Waders/Tides (1 Viewer)

[paulwfromtheden]

Possibly a bit of a daft question, but I dont do enough wader watching living in Croydon....Is it a fair comment to say that the best time to visit estuaries etc is at low tide and vice versa, the worst time is high tide? Or is it soley dependent on other factors (geography/time of year)?

The reason I ask is that I want to go to Chichester Harbour on Saturday, but notice that low tide is at 15:08. Given that I am unlikely to get there until 11:00'ish, that will only give me a couple of hours before the tide comes in.

Cheers

 

[ColinD]

I don't know anything about Chichester harbour, but I guess it depends on the particular estuary, and how good your local knowledge is. For example, if you know a high tide roost site, then at high tide you may see huge numbers of waders fairly close.

On the otherhand, I particularly enjoy watching the masses of waders feeding on the beach at Formby, in which case low tide is best. Go at high tide and you won't see a wader at Formby.

I think on balance I prefer low tide, even though the birds are more spread out and it's harder work, because they are usually more active than at a roost.

Actually, the advancing tide is probably the best of bost Worlds, because the birds are still feeding, but are forced closer.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I think it depends almost completely on the site. On big estuaries, low tide will normally be difficult because the birds will mostly be a long way off. Whether high tide is good or not will depend on the height of the tide and on the viewability of roosts.

On small and narrow estuaries, low tide might be pretty good because distances are never that great. This might be effected by the topography of the mudflats though i.e. whether they are really flat or if there are lots of deep creeks for birds to hide in.

On balance, I rather like a rising tide, so I often go to sites two or three hours before high tide and wait for the birds to be brought towards me as the tide comes up. The only problem with this is that if you find something interesting, you often have to work against the clock to ID it!

 

[DGRW]

I agree that a lot depends upon the local peculiarities of particular sites.

Some sites have good high tide roosts and these can yield dense numbers of birds.

Other sites have good exposed shellfish or invertebrate beds that equally attract waders.

Generally though I would agree that a rising tide offers the chance for the best of both worlds at most locations.