High Tide at Hoylake 2nd March 2013
High Tide at Hoylake 2nd March 2013
On the 2nd March we went up to Hoylake for the high tide as we had done earlier in the year in the middle of January. The tide was supposed to be quite high but it didn’t come in anywhere as near to the promenade as it had done on our first visit and also the visit was at the weekend so the place was even more full of dog walkers than before and they seemed to take great delight in walking all the way our to the edge of the water where most of the birds were roosting which got them flying off to somewhere quieter.
When we first arrived we got good views a, first just one but then later several more, Grey Plovers. For quite some time the closest views of the assemblage of birds were to be had on the far side of the lifeboat station where the tide comes in first. Eventually the tide drove them off the sand at that part of the beach and the water eventually covered all the sand beyond the station.
By the time that the tide was at its highest – around 1.30pm – there were large numbers of birds. The Dee Estuary Birding Sightings Web Page said that there were “4,000 Grey Plover among 30,000+ waders”. \these were mainly Knot but, as before, there were significant numbers of Dunlin and Sandpipers. Right at the water’s edge there were hundreds of Oystercatchers and there were also good numbers of Curlew and Redshank. There were the usual masses of Gulls as well. On the downside most of the birds were just a bit too distant and too disturbed to give the wonderful display we had seen previously. Part of the spectacle is actually the noise and hubbub of thousands of birds chattering but, of course, at a distance you do not hear any of that.
In truth we were probably spoiled on our previous visit and we expected too much. High tide is obviously not enough – the air pressure needs to be suitable and winds add to the likelihood of a “good” high tide. I was a bit annoyed that I had brought my camera but, even with a 500mm lens and 1.7x teleconverter, I still could not get really good shots. If only I had my camera last time !