Of Fuz-clackers and Willy Wickets
Looking through Bucknill's 'The Birds of Surrey' you are obviously transported back in time - the book is now 118 years old. What is most striking comparing it to a modern day county avifauna is that the Victorians just didn't count the birds that they came across - no flock sizes, no estimation of visible migration, just vague statements - 'large numbers', 'many', 'an increase' - all a bit frustrating, and little to be able to compare with today's data. At the back of the book is a charming table called 'Glossary of local names' which lists at least 150 alternative names given to birds by the folk of southern England back in Victorian times, and these are a few of my favourites... Blue-felt (Fieldfare) Chattermag (Magpie) Cherry-chopper (Garden Warbler) Clod-bunting (Corn Bunting) Cricket-chirper (Grasshopper Warbler) Cuckoo's Mate (Wryneck) Deviling (Barn Owl) Ditchwatcher (Pied Wagtail) Emmett (Wryneck) Fallow-ch...