Stoke Newington parakeet numbers increasing as residents complain of noise

Noise complaints: ring necked parakeets’ high pitched shriek is familiar to many Stoke Newington residents. Photograph: geograph.org.uk/wikipedia

Exotic bird species including ring-necked parakeets are thriving because of warmer winters.

Experts believe there could now be as many as 30,000 of the brightly coloured birds in the London area.

The birds, which are not native to Britain, are descended from escapees from zoos and pet shops.

Their presence around Abney Park has given rise to noise complaints because of their loud squawking.

Tim Webb of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds warned of “new species being demonised” and rejected allegations that the parakeet is robbing native birds of their food and homes, saying: “There’s no empirical evidence, only anecdotal. In fact, it’s quite unusual for there to be real conflict between parakeets and other birds.”

However, Mr Webb admitted: “They start quite early in the morning. They will wake you up. They are very noisy and it probably upsets a lot of people.”