Little Chickens

The good news is the Ixias are doing well - many more seen this year with most plants in flower. Surveyed the site a bit more extensively and found plants in an area of 1200m x 700m but none in adjacent sheep grazing farmland. Only very few plants spotted growing in the shade of bushes, these exhibit a different habit by having a very long peduncle/flower tube vs. ones in exposed positions.

Strange that these mites seem to love this plant - no mites seen on any other flowering plants nearby. They do apper to be eating the flower, or at least seem to be after the pollen.