The Springwatch collective
Some of you may have guessed that, despite being called The Mole, I am not actually a real live mole. Perhaps it was my excellent spelling but, to quote John Merrick in The Elephant Man: "I am not an animal. I'm a human being."
The reason I mention this is that I have just been looking at the Springwatch Message Board and seen that many people who were active during Autumnwatch are back after - as they put it - 'a good winter sleep' or having been in 'hibernation'.
Now, I don't know these message boarders personally - so I'm only guessing - but I reckon they aren't animals either. And that got me thinking: if 'anthropomorphism' means 'attributing human characteristics to animals', then what is the opposite of anthropomorphism? What word describes the attribution of animal characteristics to humans? (Non-thropomorphism? Man-thropomorphism? Thrippy-throppy-morphism?)
And the more I thought of Springwatch fans as a group of animals the more I wondered what the collective noun for a group of Springwatch fans might be. In my first blog I asked what individual Springwatch fans should be called (Springers, Springheads, Springsters - I'd still love to know your suggestions), but now I'm wondering what the collective noun for a group of Springwatch fans might be.
You know what I mean. A group of whales is called a pod. Sheep are a herd. Crows are a murder. Baboons are a congress. Jellyfish form a smack. Coots form a cover. Polecats form a chiver. So what's a group of Springwatch fans called? A clutch? A curiousity? A party? A collective? An audience?
Here's a fairly exhaustive list of animal collective nouns to inspire you. Send in your ideas!
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~29~RS~)
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.
UNUSUAL NESTS,we have a cordiline tree about 20ft tall,nesting on one side under the frongs of leaves in a box, is a family of blue tits,just about ready to fly.On the other side of the trunk at the same height,is a collar neck dove,nesting on a deck made by my husband,because they unsucesfully tried to make a nest ontop of the blu tits house,which by the way has a pointed roof and as you can imagine failed miserably several times, the dove has one egg in the nest, and has been sitting for two weeks now with no sign of a chick, how long will it take to hatch ?
Complain about this comment
Recently, 19th May 2009, I took a photo of a Swan sitting on her nest with her partner resting nearby with his head resting on his back, but with a keen alerting and protective eye on any passers by...yet seemingly ignoring and oblivious to the fact that they were actually nesting on the grass verge and within feet of a fairly busy main road in North Norfolk with its lumbering traffic constantly passing just feet away... Keith Deacon
Complain about this comment
Hello there, Its great to see the swallows nesting and to know that they return to the same nest every year. But could you please tell me how many years do swallows live for?
Complain about this comment
What about a spring of Springsters?
P.S. Really enjoying reading your Mole blog ;)
Complain about this comment
Well Mr Mole
Considering the ammount of messages that are sent after each show a collection of Springwatchers should be known as An Abundance
Keep those blogs coming.... kind regards Caroline
Complain about this comment
Greetings Mole,
I'd like to second kinesworld - An Abundance of Audience - it fits both the Springwatch and Autumnwatch series plus reflects the volume of wildlife we are presented with via the excellent programmes.
So here we are an 'Abundance of Abounders' collectively abounding with enthusiasm (hey, maybe someone will nominate us for the Museum of Curiosity!)
Very much enjoying your blogs here, it's not too far from the Wales website either!
Complain about this comment
Helloo Mole,
We know some people who have two pairs of swallows in the corner of their porch, they see them every time they leave the house...no need for cameras there!
Complain about this comment
Hey up Moley, loving the blogs! A collective noun for Springwatchers? How about, in tribute to the great man...An "Oddie" of Springwatchers?
Complain about this comment
I live in Dereham in Norfolk and we heard a cuckoo for the first time around the last week of April - and also several times more since then - we hear it here every year - I live on the edge of a woodland which I think is known as Rushmeadow but we are yet to see the cuckoo in our garden which would be brilliant as we get lots of other birds here
Complain about this comment
Heard a cuckoo this (sat 29th) evening near Errwood Reservoir, Goyt Valley, Derbyshire. Didn't manage to see it even though we tried walking towards where the call was coming from in the woods; shame, but delighted to have heard it.
Is it normal to hear just a solitary cuckoo or is that a result of declining numbers?
Complain about this comment
at 7am in my backgarden last wk i witnessed a sparrow hawk taking down a sparrow after the sparrow has been plucked and the 2 had left the garden the feathers soon came into use for the nesting bluetit i also have in the cavity of my house, my daughter also witnessed this with me so i had to explain "thats mother nature for you "
Complain about this comment
hi, could any one please let me know is a grey squirrel with red feet and nose, grey sides and strange white markings on belly and back as if painted on in pattern like manner a rare thing to see. If so I would hope for someone at spring watch to email me and i shall send photo or hopefully to get some feedback would be great...thanks
Complain about this comment
Complain about this comment
Last Sunday I saw a formation of geese flying south (at Port Glasgow). Is this on the early side?
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS