Exotic visitors are thriving at reserve
Exotic visitors have swooped in at a Black Country nature reserve, where traditional British birds are making way for brightly-coloured parakeets.
The green and red ring-necked parakeets are native to Asia and Africa, but are adapting well to the British weather conditions and thriving on a diet of nuts and seeds at the RSPB bird sanctuary in Sandwell Valley.
Bosses at the sanctuary believe that the birds have migrated north and are descended from pets which were released or escaped into the wild.
They are unsure exactly how many of the exotic birds, which are part of the parrot family, are living at the sanctuary, but said they are not thought to be breeding.
Louise Pedersen from the RSPB in the Black Country said: "Ring-necked parakeets are beautiful birds with emerald green feathers, a rose-red beak, and a very long tail.
"They are regular visitors to the bird feeding station outside the visitor centre at our Sandwell Valley nature reserve, and I guess you can say that they add a whiff of tropical glamour to the valley.
"There's a large population of parakeets that live in parks in London and the South East, and they are most likely descendents from birds that either escaped or were released from private collections several decades ago," she added.
"I don't think there's actually any evidence that the birds in the Sandwell Valley breed here, and at the moment they don't appear to be posing any threats to our native birds in the West Midlands."
The free RSPB sanctuary in Sandwell Valley in the heart of West Bromwich is open Tuesday to Sunday and includes a hide, visitors centre and lakes.
In addition to the parakeets, the valley is home to British garden birds including finches and thrushes, as well as flocks of ducks, geese, swans and wading birds.
