We saw this bird fly into a hollow tree yesterday on the Macclesfield to Chelford Road in Cheshire and would love to know what it is. I have taken pics from a video which is too large to attach-lasts about 50 seconds. It returned and flew into the 2nd hole

Hi Caroline, video's are normally done through youtube, with a link added into the forum...not sure on the process as I've never posted video. As for the photo's, you'll need to resize the image, or crop it as it's a 5Mb limit on the site.

Wild guess without seeing the video - there are a couple of tree nesting ducks, both females of the Mandarin and Wood Duck could fit your description.

I agree with Germains suggestions and the one most likely in my opinion is the Mandarin as there are quite a lot breeding in the wild nowadays. Pure speculation of course without a picture

Thank you Hazel- that fits perfectly! And your location makes complete sense. We had pulled into the layby just before the Chelford roundabout on the left hand side, heading back to Holmes Chapel. The Burger van is amways parked there but we needed to make a phone call., We parked up at the far end of the layby and as my husband started to use his phone so the bird/duck flew straight into the tree by the car which has 3 large holes in a vertical pattern down the trunk facing out towards the road and the layby! I am a ken birdwatcher and could not believe what I was seeing so attempted to video it quickly. I don't do YouTube so would not know how to start and the stills I took from the video are quite blurred but you picture and location make complete sense- and match perfectly to what i saw! Wow! - How rare are they in the UK? I do know there have been sightings of male mandarins on the canal west of Middlewich earlier this year but i have never seen a duck nest in a tree!!!!
Caroline

Hi Caroline, glad the photo matches what you saw. They were originally an introduced species from China almost a century ago (from what I understand) but are now well established, especially in our area of N.West. Some of the original ducks would have been in private collections in UK and subsquently were released or escaped and then bred in the wild. At one time they did a bird count on Alderley Park and if I remember rightly there were over 200 mandarin ducks ! So, they are not as rare as they once were and a very attractive looking duck. Seems weird for ducks to nest in trees - but they do. !!    By the way,  I know exactly the place you saw them, near the lay-by,  as it is a ten minute walk from where I live !    

Thank you Hazel!
What a coincidence!

We live in Holmes Chapel.

Caroline