A combination of low numbers and poor weather has made sightings of adult iris as rare as hens teeth here in North Bucks. The dull weather this morning ruled out the chances of any further sightings so I switched to egg hunting. In a little under two hours I found a spectacular 14 eggs. This suggests the females may not be very visible but they are getting on with business well. It also compares well with last year when I found no eggs.
All the eggs were laid on broad leaved, dark green, Sallow. Typically they were laid on the shady side towards the interior of the bush. Interestingly the leaves selected tended to be small and rather scruffy. I even found one where the leaf had been nearly completely eaten by something and the egg was laid upon the remaining fragment of stalk.
Over a week ago I found five other eggs in the same general area. All but one of these has now hatched and successfully taken up the typical position on a Sallow leaf. The other egg has coloured up and should hatch in the next couple of days.
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