THE number of ring-necked parakeets in Oxfordshire is on the rise, according a city bird-watching group.

Parakeets, which are particularly common in London, are being spotted increasingly in Oxfordshire as the population spreads northwards.

George Candelin, chairman of Oxford Ornithological Society, said: “We get the occasional record of them and I wouldn’t say seeing a parakeet is a rare thing anymore.

“They have come up into this area and are being spotted a lot more recently.

“But it is an alien species and you can never be quite sure what will happen.

“A lot of them are escaped pets and if you go somewhere like Twickenham there are hundreds of them.”

According to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the ring-necked parakeet is the UK’s only naturalised parrot and is found mainly in south-east England.

There are an estimated 4,300.

Littlemore resident John Mankelow recently found a ring-necked parakeet in his garden. The 62-year-old inventory manager said: “My wife and I are keen twitchers and when we first saw it we assumed it was an escaped pet.

“But as we observed it we saw that it was totally at home feeding off black sunflower seeds from a hanging feeder.

“We identified the bird from one of our bird books and we know that these birds come in from as far away as Turkey and are relatively common in some London parks.

“We are really pleased to have it there and it’s an added interest in the garden.”

The parakeets are characterised by a red beak and a pink and black ring around the face and neck.

They are often found in flocks and can be very noisy.

Mr Mankelow said: “The noise is not a problem and we have enough feeders up to keep the small birds that have been driven off fed elsewhere.

“I have contacted the local RSPB and nobody else has seen one locally so ours must be a one-off.”