Amongst the pigeons and magpies when you spot a Parakeet it really stands out.

You may have seen a number flying about Kingston - but how did they get here?

After all the bird is originally native to places such as India and Australia.

Most theories centre around the fact that a breeding pair escaped captivity in the mid 1990s and started a wild population.

There are however a number of other interesting theories:

Parakeets that escaped from the branch of Ealing Studios used for the filming of The African Queen — Isleworth Studios — in 1951

Parakeets that escaped from damaged aviaries during the Great Storm of 1987

A pair of parakeets released by Jimi Hendrix in Carnaby Street, London, in the 1960s

A number of parakeets reportedly escaped from a pet shop in Sunbury-on-Thames in 1970

However most scientists believe that actually the parakeets escaped an aviary in the 1970s rather than the later dates of the '90s.

Total population numbers vary too with there being anything between 8,600 pairs across Britain right up to 32,000.

If you've spotted a Kingston parakeet send us a picture to [email protected]