I found three migrants in Oxleas Woods
-
- Horse chestnut tree
-
- Common rhodendron
-
- Rose-ringed parakeets
Three migrants to Britain are in these photos I took in Oxleas Woods, in southeast London at the weekend:
- The first is the horse chestnut tree. It’s thought to be native to the Balkans, Turkey and Turkmenistan. Unlike the Albanian immigrants that Britain took solid measures against, the horse chestnut has been actively introduced and planted in the country.
- The second is the purple rhododendron. It’s called common rhododendron or pontic rhododendron and is native to the Iberian Peninsula and the Caucasus region. It was introduced to Britain as an ornamental shrub in 1763, later planted as cover for game birds and is now considered an invasive species.
- The rose-ringed parakeets, which are sitting on the grass, are native to Africa and the Indian sub-continent. The numbers of these birds have risen so much so that large flocks are to be found in suburban London and in the English home counties.
