West Kirby, Wirral, Cheshire, England, UK, The World

Last Sunday was one of those perfect days you sometimes get over the Christmas period when the sun shone, the wind had died down, and although cold it wasn’t bitterly so.  As a result the world and his wife (and their dog) went to West Kirby, our local seaside resort, to walk off the calories they had put on with Christmas dinner, chocolates and all the nuts and snacks consumed in front of the television.

 We went there with a different purpose in mind – to have something to eat and to test out another café for our ‘find the best food and drink on the Wirral’ experiment.  We went to Lattetude for this, a café which deserves a bonus point for its name if nothing else!

After we had eaten we went for a wander and we saw something we hadn’t seen before – a mural of a similar design to one of my favourite digital ‘paintings’ .  It has presumably been there a while but we don’t normally pass that corner, though we go to the shop on whose wall it is painted.  The shop - The Bizz - is my favourite one in West Kirby because it sells stationery and fancy goods (and postcards).  

The mural is a composite of three views of West Kirby.  

At the bottom are the shore and the Marine Lake.  The middle shows the board-walk between the Marine Lake and the River Dee, with Hilbre Island in the background to the left and the Northern end of West Kirby to the right.  And the top of the composite mural shows a view from the promenade.

Partner-who-loves-tea and I then walked down to the shore where dozens of people were taking advantage of the low tide to walk out to Little Eye and then turn right to Middle Eye (Also known as Little Hilbre Island) and Hilbre Island itself.  

 

It can be a dangerous walk across the sands with quicksand and tides that sweep in so swiftly one cannot outrun them.  Misty days are to be avoided but today was an ideal one for going out there so long as you are prepared to move swiftly so you can get back before the tide comes in.  The alternative would be a 24 hour wait on the island since the next low tide would be in the dark.

The hills of North Wales are on the left on the opposite side of the Dee Estuary.

On the left you can see Little Eye and on the right Middle Eye and Hilbre Island. 

Little children play on the shore.

And some big kids do as well!

 

And plenty of dogs enjoy the exercise (and getting dirty!).

While horses also benefit from going on the sand.

 Hilbre Island looks a lot nearer through the telephoto lens.

The Marine Lake is bounded by a boardwalk from which little children fish for crabs and along which the energetic take in the sea air.

 

In Spring and Summer the Marine Lake is filled with boats of all sorts and windsurfers enjoy the breeze which can usually be found there.  (These two photos are from May 2008 when I was there with GB).

Black-headed Gulls in winter plumage sit patiently in the hope that someone with sandwiches or fish and chips will come along.  Meanwhile Pigeons circle above aiming to get there first.

While waders have to work hard for their livings.

This next one is a photo I took of West Kirby from Hilbre Island (looking past Middle Eye / Little Hilbre Island) on a summer day in the 1970s.  It shows what it is like when the tide is in – and it comes in very quickly!  It is not unusual for the Lifeboat to be called out to rescue people who have stayed on the sand too long.  Fortunately we were on the island intentionally - on a birdwatching expedition.  We went out around eight in the morning and went back to West Kirby around seven at night.

In this one you can just see Little Eye over the top of Little Hilbre. 

On that day we saw plenty of birdlife on the island and the occasional seal just off shore.