There's still some on the island in Loch Lomond. They've been there the best part of a century. It was thought they'd died out, but a few were spotted again a while back, and have been sighted this year too. They'll be inbred to the point of not being healthy. A huge mistake.
Yes - they've [her and her husband] had it for a while. They intend renovating it all for people to vist, but it's not been made fully clear in what way. I expect the pandemic put paid to a lot of that, so time will tell. I've not heard anything recently about it.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Yes, their squawking is a horrible noise. I accept they may appear to be a nice looking bird, but they aren't solitary birds and seem to live in massive flocks. Well they do where I live. If you do see one, there will be another hundred nearby.
We are not feeding the birds this year, in part because of parakeets. What with grey squirrels, magpies and then rats, it all got too much last winter. The other native birds stood no chance. The parakeets have been back, obviously looking for the feeders again. I'm hoping they'll move away and stay away, we are stuck with the other pests though.
A rare visitor to our feeders previously, they now visit constantly every day. We have those sprung feeders that drop down when Squirrels climb onto them, but obviously God didn't get the memo about the weight of bloody Parakeets, as it doesn't work with them. Grrrr......
They used to cling into the side of mine, this avoiding the spring loaded step. I slotted a litre water bottle over the top so they have nothing to hang on to. Ps you need to cut off the bottom of the bottle and cut a slit part way up the side so that you can wrap it over itself and secure with wire. Make sure the parakeets or squirrels can't use your bit of wire to hang on to.
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Kirsty Young bought the island (and presumably the wallabies) in 2020. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-60319920
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I accept they may appear to be a nice looking bird, but they aren't solitary birds and seem to live in massive flocks. Well they do where I live. If you do see one, there will be another hundred nearby.
Ps you need to cut off the bottom of the bottle and cut a slit part way up the side so that you can wrap it over itself and secure with wire. Make sure the parakeets or squirrels can't use your bit of wire to hang on to.