10 BIRDS OF CHESHIRE. 
in length, whence Manchester obtains a part of its 
water supply. Woodhead Reservoir is 134 acres, and 
Torside Reservoir 160 acres in extent. Their shores, 
bare as those of a mountain tarn, offer few attractions 
for birds. The Common Sandpiper, however, is an 
exception, being abundant here, as indeed it is every- 
where in the Hill Country. In winter, also, the waters 
are often visited by large flocks of wildfowl. From 
Broadbottom to its confluence with the Goyt, near 
Marple, the banks of the Etherow are pleasantly wooded. 
The Goyt and Dane, rising on the hills between Maccles- 
field and Buxton, are for the first few miles of their 
course rippling trout-streams on the open moorland. 
Descending, they flow through valleys of remarkable 
beauty, whose sides are clothed with hanging woods, 
and later they debouch upon the Plain. The Goyt 
below Whaley Bridge is much polluted, but the Dane 
retains its purity until it has traversed the Plain for 
some distance. The Dipper, Grey Wagtail, and Common 
Sandpiper are characteristic birds of these streams and 
their tributary becks, and in the woods fringing their 
banks the Garden Warbler is very plentiful. The Black 
Grouse occurs in several places amongst the hills. At 
Bosley there is a large reservoir, where the Coot and 
Great Crested Grebe nest annually, and other reservoirs 
of lesser extent are situate at Whaley Bridge and near 
Macclesfield. 
WIRRAL AND THE MARSHES. 
Between the estuaries of the Mersey and Dee lies the 
hammer-headed peninsula of Wirral. Inland, the 
country differs little in character from the Central 
Plain, and, like it, is largely devoted to dairy-farming. 
