Its times match the Admiralty figures Wirral Council links to, and its windows follow the official three hour rule. The free site says 20,000 have used it.
A free website built by Wirral developers to tell people whether they can walk out to Hilbre Island has passed 20,000 users in six months, and the people behind it say a phone app with GPS route guidance is next.
HilbreTides launched in April. It answers one question: can you cross the sands from West Kirby right now, and if not, when does the next window open. Its makers say more than 20,000 people have used it since launch and that it has recorded more than 190,000 page views. The release gives its busiest single day as Sunday 24 May, with more than 500 crossing checks.
Those usage figures are the site’s own and we cannot audit them. What we could check is the thing that actually matters on a tidal crossing: whether the times it gives are right.
We checked its figures against the official ones
Wirral Council’s own page for the nature reserve sends visitors to BBC Weather’s tide table for Hilbre Island for tide times, which carries United Kingdom Hydrographic Office data.
For Monday 21 September, that table gives four tides at Hilbre:
- low water 01:26, 3.9m
- high water 07:51, 6.6m
- low water 14:11, 4.0m
- high water 20:18, 7.0m
HilbreTides listed the same four, to the minute and to the decimetre. The site says its predictions come from the Admiralty UK Tidal API, the Hydrographic Office service that covers 607 stations, and it carries the Crown copyright notice that use of that data requires.
Its crossing windows also follow the official rule exactly. The Friends of Hilbre, the group Wirral Council tells visitors to check before crossing, publish it in two lines: “It is safe to cross from West Kirby 3 hours after high tide. You must leave the island at least 3 hours before the next high tide.”
Applied to Monday, that gives a departure from 10.51am and a departure off the island by 5.18pm. Those are the exact times the site displayed.
One gap: the overnight window
The site works its windows out from the tide, and the tide does not care what time of day it is. The second window it listed for Monday ran from 11.18pm to 6.01am, right through the night.
Wirral Council’s guidance is different. Its management plan for the reserve notes that the islands have no lighting, and says visitors “are advised to leave the islands before light fades and where safe recommended crossing times are given the latest time to be on the islands is 8pm”.
HilbreTides lists a torch under recommended items “if walking late/early”. It does not carry the 8pm advice. We have put that to the developers.
There is a second, smaller mismatch inside the site itself. Its written rules say to be “back on the mainland 3 hours BEFORE next high tide”. The times it actually displays treat that three hour mark as the moment to leave the island, then tell you to allow 60 minutes for the walk back. The displayed times match the official guidance. The written rule, read literally, is about an hour stricter than the page it sits on.
Nobody official has signed it off
Nothing on the site claims that HM Coastguard, West Kirby RNLI or the council’s rangers have looked over how it works, and the site does not pretend otherwise. It describes itself as “a planning tool, not a guarantee”, warns that strong winds can push the tide in faster than predicted, and says the walk “is done at your own risk”.
Its own safety page tells anyone caught out to call 999 and ask for the Coastguard, to get to high ground and not to try to outrun the water. That is the same advice the council gives.
The release quotes only “the developers” and names nobody, and the site gives an email address only. We have asked who is behind it, whether any of the rescue services or the council’s rangers have reviewed the method, and whether anyone holds a figure for how often visitors are actually cut off out there. We will add the answers when they come.
The route the council recommends
Whatever you check the tide on, the council is specific about where you start and where you do not.
- The only recommended crossing point is the top of Dee Lane, West Kirby, from the slipway next to the Marine Lake
- Walk towards Little Eye, the smallest island, keeping it on your right
- Once past Little Eye, turn right and carry on with Middle Eye on your left
- Cross to the south end of Hilbre by the rough track over the rocks, or use the steps over Middle Eye
- Do not cross direct to Hilbre or Middle Eye, and do not cross from Hoylake or Red Rocks: there are deep tidal channels on their east side
It is about 1km to Little Eye and a further 1.5km to the main island. The council puts the walk at 45 minutes to an hour each way. Tide times are posted on the Dee Lane noticeboard, which the rangers update, and the board also warns of the danger of being cut off.
Getting there without a car is straightforward: West Kirby is the end of the Merseyrail Wirral line, and our Wirral train times to Liverpool page has the service. If you drive, there is a pay and display car park on Dee Lane next to the Marine Lake, and our parking in Wirral page covers the council’s charges.
The council’s rangers carry out safety checks on the islands, inspect them after every named storm, and are first aid trained. A defibrillator is installed on Hilbre near the main buildings during the busy summer months. RNLI lifeguards patrol the beach daily through spring and summer under contract to the council.
Why a tide table was not enough
The council’s management plan is blunt about the underlying problem. It lists “visitors may not understand the tides and/or safe crossing routes/information” among the challenges facing the reserve, and names “misinformation fed through social media” among the others.
That is the gap HilbreTides is aimed at. A tide table tells you when high water is. It does not tell you whether you have time to walk two miles out, look at the seals and walk two miles back. High water also drifts about 50 minutes later each day, which is why times copied from last week do not work.
The site says the essentials, today’s tides and the safe crossing windows, will stay free permanently. It also publishes daily high and low water for New Brighton, Hoylake, Leasowe Bay, Thurstaston and Parkgate, worked out from the Liverpool (Gladstone Dock) predictions with a local offset applied.
It is funded by donations, asking £3 on the grounds that £3 covers a day of Admiralty data. It describes itself as ad-free, though its footer also offers Wirral businesses “hyper-local ads from £25 a week” and tells them the site reaches 5,000 locals and visitors a month.
The app
The developers have confirmed a mobile app is in development. They say it will add GPS route guidance, what3words integration and alerts on top of what the website already does. They have not given a release date or said whether it will be free, and we have asked.
What it means for you
If you are planning the walk, the useful summary is short.
- Check the tide on the day you go, not the day before. The window moves about 50 minutes later each day
- Cross from the Dee Lane slipway only, and never from Hoylake
- Set off early in the window rather than late, and allow the full hour back
- Be off the islands before the light goes. The council’s guidance is 8pm at the latest, whatever the tide says
- If you are cut off, do not wade or run. Get to the highest ground you can and call 999, asking for the Coastguard
The last Friends of Hilbre open day of 2026 is Sunday 4 October, 10.30am to 2.30pm. The group’s events are free and dogs are welcome on a lead. More days out on the peninsula are in our guide to things to do in Wirral.
Correction and update policy: we have put several questions to HilbreTides, including the 8pm point above. Any answers will be added here with the date.
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