The Lost Language Project | SW Museum Learning

about The

Project

Here at Saffron Walden Museum we are passionate about caring for our collections and exploring new ways to talk about and share them. The Lost Language of Nature project aims to conserve a large number of specimens from our natural history collections, whilst working with the public to discover new narratives through storytelling and language.

Each week we will be conserving a new group of specimens and sharing this process with you. We will also be reaching out to the public to discover the lost language and stories of these objects, from forgotten folk names, tales and songs to the unrecorded names of these specimens in their country of origin.

We ask anyone interested in participating in the project to get in touch, either personally if you have a story to share with us, or any representatives from community groups who would like to get involved.

To discuss the project in more detail with us please contact James and Charlotte via the contact button. Alternatively, if you have a story or name for one of the specimens on the page or any other animal, use the 'Send your submission button'. To see a full list of birds we're working on and some stories we've already found, click 'See the full list'.

Contact us to discuss the project

Send your submission to the project

See the full list and add your story

James and Charlotte introduce the project. Please get in touch using the links above if you have something to tell us about the birds we're working on!

Meet the birds

Below are some of the birds we have been working on as well before and after images. We would love to hear if you have any names or stories about these birds or even if you have heard some of the local vernacular words we list in the descriptions.

Scroll across the pictures below to see everything we've been working on!

Peregrine falcon: Falco peregrinus

The peregrine features in Norse mythology as a disguise for the trickster Loki. In one story, Loki as a peregrine tries to lure frost giants to their death but is trapped by Geirrod’s magic. To spare his life Loki agrees to betray Thor to Geirrod, but Thor is warned of the plan by a giantess and won’t be caught by surprise…
In medieval Britain, peregrines were one of the most exclusive birds in falconry, suitable only for use by princes according to the Book of St Albans from 1486.

Red-breasted toucan: Ramphastos dicolorus

The Aztecs of Central America believed the toucan’s beak was made of rainbows, and it was a messenger from the gods. They would perform rituals to the toucan to bring rain, and the father of a newborn cild would not eat toucan meat for fear of his child being cursed.

European nightjar: Caprimulgus europaeus

Also known as ‘night hawk’ in Essex, this mysterious bird has lots of names across East Anglia. Fern owl, Razor grinder, Scissors grinder, Dor-hawk, Doy-hawk and Churn owl. Do you know any of them? How did you hear them? We’d love to know!

Nightjars have a bad reputation in folklore, believed to suck goats dry of milk and blinding them, spreading the disease ‘puck’ in cattle, or as a disguise for witches.

Common or Eurasian Kestrel: Falco tinnunculus

The kestrel is a very common bird in Britain, but actually lives across Europe and Asia. Some of its common names from east and southern England are Fan hawk, Fanner hawk, Wind hoverer, Wind bibber and Windsucker. Windsucker might be a polite version of another word ending “ucker”, which meant ‘Wind beater’, as kestrels hover facing into the wind.

Great Potoo: Nyctibius grandis

The Great Potoo is a large noctornal bird related to frogmouths and nightjars. Its found in southern Mexico through northeastern Guatemala and through most of Central America down through South America as far as southeastern Brazil and Bolivia. This nocturnal predator of large insects is usually seen perched high above the ground while foraging, hawking when prey is spotted. During the day it perches upright on a tree stump, and is overlooked because it resembles part of the stump.

Eurasian Blackbird : Turdus merula

The common blackbird is a species of true thrush. It is also called the Eurasian blackbird, or simply the blackbird.

In Britain the carol 'The12 Days of Christmas' may have originally mentioned ‘colly birds’, meaning black like coal, a reference to an old common nickname for blackbirds. A blackbird nesting near a house is a sign of good fortune.

Common crossbill: Loxia curvirostra

A small bird in the finch family. Crossbills have distinctive mandibles, crossed at the tips, which enable them to extract seeds from conifer cones and other fruits.

There is a legend that this bird acqured its twisted beak by trying to draw the nails that held christ to the cross.

Wood duck: Aix sponsa

This was recorded in the Museum's records as a Mandarin duck from East Asia, but is actually a wood duck fom North America. Strangely for a duck, it nests in trees, sometimes high above the water, sometimes up to a mile away.

Can you share any of its lost language with us?