The Magnifent Seven

There were seven green sandpipers on the Wildfowlers' Pools this morning, all snoozing in the most visible corner by the old tyre and easily seen from the metal gate.
Other than a trio of snipe and a small flock of 5 teal there wasn't much else going on. The other pools were pretty quiet, with no sign of any other waders (or owt else for that matter) passing through.
A scan from the marsh over Gull Bank revealed little of note - just the expected build up of lapwing and post-breeding black-headed gulls. I was rather disappointed not to find any Mediterranean gulls among the birds loafing on the mudflats; we can normally expect to get one or two here at this time of year.
Hopefully someone will discover a wood sandpiper or something of that ilk (or perhaps even more exciting) in the near future. It's just a case of getting out and checking those pools as often as we can!

Jon 

You've Been Collared

There were 3 green sandpiper on the Wildfowlers' Pools this morning along with 4 snipe and 3 teal. Another snipe was on the Flood where there were also 20+ alba wagtails.
The regular post-breeding greylag and Canada goose numbers continue to infest the area - at least 3 greylag were sporting nifty neck collars. A quick conversation with Kane Brides from WWT suggests that these are likely from the ongoing Windermere project.
At Freeman's Pools a doe roe deer had 3 fawns in tow.

Following a tip-off from a regular Aldcliffe walker I went back down in the evening to look for barn owl.
Unfortunately, I didn't get lucky in the hour and a half I spent hanging around near Marsh Point. Mind you, the sunset was rather pretty!
The roe deer made an appearance again, but not much else showed bar the gathering of swifts, swallows and house martins over the pools. I kept my eye out for a hunting hobby, but none showed up.

Jon   

St George's Quay & The Dragons

Common darters

Unfortunately, the spectacular weather we're enjoying at the moment doesn't appear to have dragged any particularly exciting birds into the Aldcliffe area.
Setting off from St. George's Quay this morning I made my way along the path to Freeman's Pools. A scan over the water, along the vegetated fringes and on the island turned up just the usual bits and pieces. There were a few dragonflies zipping about however, including emperors, common darters (photographed mating) and brown hawkers.
A walk along Dawson's Bank revealed little to add to the list. Small numbers of lesser black-backed  and herring gulls were on the river along with grey heron, little egret, lapwing, curlew and redshank.
Checking the Lune overlooking Gull Bank it was more of the same really, with just a couple of common sandpipers livening things up. The expected post-breeding mid-summer build-up of greylag and Canada geese was getting off to a noisy start.
The Flood was hosting a lone green sandpiper (as has been the case for a number of days) along with a smattering of lapwing. Several pied wagtails and family parties of goldfinch were feeding around the muddy fringes.

Green sandpiper

A lesser whitethroat showed very well near the Wildfowlers' Pools while the pools themselves held a second green sandpiper (photographed badly; preening by a discarded tyre - lovely!) and a common snipe.
A couple more emperor dragonflies were at Darter Pool where the coots were feeding a newly hatched second-brood chick.

Four-spotted chaser

Frog Pond was birdless bar the 'resident' mute swan pair, but it was positively buzzing with odanata including another emperor, several common darters and a very tatty four-spotted chaser (photographed).
 
Jon

Wading In

Had an enjoyable couple of hours out birding Aldcliffe this morning. I was hoping for some interesting waders on the pools but there was a fair bit of sheep-and-farmer activity around the patch so I expect anything 'good' had long one by the time I got there.
There was nothing on the muddy upper ponds at Freeman's Pools, despite it looking really good for probing bills... Indeed the only thing of note here was the newly arrived pony of dubious origin and ownership that had appeared in the bank-side strip of land. An amount of major damage had been kindly inflicted on the fence and gate in order to get it there... nice.
The pools were relatively quiet with most the usual suspects present: mallard, tufted duck, coot, moorhen, mute swan and little grebe (4 adult, 1 juv). There were lots of sand and house martins and a few swallows feeding over the water.
Frog Pond and Darter Pool were harbouring nothing of note, and the Wildfowlers' Pools had been sheeped-out completely.

Common sandpiper

A lone green sandpiper was feeding on the Flood, along with a handful of lapwing.
Checking the Lune off Cadaver Corner I noted my first post-breeding dunlin flock. 22 birds were present. Also here were 13 common sandpiper and a single little ringed plover. Redshank, lapwing and curlew numbers are starting to build up significantly, as are the number of black-headed gulls.
A lone duck eider was on the river and a couple of good-sized shelduck crèches implied a pretty good breeding season. Little egrets certainly weren't in short supply with ones and twos pretty much wherever I pointed my bins!      
Jon

Blue-tailed Damselflies, Aldcliffe. DH.