Talk:Tidal island

Latest comment: 3 years ago by Murray Langton in topic Vanishing island...possible merger

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UK Islands

I have just finished reading Peter Caton's book as referenced in this article, and given that this article is referring to a geographic feature, I think it is wrong to use the figure of 43 tidal islands in this context. Caton specifically defines an island as being somewhere usually cut off at high tide, and usually accessible at low tide, but also restricts his list to those tidal islands which meet other criteria, one of which is that there should be evidence of human habitation / cultivation on the island. Whilst this is great for the book, and probably makes for a more interesting read, when it comes to an encyclopaedic entry about the geographical feature, I don't think his is the right authority to use.

To give an example, Caton's book doesn't mention in any way the charming Asparagus island, accessible only at low tide from Kynance Cove on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall (I know this is true as I've done it, both wet and dry). In the context of his book it doesn't need to count as it's not been extensively used or visited by man, but it definitely is a tidal island walkable from the UK mainland. Similarly, Caton only counts as tidal those islands which are regularly passable and regularly covered, not just occasionally - so Looe Island in Cornwall would also be excluded from his list, when arguably it is a tidal island reachable from the UK mainland. There are probably lots more examples of islands that were simply too small for Caton to include.

I note that this statement regarding 43 walkable islands has been referenced across most of the islands own pages on Wikipedia, but I suspect that even the author himself would acknowledge that his list is not authoritative in terms of geography alone.

Also - Shell Island in Wales should be removed from the list as it is accessible at all states of the tide via sand-dunes, only the road becomes inundated.

Sam Jones 31.50.11.50 (talk) 20:38, 2 July 2014 (UTC)Reply

Untitled edit

Another defenition is an island that only appears during low tide. In high tide they get covered up by they water. is wrong. The correct term for this would be drying island.--JBellis 18:19, 8 January 2006 (UTC)Reply

Guernsey is not part of the United Kingdom. Separated an island listed under the UK. Mrs.EasterBunny 20:07, 30 August 2007 (UTC)Reply

Needs edit

  • This article needs a similar picture of St. Micheal's Mount with the tide out- to make it clear what makes it a tidal island.
  • It would probably be useful to compare and contrast it with the similar-sounding Tied Island.

IceDragon64 (talk) 12:27, 10 March 2011 (UTC)Reply

Islands one can walk to in low tide edit

I was speculating about if a certain type of islands should be mentioned here (or if there is some more appropriate place for them): In the area of Denmark I live in, we have at least four islands (Æbelø, Dræet, Ejlinge and Svelmø) for which it is possible to walk and drive to in low tide, but not in high tide. But even in low tide there is water between the island and the mainland, just water shallow enough to walk / drive by tractor (it was around 50 cm deep when I walked to Æbelø and Dræet some hours before low tide). Most of these islands have some kind of marked "road" on the sea floor (although not paved). The same behaviour is the case for some of the Halligen mentioned in this article, but not for all of them. Scm (talk) 00:01, 6 June 2013 (UTC)Reply

South America edit

Are there any in South America? 68.229.212.158 (talk) 18:43, 2 March 2018 (UTC)Reply

Vanishing island...possible merger edit

Can someone please explain to me the difference between a tidal island and a vanishing island. They appear to be the same thing. I doubt we really need 2 separate articles on this phenomenon. They should probably be merged together. Rreagan007 (talk) 04:05, 3 February 2019 (UTC)Reply

If you read the two articles the difference is clear. A tidal island is above water at high tide (but inaccessible via a submerged causeway or similar), while a vanishing island is completely submerged at high tide. Hence the two concepts are different.Murray Langton (talk) 12:58, 26 September 2020 (UTC)Reply