Pair of colourful parakeets spotted in Blackburn garden

The bright green birds are relatively common to the south-east of England, with many residing in the London area, however Peter Baldwin was shocked when he looked out of his window on Sunday morning and spotted two of the birds perching on his bird feeder.

The 32-year-old who lives in Cherry Tree said he is not an avid bird watcher but enjoys wildlife and takes an interest in it.

One of the parakeets perching on the bird feeder

He was in disbelief seeing the two birds in his garden which has previously been frequented by woodpeckers, goldfinches, blue tits, robins and more.

Peter said: “It was pretty amazing. I watched a video on parakeets on YouTube about a year ago.

"Two months after I watched that I saw one in my neighbour’s tree and it blew my mind.

“A year later now and I have seen two in my garden on the bird feeder.

“I have also spotted one on the canal walking through Feniscowles.

“They were there for about 15 minutes.”

The ring-necked parakeet is a native bird in tropical countryside and is common from west Africa across lowland India south of the Himalayas.

A parakeet in a tree in Peter's garden

Despite their tropical origin, parakeets are able to cope with the cold British winters.

They feed on a wide variety of fruit, berries, nuts, seeds, grain and household scraps.

A parakeet digging into some food

Parakeets have only resided in England since the late 1990s and, in the south-east are colourful and frequent visitors to bird tables and garden feeders during the winter months.