About Hilbre Island
The Hilbre Islands, view from West Kirby beach.(Hermida, 2024)
Middle Eye on the foreground, Hilbre on the background. (Hermida, 2024).
The Hilbre Islands consists of three tidal islands in the Dee Estuary (Little Eye, Middle Eye and Hilbre Island). They are situated off the coast of West Kirby on the Wirral (UK). It is a SSSI - Site of Special Scientific Interest -, RAMSAR site, LNR - Local Nature Reserve -, SPA - Special Protected Area -, and SAC - Special Area for Conservation - (Wirral Council, 2018-2023).
In the context of environmental decline, Hilbre Island is also subject to the effects of climate change; the islands are known from historical and archaeological records to have reduced considerably in size in the last 2000 years due to erosion by the sea (Wirral Council, 2018-2023, p.20) increased by storm surges (Wirral Council, 2018-2023, p.27). The islands also present the challenge of finding ways to balance nature conservation and visitor access; an example of this is the increase in visitors in the busy spring and summer months. The archipelago is frequently visited by locals and tourists which unfortunately leads to an increase in plastic pollution, negatively affecting the local ecosystems and putting wildlife at risk.
In addition to considering climate change and its impact on protected areas, there is a wider need to develop more local, human-with-nature based solutions to climate change.
Tackling climate change must be more than a responsibility for governments and is in fact a responsibility for us all. In that context, the protection and management of key sites for nature across the UK is a shared responsibility, albeit that statutory obligations in this regard are for governments to deliver.
In addition to this, the Hilbre archipelago has been declared a Site of Special Human Interconnectedness (SSHI), denominated by the artist Luciana Hermida, (2025). This new denomination attached to the pre-existing SSSI intends to highlight the importance of the interconnectedness that exists in the natural world, which we are inextricably part of.
How we navigate the natural world in the context of environmental decline across the world requires shifting how we look and engage with it. Re-addressing our connection with the environment is an ongoing journey. Hilbre represents a starting point in the journey to more meaningful connections with nature.
We are nature.
‘No man is an island’ by John Donne.
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
‘The Book of Interconnectedness’
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