Childwall Fields & Woods

Childwall Fields is an 8.7ha site, formerly a landfill site which was closed in the early 1970s. Used briefly as a college sports ground, it has in recent years been planted with native deciduous trees as part of The Mersey Forest project. The area is capable of supporting very productive woodland and a wide range of species.

The site is valued because of its wide range of urban wildlife. Sixteen species of butterfly have been recorded on the Fields, including small blue, small copper and red admiral butterflies. The woodland floor hosts a spectacular display of English bluebells in the spring, common spotted and southern marsh orchids flower in early June, and buttercups provide a golden backdrop to the grasslands in the early summer. Bats, grey squirrels, voles and foxes are also regular inhabitants of the area.

The view from the fields on a clear day is superb, looking over the Lancashire and Cheshire plain with the Peak District to the south east and the west Pennines and Pendle Hill to the north east. In the foreground the Widnes/Runcorn Bridge crosses the River Mersey at the narrowest point in the inner estuary.