Today's posts

Usually I have to choose a poem to fit the day but sometimes the poem chooses itself. This happens with ‘Grace’ in November and it also happens every year with  ‘Processionaria’, which I am posting today.

A couple of days ago I noticed the long lines of caterpillars once more.   I must thank a kind friend from Mallorca who has sent a correction to my description of the caterpillars’ movements.  The Processionària do not nest in the pine trees in the summer.  They leave the trees and find a place underground for the summer months. There they become chrysalids. Then in July these hatch as butterflies which lay eggs in the branches of the pines. In winter these become the caterpillars which come down from the trees and form the long lines on the paths in February and March, and so the story continues.   

Today’s episode of ‘Dorigen’ is Part 7, Midwinter.