Hither Green parakeets

Every night at dusk, thousands of ring-necked parakeets converge on the poplars between Hither Green Cemetery and Lewisham Crematorium. They arrive in in flocks varied in size between a couple or so birds, to hundreds in a single flight.

It starts at about half an hour before sunset, and they gather in the trees in the crematorium. Then, after sunset, these flocks leave the trees they gathered in and head for the poplars, where there is quite a lot more to-ing and fro-ing before they finally settle.

The noise is tremendous. Because of the gathering gloom,

This clip shows flocks moving from the trees in which they gathered to the poplar roosting trees.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yersinia/3090160036