A few flowery days

Over the last few weeks I've made a few visits to different nature reserve to see how the wildflowers are getting on.  It seems to be a mixed bag with some locations being under whelming compared to previous years and others being at their best.

Thorswood
Home to six species of orchid this grassland is one of my favourites.  A couple of years ago whilst visiting with my best mate, we discovered greater butterfly orchid which became the sixth species for the site.  Earlier this year I visited for early purple orchids.  The remaining four are southern marsh, common spotted, frog and common twayblade.

It was great to see the mountain pansies still in flower amongst the carpet of bird's foot trefoil.  Sadly I couldn't refind the greater butterfly orchid, although all the orchids up on the plateau appear stunted and less vigorous than usual, so it may still be hiding there waiting for me.

Find out more about the reserve here - http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/reserves/thorswood

Weag's Barn

This grassland site is on the sides of the Manifold Valley not that far away from Thorswood.  I visited earlier this week to repeat the vegetation surveys that started back in 2001.  The main field is crossed with transects and quadrat samples are taken at regular intervals and all species recorded.  To help, I was joined by the legendary Val Riley from the Trust's Leek local group.

In the end we recorded 40 species including common spotted orchids as you can see from the photo.

Find out more about the reserve here - http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/reserves/weags-barn

Brown End Quarry
This geological nature reserve is also a great place for plants and butterflies.  In previous years the grassland has danced with common blues whilst dingy skippers can also be found.  This time there were plenty of ringlets and a few meadow browns on the slightly cloudy afternoon following my work at Weag's Barn.  A southern hawker also 'stood guard' at the entrance to the reserve and was my first of the year.

On the 'plateau' grow many common spotted orchids, but until this visit I was completely oblivious to the fact that in amongst them are fragrant orchids, a much rarer species in Staffordshire!  Turns out that most of my colleagues knew they just never told me.  It was still a great surprise and a great species.

Find out more about the reserve here - http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/reserves/brown-end-quarry

My final flowery experience to share sadly must remain a secret, although its probably not a complete secret.  One place (so far as we know) in Staffordshire is home to a colony of lesser butterfly orchids and I've been visiting for a couple of years to see how things are going.  On this visit I counted 18 flower spikes amongst the grassland with a few common twayblades for company.

So you see, Staffordshire has some fantastic flora if you know where to look!