The adult Black-winged Stilt, together with three juveniles, were still present on the flooded field, to the south west of Doddington Pool, late morning today. These have been present here since 11 August and are thought to be the bulk of the birds that recently bred/fledged at Potteric Carr in Yorkshire.
Doddington Pool is a large lake south of Crewe, alongside the A51 not too far north of the Cheshire/Staffprdshire border. It is quite well watched and has turned up plenty of good birds but not too many get reported out in the wider birding community. This is mainly due to it being permit only, but the water is easily viewed, best by scope though, to be honest, from the A51. If you are willing to risk being told to move on I know some birders will view from a 'private' entrance road to the south which leads to Doddingon Hall Farm. The grid referencce for the site is SJ714464 and the postcode is CW5 7PU.
I headed down there today after a tip off from a local birder. After a bit of searching I managed to scope 2(1drk) Red-crested Pochards. These were tucked in on the left hand bank halfway along the pool when viewed from the verge of the A51. This was the only area that the birds would have been visible fromand they were incredibly elusive. Earlier my friend had had 6 Red-crested Pochards, so these were probably there but hidden from where I watched. Also on the lake were 5 Goldeneye and around 10 Pochard.
For anyone wanting to try to view the lake I suggest parking in the large entrance of the industrial units road (marked Anderton Sawmills on Google Maps and signed to Doddington Hall Farm on site) and then walking back north along the A51 roadside verge to scope the lake or park in the large entrance just to the north of the lake (think it's marked Wibraham's Walk on Google Maps) and walk sough along the verge. Please park considerately and do not block any entrances.
