Invasive parakeets now 'unstoppable' as population size doubles in ten years
Figures given to ITV News by the British Trust for Ornithology show 'an astronomical rise,' which researchers have said is now 'unstoppable'.
Originally from India and Pakistan, the ring-necked parakeets are officially 'an invasive species,' but the emerald, green parakeet has thrived in cities from Plymouth to Aberdeen - reaching much of Wales and even parts of Northern Ireland.
This spring, tens of thousands of ring-necked parakeets are nesting in the UK - leading to concerns from some ecologists.
Viola Ross-Smith of the British Trust for Ornithology told ITV News: 'It's basically going up and up and up, it seems kind of unstoppable.
'Since 1995 we've seen an increase of more than 2000%."
She added that the population has not only doubled in the last 10 years, but also went up by "almost a third in the last five years.'
In Belfast, some conservationists want all the birds to be trapped and put into captivity.
Parakeets compete with native birds such as starlings and sparrows for nesting holes and food. Conor McKinney, Chairman of Wild Belfast, told ITV News: 'We could be looking at exclosures for instance. We could also be looking at mist netting.
'These are nets that are put up, they are practically invisible to birds and then we could collect them by hand.
'The opportunity is here, the time is ripe, we need to do something about these birds before it gets out of control.'
Many myths have grown surrounding how the parakeets got here.
Some believe the species became established in 1950 after birds were released from the jungle set of 'The African Queen', built in the London area.
Another theory is that the recording artist Jimi Hendrix released a pair in Carnaby Street in 1966.
Professor Tim Blackburn, an expert in invasive species from University College London, told ITV News: 'There was a disease called Psittacosis, colloquially known as parrot flu.
'And it seems likely that this scare caused people who had parakeets as pets, or other parrots as pets, to let those parrots go.'
There is little evidence of damage from the parakeets, but experts say they are being carefully monitored amid fears they will spread into farming areas. Meanwhile, there's no doubting their public popularity in gardens and parks across the UK.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
Revealed: The psychological impact of growing up with a unique name - as Trisha Paytas names her son Aquaman
From Elon Musk 's sons X Æ A-12 and Techno Mechanicus, to Nara Smith's children Rumble, Slim Easy, and Whimsy Lou, there is no shortage of celebrity kids with unique names. But as influencer Trisha Paytas names her third son Aquaman Moses Paytas-Hacmon, psychologists have revealed why this might not be a good idea. From your choice of job to how likely you are to get a date, your name can influence more of your life than you might expect. Psychologists call this effect 'nominative determinism', and it is the theory that we are drawn towards life choices that match our names. When surnames first emerged in the 11th century, they were often a simple reflection of someone's career - with names like Hunter, Smith, or Baker. Nominative determinism takes this a step further and argues that someone called Baker really is much more likely to find themselves working in a bakery. However, it is bad news for children who end up with highly unusual and unique names. Studies suggest that people with unpopular names often end up less happy, worse off, and more dissatisfied with their lives. One of the simplest ways that your name might affect your life is by influencing the kind of career you gravitate towards. Psychologists attribute this to a phenomenon called 'implicit egoism', which is the idea that we prefer things that remind us of ourselves. In 2024, researchers from the University of Utah said that this could be why people disproportionately end up in careers which start with the first letter of their own name. For example, their study found that someone called Dennis is more likely to be a dentist while someone called Lawrence might be more likely to become a lawyer. This same effect could explain why Agatha Christie ended up as an author or why Ariana Grande has been spending more time acting than singing recently. People also tend to live in places which match their names, which should mean that London has more Lawrences and Lisas than Arthurs and Alices. That might mean Aquaman could be destined to take up a career in acting and live in Austin, Texas. However, having an unusual name comes with its own set of drawbacks. Some psychologists believe that our names are so key to our identity that having a bad one can have