the ecosystem.

The climate and the environment is very different to when they

first arrived in the country. We're now potentially looking at

a new ecosystem with them fitting in in their own way

alongside native species, and I believe that whether we like it

or not, they are here to stay.

ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Thanks for listening to this episode of

Wild Tales. If you want to find out more about where we went

with Johnathon, or want some inspiration on where you can go

birdwatching for other species, there's a link in the episode

show notes. Or why not check us out on Instagram, @wildtalesnt.

Until next time, bye-bye.