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.
By David Selzer