Feathers fall around you, and show you the way to go

It was a warm, sunny Spring day on Monday so I went for a wander at lunchtime and explored Lambeth Cemetery, which is just behind where I work. It was bigger than I had expected and a pleasant area of calm away from the fairly manic streets of Tooting and Colliers Wood. While there I spotted three jays, a squirrel, and a couple of parakeets, as well as hearing the call of a green woodpecker. I also got to hear some gospel music from a sizeable funeral taking place at the other side of the cemetery.

On returning to the office I told two colleagues I'd been for a walk and mentioned seeing two parakeets.
"What?".
"Parakeets?".
They looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. "You know, green, noisy...parrots!"
"What, like escaped pets?"*
"No, there's loads of them all over the place."
They continued to stare, disbelievingly, at me, one asking if I'd maybe seen a tiger as well. It was only when I got on the internet and showed them a story from the BBC about London's booming parakeet population that they realised I wasn't a mental. I know that I have often gone out of my way to look for birds, but I was still genuinely surprised that they were completely unaware that these creatures existed in such close proximity to them. They're bright green! They're noisy! There are 30,000 of them in London! Of course not every one is going to be interested in them and other wildlife, but to have no idea that they existed really did stun me.

I guess that this is a piece about keeping your eyes/ears open really. Just looking around - there's loads of amazing stuff, even in the city (I saw a kingfisher not far from South Wimbledon at the weekend). I'd like to take this opportunity to link to the site of my friend David Lindo, the Urban Birder. Last year, David generously introduced me to Kensal Green cemetery and showed me where to spot green woodpeckers. Since then I've seen/heard them at three more locations around the city. The Urban Birding mantra is spot on: anything can turn up anywhere, anytime.

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I originally wrote this on Monday but just hadn't got around to posting it. As a post script, this lunchtime I ended up leading a bit of an expedition (four workmates) to Lambeth cemetery to spot parakeets (probably cementing my status among my colleagues as a geek). Predictably, they were not to be seen, so they probably still think I'm making it up. We did see a few jays and a green woodpecker though, which for me was more exciting.



*There are various stories about how the parakeets got to London, with my favourite being that, back in the 60s, Jimi Hendrix released a couple of them on Carnaby Street and the rest have descended from there.