Until yesterday morning, I didn’t know that one of the collective nouns for herons is a ‘siege’. This word has immediately joined two other of my personal favourites - a murder of crows and a parliament of owls - and seems so fitting a way to describe the commanding presence that a large group of herons can hold over its environment.
I am fascinated by these impressive, stately birds, hearing them almost daily as they perch and nest in tall trees only minutes on foot from my home. While this siege of herons can often be rowdy, each individual glides with silent and mesmeric repetition back and forth along the river in solitary fashion, spending whatever time is necessary, poised and undistracted, to catch its food. What a privilege I personally believe it is, to be able to observe these birds at such proximity. I am in awe of their dignified presence by the water’s edge and of their instincts for choosing the right moment to act. In their world, precision and patience matter.
I feel this way about words. Choosing and using the ‘right’ words matter deeply to me. As a grey heron seemingly frozen in waiting to capture its food, I not infrequently find myself waiting, perhaps with a taut expression on my face, perhaps apprehensive that I will not succeed, yet somehow trusting in my experience that the ‘right’ word will come to me when it is needed. Or that my treasured thesaurus will guide me there. To my mind, there is an elegance in using words which most closely capture the emotion, experience, insight or intention that you may wish to convey. The English language in its richness and nuance offers so many choices, that finding the word can feel a formidable task at times. Yet the satisfaction and joy to be found in the precision of words are, from my perspective, worth the waiting and the effort that the task entails.
This is the encouragement I endeavour to offer to my students. Allow the time to allow the words to surface. Once they do, go back to them again as the repetition of use moves them out of the quickly-saturated working memory and into the long-term store of knowledge about that word, in its depth or range of meanings. The act of retrieving that word time and again will grant increasing skill in using that word and increasingly, you will know when it is the right word to use.
The presence of grey herons near my home continually captivates me. Whether as one of a siege or entirely alone, each bird seems immersed in its task, unhurried and discerning. They remind me to bring a presence to my linguistic tasks - not to hurry and to discern - for words and their meanings, matter.
The Grey Heron
an illustration from
Our Feathered Friends Observed
Little Messages From Birds
Discover more here.
Abby Salvadori
16th September 2024
Image by Mea Bateman 2023. All Rights Reserved.
I will be at the Biodiversum Bird Watch Day on Sunday 6th October, together with Mea.
I truly enjoyed reading your post. Especially as the season begins to change, it is nice to be reminded to pause and take stock, before resuming our stream of activities and conversations. Thank you!