Invertebrate Summer
Owing to the imminence of a forthcoming poetry publication on the theme, invertebrates have been on my mind. On a canalside walk with friends, we noted that this year there seemed to have been more insects than ever around these parts. Perhaps it’s a combination of thriving trees and plants planted in recent years, and the recent hot weather – which increases insect mating - but I have noticed a boon of little creatures on the leaves and branches flanking the canal, weaving in and out of riverside flowers, and turning up unexpectedly on roadsides, in fields and woods. Naturally, there is no shortage of seasonal regulars – wasps seem to outnumber bees, though the hollyhocks on my road are a favourite haunt of honeybees, which gorge on pollen and emerge smothered in white, like dusted jellybabies. Roadisde roses and thistles by the Calder throng with bees, wasps and ants. White and peacock butterflies bob about the flowers at Copley reserve, where I watched a cinnamon moth caterpilla