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Bright green ring-necked parakeets are moving to more and more places in the Netherlands, with almost 10,000 observations reported to bird monitoring website Waarneming.nl last year.

The birds are common in the big cities, particularly Amsterdam, Utrecht and Leiden but have now been spotted in parts of Noord-Brabant, Flevoland and Zeeland, Nos reported.

The bird, which originates in central Africa and India, is classified as an ‘exotic invader’.

The parakeet, the researchers say, competes for nesting space with other birds which live in hollow trees, such as owls. In addition, they have been known to plunder orchards and eat the fruit.

Attracted to bird feeders in urban gardens, they are particularly fond of raw peanuts and generate complaints about the noise they make when flying in groups or settling in trees.