Oh no! The hoverflies have started licking the mugwort and we know what that means: hoverflies swooping around in slow motion, buzzing "Why can I taste purple?", then flying into the patio doors.
Nica Bentley, the Fleams gossip-wife and "yarb-doctor" had observed the same phenomenon with wasps. Here is a quotation from one of her letters:
"I have observed wasps on the mugwort leaves, apparently licking them. Do you think the virtue of that plant, which we know to be narcotic, exudes from the leaves? Do you think the wasps enjoy the sensation thereby gained? I find I do not like the idea of drunken wasps. What do you think?"
Nica wrote to several gossip-wives around the country, and (with her permission), Kate W Aimson, published a selection of the letters that Nica had kept, under the title: My Dearest Sister Gossip-wife. I have a copy of the 1912 booklet, which I am including in my reconstruction of The Lost Book of Fleams.
My folks have a pear tree, and though no-one gets pears off it except starlings, bugs and the dog, the wasps are very prone to clear up the dropped squashy ones. While this is a possible justification for wopsies (never easy), it does lead to pished wasps lurching around the garden growling "See you? You're leukin at a facefull o'heid!" which can be aggravating when you're trying to catch a frisbee.
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