Rare dragonfly comes home after being spotted in Shropshire by wildlife trust team
One of the UK's rarest dragonflies has been reintroduced into the wild after being found in Shropshire.
In a ground-breaking project the white-faced darter dragonfly has been bred in Cheshire, where it hasn't been seen for a decade, after being moved from Fenn's and Whixall Moss in north Shropshire.
It is only the third time the feat has been attempted in the UK.
The project, part of a five-year plan by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust, came to fruition in recent days as team leaders spotted adult white-faced darters flying over the pools of Delamere Forest in Cheshire.
They have also recorded evidence of a number of other individuals emerging from the water in a specially selected pool where they were translocated earlier in the summer.
Joan Daniels, senior reserve manager at Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve, said she was pleased the transportation has been a success.
She said: "When we took over 23 years ago there were hardly any white-faced darters left, we have been improving this moss for them so now it is lovely to have enough to be able to donate them to another site.
"After last year's poor summer we were very concerned that we wouldn't have enough white-faced darters to donate but in fact this summer we have had a superb emergence of dragonfly to transplant."
