This image is the cover for the book A Prickle of Porcupines

A Prickle of Porcupines

During the COVID pandemic, Frances decided to combine her talent for writing poems with all the different collective nouns she had discovered for her book, A Prickle of Porcupines! But as she delved into some interesting facts to include in her poems, she also discovered that sometimes there was more than one word for a group name. She has tried to include them all, but acknowledges that the following may not be comprehensive, and some from inaccurate sources. As she found out, this really is not an exact science, but nevertheless, a lot of fun!

Frances Cohen, Billie and Oz Yelland

Frances Cohen is a 73-year-old widow. She was a ‘stay at home mum’ to her three children, who have now given her seven, in her words: “handsome, beautiful, adorable, clever and unique grandchildren!” But then every grandma says that don’t they? They now age from eighteen down to seven, and over the years she has enjoyed writing special poems for their birthdays, but also teaching them trivia, including some rather bizarre “collective nouns” for various animals and birds.