serious psychological impacts. In 2006, a pair of researchers from the University of Michigan found that people who didn't like their names were less well psychologically adjusted. Looking at siblings to control for factors such as background and childhood, people with lower rates of name satisfaction had lower self-esteem, life satisfaction, and spent more time unhappy. The researchers suggested that this was either because disliking their name caused lower self-confidence or their lower self-confidence caused them to dislike their name. In addition to affecting how you see yourself, your name also has a big impact on how others see you. Your name is the first thing most people learn about you and affects both how warm and competent others see you as being. A 2018 study from Syracuse University in New York found that the names Susan, Thomas, Madeline, Kathleen, and Felicia were seen as both warm and confident. Alvin, Duane, Rex, Roy, Mercedes, Vicki, and Trenton, on the other hand, were seen as having low warmth and confidence. Likewise, a study looking at hundreds of thousands of names conducted by the Institute of Psychology in Beijing found that people with names seen as less popular or having more negative connotations were more likely to commit crimes. Experts have warned about the rise in names with violent associations, which could mean bad news for Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly's son Saga Blade. Similarly, a German study conducted in 2011 found that people with unfashionable names were more likely to be rejected on dating apps. However, if you are willing to take a risk, having an unusual name could also have some benefits. Another study by the same team at Beijing's Institute of Psychology found that people with a rare name were more likely to have an unusual career such as a filmmaker, actor or judge. That might mean Nicholas Cage's son Kal-El Coppola Cage stands a good chance of following in his father's footsteps. Speaking to BBC Science Focus, lead author Professor David Zhu said: 'Early in life, some people may derive a sense of unique identity from their relatively unique names. 'Parents need to find ways to help the child appreciate his or her uniqueness, perhaps by giving the child a special nickname or frequently affirming the child's unique characteristics.' However, some studies have shown that unusual names can also be associated with increased creativity and higher chances of having an unusual career. That could be good news for Nicholas Cage's son Kal-El (pictured right) Likewise, some research even suggests that an odd name might help people become more creative and open-minded. Researchers at Arizona State University examined the names of CEOs at over a thousand US firms. They found that the rarer the CEO's name, the more distinctive their business strategy tended to be. That could mean Trisha Paytas' children, Malibu Barbie, Elvis, and the newborn Aquaman, might be more creative than your average John or Jane Doe. HOW DOES YOUR NAME IMPACT HOW OTHERS PERCEIVE YOU? A number of studies have found that our names change the way people judge our personality, age and more. In a study published May 8, scientists at Syracuse University in New York asked 500 university students to rate 400 popular names spanning 70 years. Questions came in the format: 'Imagine that you are about to meet Samantha. How competent/warm/old do you think she is when you see her name?' Scientists used their results to assess which names were perceieved as being competent, warm, or a combination of the two. Below are the results: Warm and competent names Ann, Anna, Caroline, Daniel, David, Elizabeth, Emily, Emma, Evelyn, Felicia, Grace, James, Jennifer, John, Jonathan, Julie, Kathleen, Madeline, Mark, Mary, Matthew, Michael, Michelle, Natalie, Nicholas, Noah, Olivia, Paul, Rachel, Samantha, Sarah, Sophia, Stephen, Susan, Thomas, William Warm but less competent names Hailey, Hannah, Jesse, Kellie, Melody, Mia Competent but less warm names Arnold, Gerard, Herbert, Howard, Lawrence, Norman, Reginald, Stuart Names of low warmth and competence
ITV News
a day ago
- ITV News
'Ozzy till the end': ITV News Arts Editor Nina Nannar on meeting the 'Prince of Darkness'
