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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Severin Carrell Scotland editor

Wallabies to damselflies: Scotland’s newest animals get Gaelic names

The azure damselfly
The azure damselfly, which has been given the Gaelic name cruinneag liath, meaning grey, neat young girl. Photograph: Geoffrey Swaine/Rex/Shutterstock

A host of warm weather species moving north into Scotland have been given new Gaelic names, reflecting the subtle but significant environmental shifts brought by climate heating.

Following work by dozens of lexicographers, naturalists and Gaelic artists, the firecrest, one of the UK’s tiniest birds, now luxuriates under the delicate Gaelic words for flaming, wee, little thing, or crìonag lasrach.

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