Wheatear
A last walk out on the fells with pooch today before she sets off a day earlier than us on her jollybobs.
The moors are alive with birds and colour at the moment, but I've decided to go with one of the few small birds I can confidently identify at a distance. I believe this is a male.
This little chap's name has no connection to either wheat or ears - instead it's a Victorian adaptation (or a folk etymology to use a modern term) corrected due to a prudish dislike of the countryfolk name White-Arse, which frankly makes a lot more sense from an identification point of view. These birds are very migratory and fall into the genus Oenantue, which in turn is derived from the Greek for wine as the birds typically returned to Greece as the vines blossomed, thus cementing a place in mythology.
Yes, I've had a bit of time on my hands at the airport to do some reading up....
Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.