Birding Group Visit To Macclesfield Forest 24th May 2011
Birding Group Visit To Macclesfield Forest 24th May 2011
The weather looked reasonably good for a woodland walk and despite Anne and I both displaying symptoms of the onset of flu, we decided to go out for the birding walk anyway. We arrived at the car park on the far side of Teggsnose Reservoir about ten minutes late to find the others with their scopes already set up on a young Great Spotted Woodpecker being fed by its parent. The nest was about three trees back from the car park and about 20 foot up the tree. Our decision to do the walk was already justified given that neither of us had seen a nestling Woodpecker before.
We then walked up the inclined path that leads off the car park but there wasn’t a lot to be seen there so we came back down and walked back down to look at the birds on the water at both Teggsnose and Bottoms reservoirs. There was a Tufted Duck, a few Coots, Mallard and 2 Great Crested Grebes with three youngsters swimming around them. We then walked up the other side of Teggsnose Reservoir going uphill to a big meadow at the top. On the way we saw a Willow Warbler, a Pheasant, a Chiffchaff and a Nuthatch. We thought we had got a glimpse of Redstart but couldn’t be sure.
Apparently in previous years Little Owls had been seen on the fence posts surrounding the meadow at the top of the hill but we were to be disappointed. Above the meadow lots of Swallows were swooping across and up in the hill we could see lots of Swifts and House Martins. On the grass there was a Mistle Thrush and a Song Thrush and also a couple of Goldfinch.
On the way back down things started to pick up and we saw a Pied Wagtail closely followed by really good views of a couple of Redstarts (one male and one female) in the bright sunshine showing really well. Just after we saw them, a Pied Flycatcher flew across our path and we watched for a while as it sat on a fence post occasionally diving down to the grass to pick up insects ; clearly there was a nest nearby as it kept coming and going. As we got further down towards the reservoir a couple of Jays flew across the path so by this time we were feeling that we had had a very good day. The nestling Woodpecker, the Pied Flycatcher and the Redstart were firsts for Anne and I so we were very happy we had made the effort despite not feeling too clever.
By the time we got back to the bottom of the hill it was time for people to get back home but not without having further looks at at the Woodpecker nest where the nestling and the adult were still showing. We eventually dragged ourselves away from it – partly so as not to disturb them too much and we drove up to Ridgegate Reservoir. Unfortunately there were only two Canada Geese to see so we dropped in at the pub there for some lunch and a drink and then drove a little further to Trentabank Reservoir. We got out and walked along the side of the reservoir where we got a good view of the Heronry and also a huge colony of Cormorants (a Cormorantry ?) In fact there were a lot more Cormorants than Herons. We finished off by having a walk in the woods there before returning home.
Bird List
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Blackbird | 2 |
| Blue Tit | 1 |
| Canada Goose | 2 |
| Carrion Crow | 4 |
| Chaffinch | 1 |
| Chiffchaff | 1 |
| Coot | 4 |
| Cormorant | 12 |
| Goldfinch | 2 |
| Great Crested Greb | 5 |
| Great Spotted Woodpecker | 2 |
| Grey Heron | 8 |
| House Martin | 8 |
| Jackdaw | 8 |
| Jay | 2 |
| Magpie | 2 |
| Mallard | 8 |
| Mistle Thrush | 1 |
| Nuthatch | 1 |
| Pheasant | 1 |
| Pied Flycatcher | 1 |
| Pied Wagtail | 1 |
| Redstart | 2 |
| Robin | 1 |
| Song Thrush | 1 |
| Swallow | 20 |
| Swift | 20 |
| Tufted Duck | 1 |
| Willow Warbler | 1 |
How To Get There
- Head south on Chequers Rd toward Beech Rd 308 ft
- Turn left onto Beech Rd 0.2 mi
- Turn right onto Barlow Moor Rd/A5145 1.2 mi
- Turn right onto Princess Rd/A5103 Continue to follow A5103 1.7 mi
- Continue onto M56 (signs for Chester/Warrington/Wythenshawe/Birmingham/M6) 3.0 mi
- At junction 6, exit toward Wilmslow/Hale/Macclesfield/A538 0.2 mi
- Merge onto Wilmslow Rd 62 ft
- Slight right to stay on Wilmslow Rd 486 ft
- Slight right to stay on Wilmslow Rd 89 ft
- Turn left onto Wilmslow Rd/A538 Continue to follow A538 Go through 1 roundabout 4.1 mi
- Turn right onto Alderley Rd/B5086 Continue to follow Alderley Rd Go through 1 roundabout 0.9 mi
- At Harden Park Roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto Alderley Rd/A535 Continue to follow A535 0.7 mi
- Continue onto Wilmslow Rd/B5087 Continue to follow B5087 0.3 mi
- Turn left onto Macclesfield Rd/B5087 108 ft
- Turn left to stay on Macclesfield Rd/B5087 Continue to follow B5087 5.3 mi
- At the roundabout, take the 1st exit onto Cumberland St/A537 Continue to follow A537 Go through 2 roundabouts 0.6 mi
- At the roundabout, take the 3rd exit onto The Silk Rd/A523 0.2 mi
- Slight left onto Buxton Rd/A537 0.8 mi
- Slight right onto Buxton Old Rd 0.7 mi
- Turn right onto Broadcar Rd 0.2 mi
- Continue onto Coalpit Ln 0.8 mi
- Turn left onto Langley Rd 262 ft
- Slight left onto Main Rd 0.2 mi
- Slight left onto Hole House Ln 0.2 mi
53.243404, -2.082956 Unknown road