—a flutter of butterflies (there were two in the general vicinity but do two flutterbys equal a flutter?)
a risk of lobsters
an intrusion of cockroaches
a mite of mites
a knot of worms
a rope of onions
a punnet of strawberries
—and because the ‘sky dance’ season is about to begin (I saw my first starlings of the year gathering in some reeds this morning)—a murmuration of starlings…
~
And other collective nouns because how else to describe things but properly?
Unless of course you feel like making something up. A ‘scratch’ of bedbugs? A ‘séance’ of tea leaves? A ‘warbling’ of words?
~
Matilda Magtree 
Great examples of made-up group names. How about a slump of chairs? A multiple of copy machines? A concentration of books? A rubber of erasers? A fold of handkerchiefs? A privy of outhouses? An erosion of beachglass? An attention of microphones? A strum of lutes? A litter of bottle caps? A thong of flipflops? A swelter of thermometers? A passion of hugs? A development of photographs? Gee, this is fun…
Hey, you’re good!
A flutter of butterflies, really? I love that!
Yes, isn’t it great? Makes me wonder why these gorgeous words haven’t been adopted into general use. Surely it would be better than wandering about, as we do, saying: oh look, a bunch of butterflies next to a bunch of shrubs, and oh, look over there, a bunch of lobsters…
I believe it is a scuttle of lobsters. And if it isn’t let’s make it that.
I’m all in favour of making it a scuttle. It’s perfect. This list calls it a ‘risk’. I vote to re-name.
That’s a brilliant list. Some great names like a shiver of sharks and a fever of stingrays. I even like a risk of lobsters, although I think scuttle should be used as well as in “I should have been a pair of claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas.” from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.
Opps, That should have been “ragged claws.” Never leave these things to memory
I wouldn’t have caught that, but looking at both versions now, the line begs the extra beats of ‘ragged’… Ah, these tiny details that are neither tiny nor details…
Wonderful! I love collective nouns. One of my faves is “a scribble of authors”. Descriptive of any literary festival!
A scribble of authors… I’ll remember that!