A researcher at the  University of Kent is asking people in Kingston and the surrounding areas  to send in parakeet feathers to help in Conservation Research.

Kingston Upon Thames and the surrounding  areas are home to  populations of parakeets that were apparently introduced into the wild by the release of a few birds in 1969. Now the number of parakeets  in the UK is about 30,000.

Conservation biologists are using the success of the parakeet population to try and find out why some Parrot species are successful while others are not. To do this they are asking people to send parakeet feathers so they can look at the genetic history.

The collected feathers should be flattened, dried if damp, put in a zip-loc bag and labelled with the location/postcode  they were found.  If you collect feathers from different locations please put them in to different bags and label them with the location/postcode.

All the bags should then be put in an envelope and posted to:

Hazel Jackson

Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology

Marlowe Building

University of Kent

Canterbury

Kent

CT2 7NR

More information  on the research can be found here

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