The marsh along the Dee estuary is an ambiguous place: half solid, half liquid; part Welsh, part English. At the height of summer it is obviously land, home to countless voles scurrying through long grasses. But when the autumn high tides arrive, everything can be inundated by sea water. It can seem a bit “neither here nor there” to the uninitiated, but for wildlife watchers the contrariness is its appeal. One of the best times to be here is at the tipping point of the seasons, between summer departures and winter arrivals.
After a day of full exposure the sun is setting over the hills of Flintshire, the tumbled blocks that were once Denhall Quay provide a warm viewing spot. In the 18th century a busy colliery sat here alongside the River Dee, but gradually the coal ran out, the estuary silted up and grasses began to take hold. Now the quayside borders Parkgate, a vast saltmarsh RSPB reserve, “home to internationally important breeding birds”, as a small sign tells anyone with binoculars – or curious types willing to walk out 500 metres into the grasses and channels.
I watch a female marsh harrier hovering until she is disturbed by two crows. Their quarrel flushes a deceit of lapwings across one of the pools closer to the river. A pair of little egrets flash in and out of view. The looming, gas-fired Connah’s Quay power station is an incongruous backdrop, while the asymmetric, cable-stayed Flintshire Bridge looks more like it belongs – the skeleton of an enormous sea creature caught in the estuary.
I scan right, out towards the offshore windfarm, when a much closer blur of white blades catches my attention. It’s a struggle to make out much definition with the light fading. The colours of the day have all been desaturated, but it’s unmistakably an owl tracking fast and low over the fluffy seedheads. Long wings, pale underneath, searching back and forth for food. Suddenly there is a banking movement, like a folded white tablecloth dropped to the ground. Voles are on the menu tonight. It is a welcome meal for this autumn visitor: a short-eared owl settling into the fluctuating marsh for the season.