ITV News Arts Editor Nina Nannar interviewed the music legend in 2018 It was an invitation to a beautiful country house. In a luxurious area of Buckinghamshire, it was not quite where you'd expect to find the Prince of Darkness. I had been invited to Ozzy Osbourne 's home to talk to him about his forthcoming headline gig at the Download festival and also the accolade he was about to receive at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards. No, really. As I arrived at the beautiful building, Ozzy's daughter Kelly was walking out of the front door carrying a tiny fluffy dog with some more yapping around her ankles as she greeted some family friends. It looked straight out of something from Meet The Osbournes, the hit MTV show which introduced Ozzy to a whole new generation. He and his wife, Sharon, had bought the house in Chalfont St Giles decades before, but the rock 'n' roll lifestyle meant they barely had any chance to live there, LA keeping them off these shores except for work. The interiors were simply gorgeous, exactly what you'd expect from a home in the country, the kind of thing you'd see in the pages of Hello magazine. It was only the heavy metal paraphernalia adorning some of the walls that reminded you that the residents here were not Lord and Lady something. Ozzy was incredibly proud of the house. Sharon did all of this, he told me; she was responsible for the look, the decor, everything. I have interviewed Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath a number of times over the years. My years working in the Midlands for the BBC brought me into contact with the band, and it was always a joy to sit down with them. Ozzy was simply one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life. What was it about the way he delivered a sentence? Was it the Brummie accent? The years in the US had at times left a Californian twang, but at its heart, his accent was pure came across to me was how much he loved his city, that somehow he may have lived a total rock 'n' roll life, enjoying the spoils and riches of superstardom, but had somehow remained a working-class hero. I suggested to him that perhaps he might like to perform at the Commonwealth Games, which were to come to the city. I'd really like to, he said. And so he did. But above all, Ozzy Osbourne was dedicated to his fan base. To the early metal fans who welcomed his part in the evolution of a new kind of music, to the millions of fans who travelled with him as he left Sabbath, his increasingly hedonistic lifestyle becoming too much, to pursue a solo career that made him a huge mega star in the US and created some of the most iconic rock albums ever made. Having seen Ozzy on stage both with Sabbath and as a solo artist over the years, what you'd expect from him is that he would charge around the stage from one side to the other, not necessarily in rhythm with the music, but every inch an icon. So there was some sadness as I watched him just weeks ago with the original Sabbath lineup at Villa Park, just streets away from where he and the band grew up in the 40s and 50s. How we wished he could've run around that stage. He was seated on a throne, where else, and he sounded great, though his illnesses over the years, including a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, had clearly taken their toll. He pushed himself up on the armrest. He looked like he wanted to get up and run around the stage, but his body wouldn't let him. Nonetheless, it was an utterly triumphant farewell. Ozzy's voice was unique. Instantly recognisable. When he did his hit Crazy Train and the crowd heard his famous shout of 'All Aboard' at the start, we didn't need asking twice. Little did we know that it really was a farewell, that all the talk of future recordings would come to nothing, that he wasn't just saying farewell to touring and live concerts. This was a final farewell. I've heard some speculate today that maybe he knew that time was running out even for the so-called Prince of Darkness. And this concert really was to be it. If that is so, what a way to go out. Ozzy till the end.
Times
3 days ago
- Times
Martin Cruz Smith obituary: author of acclaimed thriller Gorky Park
Martin Cruz Smith was producing 20 pages of pulp fiction a day in 1971 when he sold a publisher an idea for a quick 'buddy' thriller that would feature an American cop swooping in to help a Russian detective solve a murder case in Moscow. His research consisted of a two-week package holiday to the Soviet Union, organised by Intourist but with no guide. It was largely a matter of walking the streets and exploring the bars and markets, he recalled, looking at the expressions on faces and listening to a language he didn't know. But he felt that he understood the place as a writer in a way that he had never understood anything before. When he got back home and began writing, the figure of Arkady Renko, a depressive Moscow policeman wholly disillusioned but driven by a private sense of duty, began to dominate his imagination: he resolved to change the book's focus and ditch the American protagonist. 'I knew I was on to something pretty good,' he remembered. 'But when I showed my publishers, they asked where was the American hero?'
