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Birding Group Visit to Macclesfield Forest

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We had a full house of around 13 people for our morning  visit to  Macclesfield Forest. It was a nice, sunny day but with a bit of a wind. We started out looking for Garden Warblers in the lower part of the uphill track but I don’t think anone actually saw one. As we continued up the track we had more luck with other birds.

There were several Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs and, although we did not see any of the latter, a couple of the former showed well. We had excellent views of a male Pied Flycatcher which posed on a branch for a good while so everyone to see it before flying off. I thought I saw a Goldcrest but it was very high up in a tree so I couldn’t be sure. There were a few Blackcaps singing but they too eluded us visually. The track was quite hard work being both rough and quite muddy.

At the top we got a Kestrel and when we crossed the river and returned back along the lower road we saw it again. At the reservoir there were a few Tufted Ducks and a pair of Mallards. Where the water race is there were two Grey Wagtails. I thought that we were going to be out of luck with the Mandarin Ducks until, just as we were reaching the car park, one flew right in front of us, quite low. Further examination of the very furthest reached of the reservoir revealed a few hiding away in the shade of the overhanging tree branches.

Year ticks for the day were:

  • Mandarin Duck
  • Kestrel
  • Pied Flycatcher
  • Grey Wagtail

Bird Sightings : Macclesfield Forest 30th April 2024

Species No
Blackcap 1
Blue Tit 2
Carrion Crow 4
Chiffchaff 1
Cormorant 1
Goldfinch 2
Great Tit 2
Grey Wagtail 2
Jackdaw 6
Kestrel 1
Mallard 2
Mandarin Duck 3
Pied Flycatcher 1
Robin 2
Tufted Duck 4
Willow Warbler 1
Wren 3

A word of warning. Do not turn left at Arighi Bianchi’s in Macclesfield. This takes you up Buxton Old Road (A537) but then you have to turn right onto Broadcar Road which becomes Coalpit Lane; this is too narrow a lane. Instead go via Langley which involves going straight on at Arighi Bianchi’s and turning left at Byrons Lane, then taking the left fork at Jarman and left again at Langley Road. After that, turn left at Main Road and left again at Holehouse Lane

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