February 15, 2022 12.15 pm This story is over 25 months old

‘Flocking’ brilliant swearing parrots get new enclosure at Lincolnshire Wildlife Park

Let’s hope they’ve been working on their bad language
The five African grey parrots had to be removed from public view in 2020 after a swearing outburst. Now they will have their own enclosure. | Photo: Lincolnshire Wildlife Park
By Local Democracy Reporter

Five parrots who are well-known for their potty mouths have been moved into their own enclosure at Lincolnshire Wildlife Park, and staff are hoping their manners are a bit better this time round!

The five African grey parrots attracted worldwide fame during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when they arrived at Lincolnshire Wildlife Park with some quite unfortunate habits.

Billy, Tyson, Elsie, Jade and Eric came to the park in Friskney together, and could be heard “f’ing and blinding at each other”, much to the amusement of staff and visitors alike.

Billy is one of the five cheeky parrots. | Photo: Lincolnshire Wildlife Park

They were removed from public view for a number of weeks following the swearing incidents, so as not to upset younger visitors to the park, but they have now been unveiled in their very own enclosure for the first time as a flock.

The park staff are hoping that in their time away from the spotlight, the famous five have developed their vocabulary enough to not verbally abuse people and each other.

Eric’s language is a bit blue too. Photo: Lincolnshire Wildlife Park

Steve Nichols, Chief Executive at Lincolnshire Wildlife Park chuckled as he said: “We’ve put the relevant warnings in place and have even mixed them with a small group of other African greys who are good talkers, with a hope of distracting them, but we can’t be held responsible for what people may hear.

“We have parrots arriving at the park all of the time, and the odd swearing parrot is nothing new but to have five throwing out blue language at the time same time, as they did was unbelievable.”

The cheeky parrots were the talk of the town for a long time for their eye-opening language. | Photo: Lincolnshire Wildlife Park

Lincolnshire Wildlife Park is home to the National Parrot Sanctuary, and the five African greys are not the only birds at the park to attract attention for their vocal chords in recent years.

In 2020, another parrot resident, Chico, went viral for his rendition of Beyonce, which managed to earn him a slot on This Morning with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.

Chico has his own Instagram page with over 8,000 followers, which describes him as “the singing parrot” living at Lincolnshire Wildlife Park.