2 Cattle Egret and several Little Egret here today 2 Oystercatcher with Canada Geese and Whitethroat singing from hedgerows

pm 1 Grey Partridge fields
only waders on pools 2 Lapwing

Green Sandpiper, on edge of shallow scrape - Yellow Wagtail, 2 juveniles flitting around & very little else

Nice little twitch this evening, just 35 mins from home. After missing out on the Lunt Meadows Temmincks Stint a week or so ago, caught up with this one, viewed from the pavement on Town Lane. Pectoral Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper also present and all three birds within a couple of feet of one another.

No sign of the hoped for whinchat either here or at the horse paddocks but I'll try again. 2 Grey Partridge was the highlights with Cetti's and Reed Warbler vocal. A handful of Teal still present with Shoveler, Shelduck, Redshank and Lapwing.

1 m Wheatear

100+ Teal, 2 Black-tailed Godwits, around 50 Lapwing, Shoveler, Buzzard and a small active wader on the far side of the pools, out of my binocular range though to get an ID, possibly Dunlin. On the other side of Hale road Stonechat, Meadow pipit, Little Egret, Grey Herin, another group of around 40-50 Teal on the brook, Canada Geese, Shelduck, Curlew and Oystercatcher further out. A group of 50 or so Black- headed Gulls were on the farm heading further along Hale road with Wood Pigeon and a few Stock Doves.

pm
2 Stock Doves Pools
1 m Yellow Wagtail Burnt Mill Farm

yesterday pm
2 f and 1 m Wheatear

Spoonbill was still present this morning, but around 10AM it took off and flew off high towards River.

AM
Single Spoonbill showing well. Initially snoozing then stirred itself to feed relatively energetically in shallow pools.
Avocets. Black Tailed Godwits. 2 Ruff coming into Summer plumage.

PM
8 Avocets
2 Ruff
20 plus Black tailed Godwits
1 Wheatear

PM
1 m Redstart on fence/ hawthorns on Carr Lane side .

PM 1 m Wheatear

Couldn't find the Wood Sandpiper with certainty myself after long search (pm). However, 2 Green Sandpiper (others had 3) in partially obscured channel. Also Little Egrets, Black-Tailed Godwit, Redshank, Buzzards, Kestrels & quite a few Herons & many Cormorants flying over from the Decoy

Town Lane is indeed closed to cars, but the footpath is open to pedestrians & numerous bikes, so you can see the area from all angles while still getting run over

AM
Pools shrinking markedly in warm sunny weather, meaning a lot of mud at edges of remaining water.

This attracted clouds of House Martins, collecting nesting material down on the ground. Not many waders though, literally one Redshank the only one present.
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker in nearlby garden.

One of the delights of UK May wildlife sightings. a big Cockchafer beetle, was flying low over brambles close to road.

-- Edited by John O'Neill on Monday 25th of May 2020 06:55:27 PM

pm
1m Whichat and 1m Wheatear

Yesterday (11th) I made my first trip to Carr Lane Pools since the tolls were introduced on the Runcorn Bridge(s). I really like this site and so I wanted to try my new route of up the M6, along the M62 and down the A5300 to get there. This proved to be really easy and possibly less fiddly than before, so result!

The huge tide meant that on arrival mid afternoon Town Lane was closed due to the water coming completely across it near the bridge. On advice I tracked back to Carr Lane and scanned the fields either side of the bridge over there. Other than the usual Teal, Wigeon and commoner wildfowl and gulls I drew a blank for scarcer species. The water receded as quickly as it had come up so I returned to Town Lane and started to scan Decoy Marsh. Here there were huge numbers of Redshank, feeding in 'packs' and lots of Black-tailed Godwits too. A few Little Egrets were on there as well. Eventually I picked up a couple of Pied Watgails and that turned into five or six. Then amongst them I finally found my quarry in the shape of 2 Water Pipits feeding in close proximity to each other. One of these was in partial summer plumage, looking really nice in the sunshine, but a blustery wind and the distance away still made viewing hard, a scope job for certain. Also over along the field edge were a couple of Linnets. But with my target species seen and with rush hour approaching I headed home, the reverse route being as easy as the route there. Carr Lane Pools is back on my list of favourite sites!!

No sandpipers showing for me this pm
2 Ruff
1 Snipe

Numerous House Martins and Swallows

A quick trip out to the site whilst my better half wandered Widnes shopping, any excuse?

Wood Sandpiper - showing well

Grey Wagtail - immature

White Wagtail - 1

Pied Wagtail - 3

plus regulars inc shelduck, teal, mallard, heron, & plenty of swifts, swallows & house martins hawking the area

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Tuesday 28th of May 2019 08:37:54 PM

Cheers for the heads up Rob. Having a morning to pop over I dropped in with the target being Wheatear and they duly obliged. I had just the 3 Wheatears, comprising two males and a female, on the cropped turf viewed east from the stone bridge on Town Lane. I did do a quick check through the numerous Teal in case a Garganey had dropped in, as I know this is a good site for them, but no luck.

Carr Lane Pools
PM 27/03
6 Ruff
2 Curlew
1 Redshank
30plus Black Tailed Godwit

A quick visit this morning was quite productive, birds seen inc--- great views of a Water Pipit that obligingly perched up on a fence post for 5 mins, also Little egret, Grey Heron,several Redshank,Shoveler,lot's of Teal and 2 Snipe out in the open and showing well

Hi Ian/Rob

Neither bird you show comes close to the Hale bird which was far paler in the head & body generally with much whiter secondary's as shown in the enclosed picture?

Who knows where the leucistic gene comes from?