Official bird of London

A cute little immigrant to London - the ring necked parakeet - is potentially facing a mass cull. I've blogged about the parakeet before - these escapees from the pet trade (or perhaps from the film set of The African Queen) have now colonised well in South East England - and can often be seen along the banks of the Thames.


I photgraphed this gorgeous critter today.

Apparently, the anti-immigration nature Nazis are about to conduct a study - which no doubt will fit up the poor little parakeet for a variety of crimes - e.g. out competing the locals. The punishment for being a fitter introduction is death.

Never mind the other animals that actually are pests and need culling - like the pigeons of Trafalgar Square or the fat and fearless rubbish eating foxes that are the scourge of our suburban terraces (biting babies and killing cats and attacking old people). No - they have to go after a pretty species, that as far as I can see aren't really troubling anyone (they can screech a bit, but that's nothing compared to the fearsome howling of foxes).

Instead of culling the parakeets, I think that we should embrace them. They are the ultimate symbol of London - the brighter, harder working immigrant (like a Polish plumber or Australian bar staff). They should make the ring necked parakeet the official bird of London.

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Ross Clark, a guest columnist for The Times, feels similarly.