The Natural History of Selborne

Paper wasp builds its nest from wood fibers, beautiful sequence by Alvesgaspar

• 1793: May 26, 1793 – The white pippin is covered with bloom.  Farmer Spencer’s apple-trees blow well.  Nep. Ben White, & wife left us.
• 1791: May 26, 1791 – Finished sowing kidney-beans, having used one quart, which makes five rows, half white & half scarlet.
• 1786: May 26, 1786 – Much gossamer.  The air is full of floating cotton from the willows.  There are young lapwings in the forest.  Female wasps about: they rasp particles of wood from sound posts & rails, which being mixed-up with a glutinous matter form their nests.  Hornets collect beech-wood.
• 1785: May 26, 1785 – Rose-fly, a green scarab.  Tho’ the stream has been dry for some time at Gracious street quite down to Kimber’s mead; yet, when it meets Well-head stream at Dorton, it is little inferior to that.  This shows that there are several springs along the foot of the short Lithe, as well as a constant one at Kimber’s.
• 1784: May 26, 1784 – Grasshopper lark in my outlet.
• 1783: May 26, 1783 – The frost cut down all the early kidney-beans, injured the annuals; & made the apple-trees cut much of their fruit.
• 1779: May 26, 1779 – The nightingale continues to sing; & therefore is probably building again.
• 1777: May 26, 1777 – The grass-hopper lark whispers in the night.
• 1776: May 26, 1776 – Fern-owl first seen; a late summer bird of passage.
• 1775: May 26, 1775 – We are obliged to water the garden continually.  Some wells dry.
• 1774: May 26, 1774 – Planted one of the ephrys nidus avis with a good root to it in my garden, under a shady hedge.  The shell of the martin’s nest begun May 16, is about half finished.
• 1770: May 26, 1770 – Caprimulgus sursurrat.  Chafers have not prevailed for some years as now– they seldom abound oftener than once in three or four years.  When they swarm so, they deface the trees & hedges.
• 1769: May 26, 1769 – Fern-owl chatters in ye hanger.