The Dirt Tosser, Jimmy the Mole

By the era of Early Modern English, the mole was also known in the British Isles as mouldywarp, a name echoed in other Germanic languages such as German (Maulwürfe), and Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic (muldvarp, mullvad, moldvarpa where the muld/mull/mold part of the word means soil and the varp/vad/varpa part is a descendant of the old-Nordic word for throw), hence "one who throws soil" or "dirt tosser".
Male moles are called boars, females are called sows. A group of moles is called a labour.


This tiny animal moves faster than anything I have ever photographed, Fyra needed a day off, so Jimmy filled in for her. He didn't make it easy for me!