Feathery and festive: birds in northern folklore

Now that that the weather's taken a chilly turn, it's the perfect time for a look at some winter folklore about birds in our region. Blending nature and heritage on the Tyne Derwent Way, join Dr Katie Liddane in an exploration of the superstitions and traditions held by North East folk in the 1800s.

The superstitions, sayings and traditions that make up folklore began to be collected in the Victorian era, partly because scholars worried that they were being lost to time as the world quickly changed around them. If you still say "good morning, Mr Magpie!", or go to see carollers, you know this didn't fully happen! But these records of traditions that haven't quite made it into the present still provide a fascinating insight into how people of the past related to and made sense of the natural world.

For example, Michael Aislabie Denham, a Durham native and one of the first to be recognised as a professional folklorist, noted that an early method of trying to predict when frozen ponds and lakes would melt was to send geese out onto the ice and see if it would crack!

William Brockie and William Henderson also explain how the sounds of bean geese migrating for the winter were believed to be evidence of packs of wild ghost dogs haunting the skies! Henderson even includes a poem about these haunting hounds:

'Oft have I heard my honoured mother say, How she has listened to the Gabriel hounds - Those strange unearthly and mysterious sounds, Which on the ear through murkiest darkness fell; And how, entranced by superstitious spell, The trembling villager not seldom heard, In the quaint notes of the nocturnal bird'

As these geese flew at night, the spooky winter darkness must have had people's imaginations running wild...

Another tradition that has survived to this day, though, is the robin's connection to the festive season. Although now they're on cards and decorations as a jolly little friend, they took on a more mischievous role in the 1800s. As Henderson notes, Victorians in the North East believed it was incredibly unlucky to disturb their nests, but in Devon it got much more specific and it was believed that if you stole a robin's nest, all of the crockery in your house would smash!

So remember, there's more to birds in northern folklore than saluting magpies, be kind to robins, and don't forget to send us any photos of feathered friends you see on the Tyne Derwent Way!