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Wild rose-necked parakeets are an increasingly common sight in the Midlands as we've touched on before. But now we've conducted DNA analysis on feathers shed by parakeets living in the Black Country and the results are fascinating.

They suggest our Midlands parakeets are genetically related to the birds which make up the majority of the thriving population in London and the South East. So our birds are not recent Midlands escaped pets, they are in fact the exiting colony spreading up the M6.

DNA also reveals just why parakeets are doing so well in the UK and how a few escaped pets a long time ago have now become a thriving population of 32,000 birds. The population is still likely to inbreed because it started with just a few birds. But it appears the occasional injections of new DNA from recently escaped pet birds is just enough to allow the population to thrive rather than become so inbred it can't survive.

Conservationists call this "genetic rescue" and it's a technique they use with rare species. Introducing one or two specimens from captivity to small wild populations. It's what's allowed the parakeets to go from a handful of birds to entire flocks.

If you have spotted parakeets in your garden or park and can collect fallen feathers then you can help this research too. All the details of where to send your feathers can be found .