doings until 6th July in berksbucksoxon

Having read all the blogs to date, I see that Matthew does not allow me [or anyone] to talk about very good iris years, so I won't. I'll just call this instead another herrliches Jahr, to rival 2009 in this region. I also know that Matthew does not like the numbers game, so I shall desist from the boring statistic that, up until 6th July, 84 sightings were made in 16 localities by 13 observers [which includes one M. Oates]. We just had our regular annual field meeting in Bernwood Forest, which attracted 26 purplers, even someone from Gloucestershire, Matthew! They were not disappointed; the usual landing on dog poo, but this delicacy was incredibly pungent, and the male stayed there for a full 50 minutes imbibing. Several females settled obligingly low enough and long enough for the many photographers. The best lady flew into the darkest depths of an Oak and gorged herself on sap; I'm waiting for the photo taken by a Doctor of Botany who works at Kew Gardens but could not identify a particular poplar tree. Shall I tell his boss?