April visit 10

Other wildlife:

On a much nicer note, I saw (I think; it didn’t stay still long enough for me to fetch the book!) a swallowtail butterfly. It’s an interesting process working out what creatures I’ve seen: spot the quarry, try to remember all the details, look it up in my (French) book [I haven’t managed to find the English equivalent to the Flammarion], hope to recognise the Latin name so I can translate it into English. That does happen (sometimes). The alternative version involves looking up the French common name in the “wrist-breaker” (Oxford Hachette), and failing that Google the Latin when I get back home. It’s a lot easier when I manage to take a photo of the flower/wildlife and can compare my image to the pictures!!

I found out that “bouillon blanc” is the French name for mullein (or as I know it, verbascum), and you can make a tisane from the flower buds for sore throats. But I might Google that before I try it out!

The house seemed plagued by bumblebees. Their buzzing is a particularly irritating thing when one is trying to nest under your bed and you’re trying to sleep! I turfed out about six (or maybe the same 2 or 3 several times each?), and there always seemed to be at least one in the bathroom, one in the bedroom and one or two in the kitchen! Having knelt on a couple of bees as a child (with consequences painful for me and fatal for them), I’m quite keen on removing them from the premises! I think they were nesting, as they seemed obsessed by holes in the woodwork. The smaller bees were irresistibly drawn to the drainage holes in the windows; I may have to clean them all out when we’re actually able to stay there…