Further work on trying to unravel what Ring-necked parakeets (Psittacula krameri) in Bexley are getting up to, especially since the formation of the Danson Park night-time roost (see yesterdays’ post), took me to Lamorbey late this afternoon – previously the second-largest fly-out to roost site in Bexley behind Danson itself.
Previous counts here have yielded the following numbers: 18/10/2012 – 182, 14/1/2013 – 437 and 31/10/2013 – 278.
Tonight managed a relatively meagre 68. Moreover the whole episode was rather ‘disorganised’, with no more than 10 birds leaving at a time (mostly rather fewer), and few birds in the usual aggregation tree at the west end of the lake at any one time. All birds left on a course a little to the north of west, which having looked at Google Earth suggests a direct line to the Sutcliffe Park roost if that still exists – though only a modest adjustment of direction en route could take them to Hither Green Cemetery instead.
There is nothing to suggest a fall in overall Parakeet numbers in Bexley, and whilst there are only a handful of previous counts, the scale of the reduction does suggest that birds previously seen heading west-ish over Sidcup Golf Course, and probably some of those spending the day here, could now making the short flight north-east to Danson for the night.