Classification
Classification is the fancy name given to the naming of animals and plants. All animals and plants have at least two names and like your name, these represent a family name and a specific or individual name. The family name comes first in this case and if you were classed as an animal, your name might be expressed as Cowen brien or Cullen martin. The unit of systematic classification is the species, the members of which generally interbreed with each other in different ways and produce fertile offspring. This is not an absolute rule, rules in nature are seldom absolute – but it holds good in the main for wild or natural populations and is therefore a distinction with biological meaning; whereas all other divisions or taxa (singular : taxon) are basically the results of subjective human judgements. Closely related species are placed in the same genus (plural : genera) and so we have the Raven and Rook in the genus Corvus and the closely related Blackbird, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush and Fieldfare in the genus Turdus. The same applies to plants and gardeners will be familiar with the variety of plants whose first or generic name starts with Cotoneaster or Clematus something or other. 

The present system of classification dates from 1758 when the great Swedish naturalist, Carl von Linnaeus published the tenth edition of his ‘Systema Naturae’ in which he constantly used two names in Latin form for each species of plant and animal. The first name indicates the genus (a taxon first devised by Linnaeus) and is spelt with an initial capital letter; the second is the specific name and is spelt with a lower-case letter. By international agreement, no generic name is repeated in the entire animal or plant kingdoms but specific names e.g. vulgaris (common) recur regularly. So, we have Caluna vulgaris for common heather and Sturnus vulgaris for the common starling. These scientific names are nearly always in Latin form (occasionally in ancient Greek) and so follow the grammatical rules of these languages. Sometimes the generic and specific names are the same, as for the wren Troglodytes troglodytes and the Greylag Goose of Coolfin, Anser anser.

Because English speaking people are now found throughout the world, much local variation has occurred in giving popular names to plants and animals. So Divers and Tits here are Loons and Chickadees in America and our Waders are Shorebirds in other countries and societies. Many Irish and Waterford people visit foreign places and those interested in bird-watching, gardens and botany and even butterflies, moths and dragonflies, pursue their interest while on holiday. Names in the local language might be beyond you. Local names in English might also be obscure (a local name for the Cormorant in Waterford is the Ducky Diver!) but the formal or scientific names will always be the same and represents a constant throughout the world that can be utterly relied on as an aid for you to positively identify what you see.

For further details of local wildlife and pictures of some local species see the Recent News page of the Waterford Wildlife website www.waterfordwildlife.com, or contact michaelatwaterford-wildlife.com