Small daughter embracing pale woman’s bird minder (8)
I believe the answer is:
swanherd
'bird minder' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'small daughter embracing pale woman's' is the wordplay.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'daughter' becomes 'd' (genealogical abbreviation).
'embracing' indicates putting letters inside.
'pale' becomes 'wan' (wan can mean pale or grey).
'woman's' becomes 'her' (belonging to a woman).
's'+'d'='sd'
'wan'+'her'='wanher'
'sd' enclosing 'wanher' is 'SWANHERD'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for swanherd that I've seen before include "Pen-pusher" , "Person looking after trumpeter" , "Bird keeper" .)