THERE was an exotic-looking visitor in Redditch last weekend, snapped by local photographer Paul Wilde in his garden.
However although this feathered friend might seem more at home in the jungles of the Amazon, it is in fact a ring-necked parakeet, not a native species but one which over the years has escaped and quite happily adapted to life in the UK.
There are large populations in the south east of the country but flocks have also been found in Plymouth and as far north as Glasgow.
The RSPB believes that there are now nearly 9,000 breeding pairs in the country and they’re noisy too, with flocks of several hundreds at a roost site.
