I always struggle with titles, so this one, chalked on the board in the RSPB shop at Carsington Water, seemed like a gift.
The story is that an 85-year-old customer asked them if they’d ever heard of one. His grandfather had learned the term as a boy and had passed it on to him when he was doing a school project. They worked out that the grandfather was born in the 1870s.
For comparison, my Dad is 88 and his grandfathers were born in 1871 and 1874 so we are about in the right area.
A banty feather poke is a Long-tailed Tit’s nest, and was in use in the Matlock area in the 1870s – 80s. The customer told them this because he didn’t want the name to die out.
Well, I’m doing my bit to keep it going.
They’d done some internet research and found that a poke is a pocket. Sounds fair enough, though I also think of it as a drawstring bag or purse. Either are quite good at describing this sort of nest, as you can see if you follow the link.
The feather is obvious, there are between 1,500 and 2,000 feathers in each nest. Makes you wonder why they bother, but they’ve being doing it for a long time and I suppose it makes evolutionary sense somewhere along the line.
Banty, could be something to do with bantams, but if you check up on a Derbyshire dialect website banty-legged means bow-legged. Not that it helps. I’ll have to check the legs next time I see one.
Finally, if you check this website for old names for Long-tailed Tits, you will find an extensive list including bumbarrel (the only one I’ve heard before) and Feather Poke.
Lomg Tailed Tit at Rufford Abbey
I’ll do my best not to forget it, and pass it on
My work is done… 🙂
Thanks for sharing, I’ve learnt something new I can share with my bird watching Dad!
No problem, I learnt a lot myself whilst writing this post. 🙂
I like hearing these old expressions and learning what they mean. Loved the link to the nests.
Yes, I watched the nest building video twice. Fascinating birds.
I know bumbarrel too – John Clare used this name I believe.
That might be where I got it from, as we both spent time round Peterborough. In the days when our old house was surrounded by rough grazing we used to have a lot nesting in the stunted hawthorns the cattle produced.
Lucky! I’ve never seen a long-tailed tit’s nest. I know they nest near me but I have never yet found where!
They are difficult to spot. I once found one in a garden during the winter – didn’t have a clue it was there until I started cutting the bush back. Can’t remember what bush it was but I recall it was thorny. Very thorny.
Ouch! I will have to look more closely then!
They are often lower than you would expect – 3 or 4 feet.
I think I’ve been looking up instead of down; thank-you!
Good luck. 🙂
Thank-you 🙂
🙂
We like to call them ewoks – I love seeing them and are lucky enough to get a flock of them on the feeders every so often
This is in the ‘you learn something every day’ category. Thank you.
Thanks. Nice to know there’s still stuff out there to learn. 🙂