Maybe it’s my imagination but I’m sure that in the last few weeks I’ve seen and heard more parakeets about than ever. It feels like West Ealing used to be at the edges of their empire and now we’re well and truly being colonised. I’ve seen and heard them for some years but never have I seen them in our pear tree on Northfields allotments. Now I have and you can bet that they will have chomped their way through the pears at the top of the tree. Also, in the last couple of weeks, the WEN Abundance volunteers have been picking apples off local trees and, again, the half eaten fruit off the high branches is a sure sign of parakeets. I don’t think there’s anything we can do to deter them from eating the fruit. I’ll just have to hope they leave enough for us earth-bound humans.