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Parakeets in Forest Hill?

Author Message
Spamfritters
Joined 03-06-2007
Posted on Thursday, 02 August, 2007 - 07:01 pm:   

Never mind stag beetles, I think I just saw five or six bright green parakeets fly past my window, heading through the back gardens of Rockbourne Road (south circular side) in the direction of Catford.

I know Richmond Park is famed for hosting a colony (what is the collective noun?), but it hadn't occured to me that they might have prospered elsewhere in London. Anyone else seen them in and around Forest Hill?
Ab3
Joined 17-03-2005
Posted on Thursday, 02 August, 2007 - 08:36 pm:   

Hi Spamfritters. There have been several threads on Parakeets (use the search function). I dont think I've gone a day without seeing (or hearing) a load of parakeets in the last month or so (a couple days ago I saw about 40-50 fly overhead together). They have a very distinctive call, so I know when to look up. I think they are the bird I see more of than any other in Forest Hill.
Pvp
Joined 17-03-2005
Posted on Friday, 03 August, 2007 - 08:32 am:   

Yes, these are long-famed residents!
Spamfritters
Joined 03-06-2007
Posted on Friday, 03 August, 2007 - 08:58 am:   

Cheers Ab3 and Pvp - and a big raspberry to Baggydave's unfriendly and pointless post, which I'm glad to see has been removed.

I'm a relatively new member of the forum, so was unaware that parakeets were commonly sighted in the area. I think I need to be a little more observant though - I've lived here nearly four years and this was my first sighting!
Applespider
Joined 26-02-2006
Posted on Friday, 03 August, 2007 - 10:42 am:   

A pest of parakeets might be appropriate from those who don't like the cry.

Parrots are a 'company' or a 'pandemonium' of parrots - I guess either might be appropriate.

And no, it's not that unusual not to see them them often depending on which bit of SE23 you are in. The traditional garden birds are still more common where I am - I've only see the occasional parakeet in the upper reaches of the Horniman.
Haylands
Joined 29-09-2006
Posted on Friday, 03 August, 2007 - 10:48 am:   

Don't worry Spamfritter, you're amongst good company. I've been living in the area for two years and haven't sighted any as yet. Mind you my eyes are usually fixed on the pavement dodging any poop.

Don't worry about Baggypuss, he's a bit of a legend on the site, and therefore has an over indulged ego. I for one would miss him if he stopped contributing...see, there you go!
Spamfritters
Joined 03-06-2007
Posted on Friday, 03 August, 2007 - 01:04 pm:   

Hi Applespider and Haylands - cheers for the reassurance - I expect I'll see them all the time now!
Toffeejim
Joined 27-11-2004
Posted on Friday, 03 August, 2007 - 01:26 pm:   

Spamfritters - welcome to the forum. Unfortunately sightings of Baggydave are far more frequent than those of parakeets. He heads a sect of bearded yurt dwellers who once kept to themselves on abandoned scrubland on the hilltop. But the sect has fallen on hard times - they never got over Southwark Council refusing them a Dulwich postal address - and are often to be found in winter knocking on the doors of respectable local residents and stealing plastic bagfuls of their centrally heated air before cycling off shouting at passers-by.

By the way there is a little-known collective noun for his group: a yaffle of baggies.
Johnc
Joined 09-01-2007
Posted on Friday, 03 August, 2007 - 01:40 pm:   

Yaffle - thats a woodpecker isn't it. I didn't realise Baggydave actually existed. I thought he was created to scare children into eating their greens!
Spamfritters
Joined 03-06-2007
Posted on Friday, 03 August, 2007 - 01:45 pm:   

Why thank you Toffeejim. Your insight into Baggydave's modus operandi has set my mind - and indeed my bowels - at ease.

Feel free not to answer this question, anonymity is a precious thing, but do you rejoice in the surname of Birchenough by any chance? The warp and weft of your witticisms puts me in mind of an old colleague of mine whom I encountered, after a gap of some years, supping an ale in The Dartmouth not so long ago...
Sherwood
Joined 30-03-2005
Posted on Friday, 03 August, 2007 - 01:55 pm:   

I have not seen the parakeets yet. But I understand they now inhabit our area. Possibly the crematorium.
Toffeejim
Joined 27-11-2004
Posted on Friday, 03 August, 2007 - 01:58 pm:   

You're welcome Spamfritters. Although I do sup the occasional ale in the Dartnouth I'm afraid I can't claim to be the aforementioned Birchenough. Now there's a name to put fear in the bowels....

Johnc - I think the collective term derives from Professor Augustus Barclay Yaffle, the carved wooden book-end.
Andy
Joined 23-02-2005
Posted on Friday, 03 August, 2007 - 02:03 pm:   

Baggy used to eat them before he became a Vogon.
Johnc
Joined 09-01-2007
Posted on Friday, 03 August, 2007 - 02:12 pm:   

Ah I see the bagpuss connection!
Baggydave
Joined 19-05-2004
Posted on Friday, 03 August, 2007 - 04:30 pm:   

Baggy Dave has been hounded out of the area and will go and live in his homelands of BR1 where he can build his underground bunker and start his own sect of lumberjack shirt wearing, banjo playing decent citizens. The green squawking birds that are ever present in Kelsey Park will make excellent target practice for his marksmen before the reek their vegence on the rest of society. Others are welcome to join me.

With the exception of Toffee Jim and those like him, one of the reasons why it is time to leave
Toffeejim
Joined 27-11-2004
Posted on Friday, 03 August, 2007 - 04:58 pm:   

So watch out anyone considering a canoeing holiday in the Bromley area!
Baggydave
Joined 19-05-2004
Posted on Saturday, 04 August, 2007 - 10:41 pm:   

See www.fokp.org/picture_gallery.htm for cutesy (genuine) pictures of wildlife including some parakeets. No sign of the rednecked variety though. www.fokp.org/picture_gallery.htm
Roz
Joined 17-03-2005
Posted on Sunday, 05 August, 2007 - 09:19 am:   

I thought Baggydave came from Dudley- home of WBA?
Mandy_playbox
Joined 25-11-2004
Posted on Sunday, 05 August, 2007 - 10:09 am:   

I think West Bromwich Albion are from West Bromwich. There's a clue in their name.
Roz
Joined 17-03-2005
Posted on Monday, 06 August, 2007 - 08:39 am:   

All the same to me...

signed

A. Typical Southerner
Sherwood
Joined 30-03-2005
Posted on Monday, 06 August, 2007 - 11:04 am:   

I thought parakeet was a weedkiller.
Perryman
Joined 12-12-2006
Posted on Saturday, 11 August, 2007 - 02:22 am:   

I thought that WBA's ground was in Birmingham?
Baggydave
Joined 19-05-2004
Posted on Saturday, 11 August, 2007 - 11:35 pm:   

Perryman, are you another typical Southerner who doesn't know the geography North of Watford or are you just playing dumb? Happy to give you a lesson.
Perryman
Joined 12-12-2006
Posted on Sunday, 12 August, 2007 - 11:16 pm:   

BaggyDave is actually right - WBA's ground is not in Birmingham....anymore.
It used to be partly in Birmingham, but the boundary changed in the 1960's.
So I think any normal person, would think this a reasonable question.

Interestingly the famous Woodman pub was bought and demolished by WBA in June 2004,
so that capacity of the ground could be expanded.
So it seems brummies, sorry baggies, can, potentially, be very selective when campaigning for pubs not to be redeveloped. IMVHO of course.

Anyway, there is a large company of parakeets over Dulwich park by the lake. I'm not sure if that is their main breeding area.


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