Birds

Yesterday I saw one of the parakeets in the park;


The official story is that about 30 to 40 odd years ago, a parakeet escaped from captivity, survived, and not only that, very happily lived in the wild for ever after. This is a sweet story, but there are several parks that now have established colonies (ours being one of them) and not only in this county, in several others too! This must have been one very busy bird I reckon...

This morning however, I saw a kestrel, who is nesting nearby (the fledgelings, 3 this year, have now gone). Not sure whether this is mum or dad. I think it's mum. Isn't she magnificent? (if not very close up, couldn't get the zoom to work properly at the crucial moment!)


(If you double click on the photo, you will get a better and larger view)