The Wirral coast is a wonderful place to walk a dog: miles of open sand, big skies and sea air. Most of it is dog-friendly, but there are a couple of things worth knowing before you set off, namely the seasonal restrictions on some beaches and, as always here, the tide.
The summer restriction to know about
This is the big one. Like many seaside councils, Wirral operates seasonal dog controls on the busier amenity beaches over the summer, typically running from around May to the end of September. On the affected stretches dogs may be banned from a marked amenity area during those months, or required to be on a lead. The exact beaches, dates and boundaries are set by the council and can change, so the single most useful thing you can do is check the current Wirral Council rules (look up their Public Spaces Protection Order for beaches) before a summer visit, rather than rely on what applied last year.
Outside the summer season, and on the quieter, wilder stretches of coast, dogs generally have the run of the place. The restrictions are really about the popular family beaches at the height of the season.
Quieter beaches with space to roam
If you want somewhere your dog can stretch out, the bigger, less manicured beaches are the ones to aim for. The vast sands at Hoylake give enormous room at low tide. Thurstaston on the Dee side is quieter and scenic, though mind the unstable cliffs. Leasowe Bay is a long open beach behind the dunes. Each of these is generally easygoing for dogs out of season, but the same advice applies: check current local signage when you arrive.
Dogs on Hilbre Island
You can take a dog on the walk to Hilbre, and plenty of people do, but it asks for extra care. The islands have ground-nesting birds, and there are grey seals on the sandbanks nearby, so keep your dog under close control or on a lead, especially around the seals, which can be badly stressed by a loose dog. And remember it's a long walk out and back across open sand with a hard tidal deadline. We've put the detail in our guide to crossing with kids and dogs.
The tide and your dog
This is where the Wirral asks a bit more of dog walkers than a normal beach does. The tide here floods fast across flat sand, and a dog that bolts after a ball or a bird onto a sandbank or across a gutter can quickly be in trouble, and so can an owner who goes after it. Most of the serious incidents on this coast involving dogs follow the same pattern: the dog gets stuck or cut off, and the person tries to reach it. Don't. If your dog is in difficulty in the water or on the sand, the advice from the RNLI and Coastguard is the same every time: stay on dry land, call 999 and ask for the Coastguard. In the great majority of cases the dog gets itself out; people who wade in after them are the ones who drown.
So keep dogs close on the open sands, especially on a making tide, and always know what the water is doing. You can check the day's tide for any of these beaches on the all Wirral tides page before you go.
The usual courtesies
Clean up after your dog and use the bins or take it home; keep dogs away from wading-bird flocks and from seals; and in the bird-rich winter months on the Dee, a dog tearing through a roosting flock can undo hours of feeding the birds badly need. A bit of consideration keeps these beaches open and welcoming to dogs in the first place.
Written by the HilbreTides team. Beach dog rules are set by Wirral Council and can change; always check current local signage.