Not your Mancunian pigeon

As I walked down to volunteer at the food bank this morning, I noticed the new tree that had been planted last Monday, right by the entrance to the Whitworth Park. I saw a woman and her children looking up at the branches and thought they were looking at a few magpies. However, when I got closer it was 4 of Manchester's flock of ring necked parakeets.

I have only ever seen them once as a flock of about 20 flew over my head but this time they were very settled and tucking into the flowers from the tree. The gardener won't be happy!

They are frequent visitors to a number of parks in the area and they say the Manchester parakeets should be treated as a separate entity to that of the London ones which, according to urban legend, first entered the wild after Bob Dylan released a flock at an outdoor concert in a London park.

Apparently the RSPB used to be inundated with calls about sightings of lost parrots!

Quote for today:
I always wonder why birds stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on the earth.
Then I ask myself the same question.
- Harun Yahya