WHAT’S in A name?

The Wheatear has many old names attributed to it from across the British Isles and while the name of White Arse may well have been deliberated changed to Wheatear to avoid upsetting people, there are plenty of other old names for this lovely bird. Many, like Chuck, Chack, Chock and Chickell are onomatopoeic and make reference to the call of the bird, others such as Snorter, Horse Smatch and Hedge Chicker also relate to this sound. Names such as Fallow Chat and Clodhopper relate to the birds often being seen on open bare ground on migration whilst they search for food, while Furze Chat and Coney Chat relate to typical breeding sites of gorse (furze) covered heaths and Rabbit (Coney) burrows. Do you know of any other names? Finally, even the bird’s scientific name of Oenanthe oenanthe is a tad unusual. It is not ‘acceptable’ according to the rules of taxonomy, for unrelated animals to share a genus name. But birds and plants can have the same generic name. So, Oenanthe oenanthe is the Wheatear, but Oenanthe crocata is one of Britain’s most poisonous plants, the Hemlock Waterdropwort! The reason for this name sharing is that Oenanthe is taken from the Greek meaning wine flower, which in the case of the plant, refers to the scent of the flowers, while for Wheatears it refers to their arrival in mainland Greece coinciding with the vines flowering. It is therefore possible to see an Oenanthe perching on an Oenanthe!