Monochrome Madness,  Themed galleries,  Travel in general

Gallery: the Twelve Days of Christmas (in black and white)

December 23, 2025 / 49 Comments

On the first day of Christmas

My true love gave to me

A partridge in a pear tree.

Frederic Austin version of a traditional English Christmas song, 1909

Even if you think you know this song, I bet like me you forget some of the later gifts. Are there twelve drummers drumming, or eleven? Should there be ten pipers piping, or is that lords a-leaping? And so on.

For Margaret’s Monochrome Madness challenge I made sure to check them all. Here they are, as listed in the final verse:

On the twelfth day of Christmas

My true love gave to me

Twelve drummers drumming,

Eleven pipers piping,

Ten lords a-leaping,

Nine ladies dancing,

Eight maids a-milking,

Seven swans a-swimming,

Six geese a-laying,

Five gold rings,

Four calling birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves

And a partridge in a pear tree.

I don’t of course have photos of each of these subjects, and for those that I do, they aren’t in the correct numbers. But a trawl of my archives threw up a set of images with different subjects numbering from one to twelve, and I think I’ve even managed to make my version of the song scan. So here is my take on the Twelve Days of Christmas.

See the foot of the page for a list of where each photo was taken.

On the twelfth day of Christmas

My true love gave to me …

Twelve flamingos feeding,

Eleven egrets startled,

Ten birds ignoring,

Nine schoolboys laughing,

Eight cattle drinking,

Seven guillemots perching,

Six dancers dancing,

Five silver gnomes,

Four sailing boats,

Three lion cubs,

Two bee-eaters,

And a parakeet in a cherry tree

Location details

Twelve flamingos feeding: Salar de Atacama, Chile

Eleven egrets startled: Senegal (a little north of the Gambia River)

Ten birds ignoring: Chobe National Park, Botswana

Nine schoolboys laughing: Songdowon International Schoolchildren’s Camp, near Wonsan, North Korea

Eight cattle drinking: Done Deng Island, Mekong River, southern Laos

Seven guillemots perching: Alkefjellet, Svalbard

Six dancers dancing: Chobe Game Lodge, Botswana

Five silver gnomes: Neumarkt, Cologne, Germany

Four sailing boats: Valetta, Malta

Three lion cubs: Chobe National Park, Botswana

Two bee-eaters: Souimanga Lodge, Sine-Saloum Delta, Senegal

And a parakeet in a cherry tree: Ealing, west London

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

This will be my last post before Christmas so I want to wish all my followers a peaceful and joyful celebration. If you are with loved ones, savour the time together; and if you are missing loved ones, I hope you are nevertheless able to experience moments of peace and comfort.

.

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

49 Comments

Do share your thoughts, I'd love to hear from you! And please include your name in case WP marks you 'anonymous' - thank you