Ring-necked Parakeets gathering in trees by Loring Hall at the north end of Foots Cray Meadows have switched fly-out-to-roost direction from south-(south)-west to north-west, which will now take them to Danson Park, a new overnight roost site from late in 2014.
My previous Loring Hall count was of 307 Parakeets leaving in a south westerly direction between 18.58 and 19.14 on 12th September 2014, before the Danson roost was discovered. But on 14th October 2015 147 birds were counted out between 17.45 and 18.05, all heading north west in the direction of Danson Park. It seems likely that at least some of these merge with the birds commuting out of Bexley Park Woods.
Ring-necked Parakeet in Bexley Park Woods. (Photo: Martin Petchey)
On 15th October 302 Parakeets came out over the southern and western margins of Bursted Woods between 17.34 and 18.06, heading south west towards Danson Park. Not all of these birds will have spent the day in these woods. Others use it as a staging post en-route to the final roost site.
Chris Rose
And then they’ll invariably be back, before we know it, to eat all the cherries in Parish Park (behind Berwick Crescent) before I get a look in! 🙁