Delivering cabins and containers on our fleet of HIAB Lorries is an everyday job for the drivers at Sussex Transport.
Last week we delivered a container to Reigate in Surrey – where the birds are exotic!
The tropical parakeet, whose homeland has traditionally been from Africa to the Himalayas, has become an increasingly familiar sight in south London and Surrey in recent years and its numbers are increasing, with one roost in a Surrey sports ground sometimes holding several thousand birds!
SOME say that 60’s icon Jimi Hendrix brought them to Britain and released the parakeets to ‘bring some psychedelic colour to London’s skyline’.
Others believe that a small number of the birds escaped from Shepperton Studios in 1951, during the making of The African Queen, which starred Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.
Whatever the truth behind their introduction to Surrey’s landscape, the ring-necked parakeet now seems to have made itself comfortable on our own doorstep.
Parakeets have been popular pets since Victorian times and inevitably many birds have escaped or been deliberately released over the years due to their ear splitting screeching!
They feed on a wide variety of fruit, berries, nuts, seeds and grain, and have also struck gold with the increasing number of people putting bird feeders in their garden. Plus, apart from being well fed, parakeets have few natural predators on these shores.
Hot spots for Parakeet watching include:
- Bushy Park, Richmond
- Hampton Court, East Molesey
- Kew Gardens, Kew
- Esher Rugby Club, Esher
- Nonsuch Park, Ewell
- Richmond Park, Richmond
- River Thames at Chertsey
- River Thames at Staines
- River Thames at Walton on Thames
- Selsdon Park, Sanderstead
Plus in and around the larger open spaces and bigger parks of Reigate, Carshalton, Wallington, Hackbridge and Cheam.
Have you seen one of these exotic birds? Have you spotted one of our trucks? Let us know by emailing info@sussextransport.com Or for more information on how we could help YOU, call us on 01903 751100 – we’d be delighted to hear from you!
