Shakespeare‘s Juliet pondered this same question, concluding ‘that which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet.‘ Undeniably true, it perfectly illustrates the point that we should never be defined solely by the words that are attached to us as labels.

Our names are obviously important though: they declare us as individuals, or even as part of a group, giving us presence, identity and awareness of others.

I declare my name as an individual at the top of the blog, but I’m also happy to be labelled as a birdwatcher. I feel that it helps to define me, my ideals and what’s important to me. Call me a twitcher though and I’d say that you were wrong!

But why be so fussy about it? After all, going back to Shakespeare: ‘Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title‘…or, in other words, what’s in a name? Doesn’t it mean that really, even if I were called a twitcher, birdwatching should retain for me that sense of perfection experienced in the quiet contemplation of the delightfully diverse natural world around me. Well, no. It doesn’t. Twitching is often frenetic, competitive, even stressful – it’s a world away from the quiet joy of birdwatching! So, to answer the earlier question, what’s in a name?, sometimes it’s everything!

Names of birds are also really useful when it comes to identifying them. I remember a conversation with a policeman a while ago now. He wondered what my sister-in-law and I were up to, as we were wandering about close to the perimeter fence of AWRE Aldermaston. We told him, truthfully, that we were trying to spot a lesser whitethroat…what’s that then?, he asked. He laughed when we replied that it is a small bird with a white throat, slightly smaller than the whitethroat which also has, you guessed it, a white throat!

Things aren’t always quite so straightforward though, when learning the common names of birds. A male grey wagtail does indeed wag his tail, but he looks far more yellow and blue-grey than the plain grey his name would suggest. A white wagtail looks very much like a pied wagtail, black and white, not at all like the all-white feathers you might expect from its name!

So, while labels and names can be misleading, and should always be used with caution and a respect for individuality, sometimes they are really important and that should also be respected. The key is to know and understand which are welcomed and which are not.

Rebecca, x