Family had to walk across the seabed to leave their home each day

Just two miles off the Wirral coast stand a tiny cluster of island where humans rarely tread.

The Hilbre Islands in the Dee Estuary are only accessible for six hours each day as the tide goes out and reveals a marked path to the shore across the exposed seabed. Thought to have been occupied since the Stone Age, the islands are now completely uninhabited by humans, and have become a haven for wading birds, grey seals, and a massive colony of voles.

David Gregson, chairman of The Friends of Hilbre Islands group, said: “A lot of people don’t know about the island, and yet it’s a tidal island which has about a million people within half an hour’s journey each day. So it’s a fascinating island and a hidden gem.

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“There are two cottages which have been on the island for a long time, and they’re used for holiday residence, and there’s another hut which is the Hilbre Island bird observatory, and another which is the Merseyside Canoe Club. But there is nobody currently living on the island.”

This was not always the case, however, as various people have lived on the islands over the years. In 1978, Tim Cleeves, a keen ornithologist and nature historian, was appointed custodian and moved in with his wife Ann, who took the 40-minute walk across the seabed each day to attend a social work course at Liverpool University.

She would go on to become one of Britain’s most acclaimed crime authors, penning more than 35 books including the Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez, and Matthew Venn stories, which have been adapted into TV shows.

She recently became a patron of the Friends of Hilbre Islands in celebration of the four years she spent living on the islands.

She said: “I spent four happy years on the island with my husband. I wrote a chapter there for ‘Hilbre, The Cheshire Island’, edited by Prof J Craggs and published by Liverpool University Press. This was my first published writing! Our daughter spent her first six months in the Telegraph House.”

David added: “Today, Hilbre Islands is a place primarily taken over by nature. There are only voles on the island. There are no other mammals. It’s quite a remote place.

“It has two lives. For six hours a day the tide is out, and then the tide comes back in, so people from the mainland are very cautious about coming out on regular days because they’re scared they’ll get stuck on the island.

“We do open days on the island and at our last one, we probably had about 300 people on the island. But most of the time, there’s hardly anybody there.”

Anyone who finds themselves unlucky enough to be stranded on the island could face an unpleasant 12-hour wait for the tide to recede, as there is no running water or electricity there. People who want to visit are urged to check tidal times before making the trek from West Kirby.

David said: “The wildlife is wonderful, the setting is beautiful, it’s a very peaceful place. But what is special about the island is that it’s a time warp. For instance, we have had bird-watchers on the island since 1957. We have had a canoe club for over 100 years, and the two families who own the cottages, their association with the island goes back to the 1900s. Things haven’t changed for a long time on the island.

“It’s just a beautiful and fascinating place. It’s quite unique and a lot of people don’t know about it. We’re trying to raise the profile of the island, but there needs to be a balance so the island doesn’t become overcrowded. But the very fact you have a two mile walk out there does give it some natural protection.

“Probably the most common living thing there now is oystercatchers; they seem to be there all throughout the year. There’s a big seal colony off the coast. In the summer, there’s up to 400 grey seals there and when the tide is in they bob up around the island. When the tide is out they haul up on Hoole Bank – one of the biggest haul-outs for the grey seal.”

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