Parakeets in Plymouth- A mini adventure

The Backstory:  

Oh, the power of Facebook, what once started as a great over-the-internet way to connect and communicate, has now been dragged down to an oversharing complaints platform… not that I’m actually complaining because some of those local village groups provide great entertainment over a bowl of shreddies in the morning. It was on one such morning last week that I read a post complaining (obviously) about Dartmoor ponies in car parks (which I will admit is a problem). It was in the comments of this post that somebody mentioned, and I quote ‘the awful squawking of parakeets in the beech trees’. It was up until this point that I had thought ring necked parakeet (The UK’s only naturalised parrot) were confined to the South East of the UK and London. The idea that some could be as local as the far side of Dartmoor, was very exciting to me… So, I took the only rational response and immediately began researching, ready to set off the next morning on a Sherlock-esque hunt.   

Let the search begin:

I started at Plymouth train station, which ironically I had driven to. It was not the most glamourous of outdoor spaces and a far cry from the moor. However, as I have come to appreciate wildlife is anything but predictable and as the parakeets had been photographed at this location previously there was a chance that they might have chosen to brighten up the otherwise grey station that morning as well. They had not… nor was there much wildlife of any kind. So I headed onwards to the Central Park green in hopes that perhaps they were getting their morning flight in elsewhere.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised by Plymouth’s Central Park. Nestled in the heart of an otherwise urban environment it did seem like a great escape for those living here to see a bit of greenery and get some fresh air in a wide open space. I ended up meeting quite a few dogs and several toddlers walking around the treeline with my head in a permanent upwards trajectory hoping to catch a glimpse of bright green amongst the top leaves.

During my research into the ring necked parakeet the previous evening I had come to familiarise myself with their loud call (thankyou YouTube) as you can quite often hear parakeets before you see them. So, I kind of knew that I was unlikely to spot one in Central Park given all I could hear was the usual park life noise- soft thumps of a tennis game, several dogs over eager to play fetch and the incessant drill from a local construction sight. There was admittedly plenty of wildlife to photography from squirrels to magpies and several tit species fluttering around, but none of it was what I came for and frankly -though interesting to watch- I might as well have just stepped into my back garden and gotten the same experience.  After trundling around all the paths and walking past a graveyard that had some quite well placed bat boxes (cue definite Buffy vibes), I headed back to my car as lunchtime grew closer and I was in slightly desperate need of a toilet.

I’m not sure what piqued my interest so much with these parakeets. It may have been a subconscious need to see some more ‘tropical’ wildlife as my Instagram had recently been filled with other peoples recent birding adventures and the likes of my local bluetits and goldfinches just weren’t doing it for me. Or it might have been the idea of having to go to Plymouth to see them, the thought of a mini adventure like this one although no more than an hour away felt like it had required extensive planning compared to more local trips.

Whatever, it was I must admit the thrill of being in an unfamiliar city was enough to keep my search going even if it had so far been unsuccessful at this point. It was on this spirit that I resolved to return to Plymouth the following Monday, having spent the weekend joining several Plymouth based Facebook groups in the hope some local knowledge might have been able to lead me to the parakeets. 

I started Monday at a slightly more glamourous outdoor spot, replacing Plymouth station for Saltram national trust estate. Which with its abundant green space and woodland conveniently located next to the river Plym made for a much more outdoorsy location. It was walking down the track here that I heard the unceremonious squawking of parakeets across the valley. I will admit they were louder than I had expected, and I can imagine living in constant closeness to these birds would probably get very annoying, however for me this was an extremely exciting moment, getting one step closer to completing my mission. 

My excitement was slightly short-lived after I realised the parakeets where on the other side of a field… which was not accessible by the path, but knowing they were in the area I circled round to another woodland where I hoped a few of the parakeets might have settled. It was here that after a bit of craning my neck and tiptoeing around for the right angle I finally spotted a parakeet in all its green gloriousness.

Identifiable by the bright green colour, shading slightly to blue and their slender shape with pointed tail feathers it is hard to mistake these birds for any other resident UK species, and on seeing them in person it was definitely one of the easier identifications I’ve made. Even without binoculars there was little to mistake and quite easy to get a clear view of individuals high up in the branches.

Their high vantage point however did prove slightly tricky for my camera which without owning a telephoto lens provided an interesting challenge. Although I did manage to garner a couple of shots from a distance whilst maintaining my balance against several trees, in a sort of limbo-esque camera pose. I assume from the odd few glances I got from other walkers that this may not have been the most flattering of positions however I have found this is often the case with wildlife photography and its best not to dwell with how you look to others too much.

I spent about 2 hours walking around Saltram looking at the parakeets before I headed off to one final stop on my Plymouth adventure. Although, I had technically completed my challenge having received several suggestions to visit Ham Woods and being only a 15 minute drive from Saltram I thought it was worth the extra final leg before heading home as I didn’t plan to go back to Plymouth anytime soon and wanted to make the most of my time there.

Well, they always say you should save the best till last and after several attempts at navigating to a parking space (no thanks to my iPhone satnav app), I managed to secure a spot next to an entrance to the woods which also happened to have a useful map of the area.

It was whilst I stared unknowingly at the map looking for potential parakeet habitat that a lovely local woman- I later learnt to be Tracy-, with her two dogs was a frequent visitor to the woodland and also had prime knowledge of parakeet locations, offering to show me the way. Following Tracy’s instructions (and after recounting my adventure thus far to see parakeets) I headed upwards to what promised to be the perfect vantage point and I was not disappointed.

Due to the landscape of the woods along two sides of a valley it meant that the paths could lead you to be eye level with several of the lower tree canopy and it was here that the parakeets sat and squawked to their hearts content. It was also here that I caught a glimpse of a blue parakeet- and momentarily completely lost my composure in excitement. Most ring necked parakeets follow the same luminous green colours however, due to the colonies being interbred originally from pets it means that on a few rare occasions you get odd hybrid coloured birds, which offer an even rarer sighting then the usual.   

After completely loosing my cool for a few minutes at the sight of a blue parakeet and completing my mission I went on to spend several hours positioning and repositioning my camera to try and get a few good photographs before dragging myself away to drive home.

Although, this trip had only taken my to Plymouth I was (and still am) proud of myself for going out, planning, researching, and traveling solo on a mini expedition. Yes, it had only been around an hours drive, but it felt as though mentally I’d made it much further, and to see a blue parakeet I think maybe one of my best birding moments so far. I hope you enjoyed my recount of the trip and I cannot wait to see you on my next adventure !

PS. (that ending sounds super cliché, but was very fun to type so I’m going to leave it as the outro) – Holly

PPS. My trip to photograph the parakeets of Plymouth also made it into Vlog form over on my YouTube channel which you can check out here. And if you enjoyed this post and want to see more of my photos (and adventures you can follow along over on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter, so you don’t miss out on any action here)