Bird Sightings in the Macclesfield and Surrounding Areas
March 2009 (Please click on photos or any underlined comment for larger images and/or more information)
Legend (m) = male, (f) = female, (p) = pair, (ps) = pairs, (^) = several, (~) = few (s) singing, (H) = Heard only
Date and Time	Sighting	Location and / or Map Reference	Comments
30 (18.45)	Swallow	Over Ivy Farm Estate	Gordon Howard
30	Swallow (2 in morning, increased to 3 in afternoon))	Bottoms Reservoir	Steve Wright (am) Tony and Margaret Hayter (pm)
30	Ring Ouzel (m) Wheatear (6m)	Danebower	Dave Bancroft
30	Dipper	Wildboarclough	Dave Bancroft
29	Chiffchaff Swallow Buzzard (6) Teal (18) Grey Heron Reed Bunting (m)	Rudyard to Leek Walkway	Simon Jackson and Lynda Preston
29	Buzzard being mobbed by 2 Crows	Over Ullswater Estate	Simon Jackson and Lynda Preston
29	Swallow (6) L little ringed plover Redshank Goldeneye (m) Teal Tufted duck Chiffchaffs (H) Reed bunting Skylark Meadow pipits Lapwings (displaying)	Chelford Sand Quarries	Ray and Jean Evans
29 (15:00)	Swallow	Bollington Tip	David Tolliday
29 (13:30)	Common Buzzard (5)	Circling together on thermals, drifting S to N over Ivy Farm Estate	Gordon Howard
25	Quail	Legh Road, Disley/High Lane	David Lewis
22	Waxwing (30-40)	Settled in the trees in Lady's Incline and were flying around the Charlecote Estate, Poynton.	Jean Crouch
22	Waxwing Siskins (p)	Back Garden, Blenheim Close, Poynton. Waxwing in silver birch trees. Siskins on bird feeders.	Jean Crouch
22	House Martin Goldeneye (4)	Redesmere	Nigel Troup
19 - 22	Cattle Egret	Bradley Orchard Farm, east of Bradley, nr Frodsham	Marc Granville
22	Pochard (p) Mandarin Ducks (3m 2f) Cormorants (several) Grey Herons (2) seen collecting nesting material Great Crested Grebe Little Grebe (p) Coot (several)	Trentabank	Marc Granville
22	Goldeneye	Redesmere	Marc Granville
22	Chiffchaff (2)	Bosley	Tony and Margaret Hayter
21	Lesser Redpoll (35+) Siskin (2) Fieldfare (10) Skylark	Trap Street Lower Withington	David Tolliday
21	Mandarin Ducks (3 pairs) Tufted Duck (p) Pochard (p) Cormorant (6)	Trentabank Reservoir	Ray and Jean Evans
21	Dipper	Clough House Car Park, Wildboarclough	Ray and Jean Evans
21	Wheatear (6+ mainly males) Ring Ouzel (m)	Danebower Chimney	Ray and Jean Evans
19	Skylark - ascending	Gun Hill, near Meerbrook	Ray and Margaret Perry
19	Mute Swan (3) - uncommon at Tittesworth, Dipper Redwing (2) Chiffchaff Goldcrest (2) Nuthatch Lesser Redpoll (6) Reed Bunting (pr)	Tittesworth Water	Ray and Margaret Perry
19	Fieldfare (48)	Gawsworth - near Gawsworth Hall.	Ray and Margaret Perry
19	Meadow Pipit Golden Plover Wheatear Curlew Skylark Lapwing Snipe	Danebower-Knotbury	Geoff Atkin
16 17:00	Hare (defending leveret)	Field - Rear of Thirlmere (Ivy Farm Estate)	Hare first noticed bounding around, observed to be chasing off two Crows + Pheasant (incidental) Then observed leveret to which the hare kept returning, obviously defending leveret against attack from the crows. Attack continued for 20 mins before crows gave up. ( I believe the hare won) Gordon Howard
16 (10:20)	Common Buzzard (3)	Over flying fields North side Pennington’s Lane	Drifted in from South then drifted East Gordon Howard
15	Waxwing (20+)	Dorchester Way, Macclesfield	Lindsey Ward
15	Sand Martin Chiffchaff House Martin Wheatear	Greater Manchester	Spring migration is underway!
15 (15.00)	White-tailed Eagle (immature)	High over Congleton town centre then flew in the direction of Sandbach	Awaiting confirmation
13	Barn Owl	Sitting on a fence post on the A34 between Monks Heath and the estate workers' entrance to Capesthorne Hall	Ged Ryan
13	Great Crested Grebe (2 displaying) Woodcock (3) Goldeneye (4) Mandarin Duck (2) Buzzard	Macclesfield Forest and Bottoms Reservoir	Steve Wright and Mat Lawton
8	Redpolls (3) Siskins (est 7 - 10)	Ashbook Drive , Prestbury.	Steve McCoskery
8	Little Grebe Shoveler Teal (4) Tufted Duck (6) Oystercatcher (3) Curlew Skylark - singing, between the hail showers Little Owl (2) Linnet (c20) Meadow Pipit Stock Dove (c20) Song Thrush Lapwing (c60)	Adlington Golf Centre	Nigel Troup
7 (14:30)	Sparrowhawk Carrion Crow	Over fields North side Pennington’s Lane	Sparrowhawk being “moved on” by Carrion Crow Gordon Howard
6	Mute Swan (4) - very uncommon at Tittesworth Curlew (103) Dipper Redwing (11) Treecreeper Lesser Redpoll (3) Reed Bunting (2 pairs)	Tittesworth	Ray and Margaret Perry
6	Curlew (c40) Goldeneye (m) Buzzards (7)	Bosley	Tony and Margaret Hayter
5	Chiffchaff Oystercatcher (2) Goldeneye (8)	Redesmere	Geoff Atkin
3	Common Buzzard (4) -	Seen from Castle Street, Macclesfield, gliding leisurely across the sky! On view for about two minutes. They glided northward.	Ray and Margaret Perry
2	Grey Heron (1) Barnacle Goose (47) Oystercatcher (4) Lapwing (60) Common Snipe (11) Song Thrush (1)	Carsington Water	Ray and Margaret Perry
2	Goldeneye (11 in group courtship display) Oystercatcher (2)	Redesmere	Paul Flackett
2	Black-tailed Godwit Oystercatcher (2) Green Woodpecker Cormorant (9) Shoveler (10+) Wigeon (30+) Shelduck (4)	Acre Nook Quarry (west)	Paul Flackett
1	Skylarks Golden Plover Raven Buzzard Red Grouse	Moorland opposite Cat& Fiddle	Geoff Atkin
1	Goosander (3m 8f) Tufted duck (5m 4f) Mandarin duck (3m 2f)	Styperson Pool	Peter Dowse
1	Skylarks Raven	Near Shutlingsloe	Steve Wright
1	Golden plover (4)	Birchenough Hill near Wildboarclough	Steve Wright