Tidal Bore on the River Leven at Ulverston and Greenodd

The Leven estuary empties into Morecambe Bay, and the bore feeds off the large and rapid tides that sweep into the bay. Apologies for the poor quality of shots taken using the zoom; there was a lot of heat haze that caused shimmering and image distortion. Using binoculars, the bore can be seen from Canal Foot (Ulverston) sweeping into the estuary from quite a distance, and it comes in via at least two channels from the South. As can be seen, at times the bores seem to be travelling in more than one direction at once, and I managed to video two bores colliding.
Locals tell me that the main river channel has moved quite a bit in recent times. The river now passes close to the pier and is quite deep where it does. This is a shame as it caused the bore to fizzle out as it approached the pier.
I travelled up stream to a picnic area on the A590 (South bound) near Greenodd. There were many fishermen there waiting for the tide to arrive. Again, the bore could be seen from quite a distance using binoculars. The bore’s path seemed quite confused from my location, and it seemed to reverse every now and then, though I’m sure that was an optical illusion. At its height, the bore was about 1 - 1.5 feet (0.3 - 0.46m) high and travelled quite fast.
As the bore approached it became a wide rolling wave, and very noisy.
Date: 1st September 2015
High tide at Ulverston : 9.8m at 14:09
Bore came into view from Canal Foot pier : 11:49 [2hrs 20mins before high tide]
Bore passed Canal Foot pier (as a very small undular wave) : 12:05 [2hrs 4mins before high tide]
Bore came into view from picnic area : 12:40 [1hr 29mins before high tide]
Bore passed picnic area : 13:03 [1hr 6mins before high tide]
All times BST (GMT + 1)
If you are interested in other tidal bores of North West England, search RUclips for : tidal bore rob bridges

[@StonecatWales]

You can see the same location in my video on Ulverston Canal.
Was disappointed with the pub there considering it was historic. I have a video planned too for camping on Chapel Island there overnight.
Good vid' mate. I like the Kent Bore too.

[@philra08]

thanks Rob, I'll have a go this weekend. I have seen ripples near Fish House Lane, that's what made me think of it.

[@philra08]

Hi Rob. great videos! How do we know when the next tidal bores will be? I'm interested in the River Leven ones, I'm sure I've seen them as far inland as Haverthwaite.

[@robbridges5975]

Hi Phil. To find out when tidal bores are due on the Leven, look online for ‘Tide Times’, then within this site look for tide times at Ulverston. Look for when high tides are 9.5m or more. Make a note of what time the high tide is due.
Now subtract 2 hours from this time and that will be the approximate time the bore will pass Canal Foot. Subtract 1 hour and six minutes from the high tide time and that will be the approx. time the bore will pass the car park by the river at Greenodd. Bore times depend on many conditions, so arrive earlier if you can. If the river is swollen a bore may not form at all.
The bore at Canal foot is not very good at the moment, so you may be better viewing from the shore at or near Bardsea… I estimate it will pass here at about 2 hrs 20 mins before high tide at Ulverston. Thanks
for the info re the bore at Haverthwaite… I’ll look out for it there. Happy viewing!

[@Volcano-Man]

You also need to know when Spring Tides will occur - at the period around New Moon and Full Moon, when the Sun, Earth and Moon are in alignment called SYZYG. The period is about 3 or 4 days either side of New or Full Moon and the actual Spring Tide is the highest tide in the sequence with the greatest difference between Low Water and High Water. Neap tides see minimum differences between high and low water.