Scabious

Tuesday, 18 July 2023 at 08:44

I was asked recently about the etymology of the word scabious. I was stumped, embarrassed because I didn’t know. Was scabious related to scab? Etymologically, it is. The noun scabious is derived from its earliest use in English as an adjective, scabious meaning ‘pertaining to a scab’. The plant was used by medieval and later healers, ground into an oily paste (or its juices were used, boiled with oil), then laid across wounds to aid healing, clean the cut and hasten the departure of scabs. The OED dates the first attestation of the noun to the early 15^th century. Grigson dates the term slightly earlier (14^th century) and derives it from ‘apothecaries’ Latin’ (A Dictionary of English Plant Names 1974, p.190), adding that its ‘use against …scabby afflictions was probably suggested by the scabby appearance of the involucral bracts’ (p.191). I had to look up ‘involucral bracts’ - they’re the bracts found at the base and on the underside of the petals.

A summer flood

Monday, 17 July 2023 at 19:53

It's a long time - several years, I think - since I witnessed a summer flood in the Dales like this. The levels are dropping rapidly now but the extra water will have done the rivers a power of good.

Absorbing hours

Thursday, 6 July 2023 at 17:02

Of late I've enjoyed some - usually short - sessions on local streams. Water levels have been low but at least in the Dales, there have recently been some small lifts of extra water, though those have run off quickly. It's been a case of pushing a little dry fly about under the trees. I know I could probably catch more by using a spider or PTN singly on the point of a long leader, but I enjoy watching floating flies and never tire of seeing trout take them. Therefore, despite occasional stern-jawed forays with Stewart's Black Spider (size 18), I generally fiddle about with the dries. I find Skues' pattern of Little Red Sedge very good for such exploratory work. Another pattern I use a great deal is a size 18 John Storey (pictured). I've wasted many hours of this lifetime trying to work out what trout take the John Storey for, but even after all these years I have no idea: is it a Yorkshire paradun? A declassé Klink? The pattern works particularly well at sedge time, but its outline and profile is nothing like a sedge, so riddle me that. It's been absorbing fishing - but rain, then some more rain, with more rain on top of that, would still be welcome.

The hook, incidentally, is a Tiemco 103BL - an outstanding dry fly hook.