attack of the feral parakeets...

parakeets in my parents' garden (click on images to see close-up)

These days, the dawn chorus is no longer the gentle twitter of local birdsong, but raucous screeching, as the trees glint with the bright green of parakeets. No one knows for certain how they came to infest London in such vast numbers, but most believe they are freed pets.

Near our home, there is a pond that is teeming with terrapins, also freed pets. Purchased when they are tiny and cute, they soon grow large and difficult to manage, and so are left to fend for themselves in the 'wilds' of London.

I'm just hoping no one gets the bright idea to liberate their pet iguanas or boa constrictors...