A tale of two halves

Today was split day.  Firstly I headed to Cotton Dell, a SWT nature reserve not far from Alton Towers, to go in search of a scarce plant, dyer's greenweed.  Its one of those species that I've heard about but never really bothered to look for.  After wandering around some beautiful flower filled fields I came across the target.  Tick!  Sadly its not the most amazing species to showcase, but the grassland was also filled with betony and other wildflowers.

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

Afterwards I headed to a secret location not far from Stafford that is probably one of the best sites for dragonflies in the county.  Its no secret really, the site is Chartley Moss NNR and I'm fortunate enough to have a permit for the site from Natural England.  Home to white-faced darter, black darter and a host of other species I took my tally for the day to 11 when I included the southern hawker I saw earlier at Cotton Dell.