Driving down Boathouse Lane, Parkgate, at the bend

is the first view of the estuary.

This unseasonal February day, lit

with a spring-like sunshine, the vast reed beds

are golden filled with silver pools and lagoons

high tides have made. On the Welsh shore the narrow,

sea-going channel is pallid – above

Halkyn Mountain is a gentle lilac,

as are the Clwydians beyond, and east

Peckforton and Beeston on the Cheshire Plain.

Outside the town the RSPB car park,

on the site of the old sea-water baths,

is overwhelmed with birders – their serious

gear and sharp elbows – here to film or photo

feathered raptors devour water voles

fleeing the rising waters shoreward.

Later, putting out the bins in the mild dusk,

all the gardens of our neighbourhood

are filled with the singing of blackbirds.