jezjez
Active member
Is Kirby Creek a good anchoring option up the Backwaters for a night with a 1.5m draft/ 38 feet length? Thanks for any advice
Kirby Creek for the night
- Thread starter jezjez
- Start date
Sailing steve
Well-known member
Yes it is. It's a lovely spot.
You'll have to scope about a little to find the best depth but the holding is good in soft mud - providing you check you've not dropped the hook on a patch of pipeweed where it isn't so good instead.
There can be a bit of a ripple on the water closer to Honey Island on a spring ebb so the middle of the creek is favourite.
You'll have to scope about a little to find the best depth but the holding is good in soft mud - providing you check you've not dropped the hook on a patch of pipeweed where it isn't so good instead.
There can be a bit of a ripple on the water closer to Honey Island on a spring ebb so the middle of the creek is favourite.
jezjez
Active member
Thank you.
ianc1200
Well-known member
You might find you're chased off! Kirby Creek is having oyster layings again. The guy doing it has been mainly concentrating on the Twizzle upstream from the marina, but some months ago he told me he was doing the part of Kirby Creek just off Hamford Water.
I would pick up a buoy inside Honeypot Island just a bit further along in the creek - two of the boats which use these buoys are still on the hard at Titchmarsh.
I would pick up a buoy inside Honeypot Island just a bit further along in the creek - two of the boats which use these buoys are still on the hard at Titchmarsh.
jezjez
Active member
Thanks, I’m just planning for a trip in June. Will the oysters be gone by then????
Sailing steve
Well-known member
As best I know the oyster layings in Kirby creek were abandoned years ago because although the licence for the beds there was still current 'till (IIRC) 2022 the market had collapsed some time prior to that due to unacceptably high levels of contamination found in the oysters harvested there.
In the past anybody ignoring the rather scruffy board announcing the oyster layings at the north end of the creek and anchoring there - even way after the harvest became unviable - had been aggressively driven off by the licence holder but since the license expired the board has gone and he no longer has any entitlement to do so and it's subsequently become one of the best spots in the Backwaters in my opinion to anchor.
This is all just boatyard rumours and chatter though and if anybody can update or contribute more robust information then it'd be good to hear.
RivalRedwing
Well-known member
A lengthy thread on the topic to 2024 here:
Anchoring in Kirby Creek
Anchoring in Kirby Creek
RivalRedwing
Well-known member
This is the 'Magic map' as of today
Sailing steve
Well-known member
The index says the shaded sections are classified mollusc harvesting areas - but are they actually in use and whose got the authority to stop people anchoring in them?
There's dozens of swinging moorings in the shaded area of the Twizzle for example and it also includes the basin of Tichmarsh marina. I'm not sure anybody's going to consider laying oysters there and I'd definitely pass on eating anything fished out of either of those two locations nor would I want to scoff anything out of Kirby creek that's been exposed to a liberal dressing of seal poo on every ebb tide.
Kirby creek is a lovely anchorage. It'd be a real shame if misinformation or any entitled individual tries to stop it being used as such.
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
I am amused to see that Titchmarsh Marina is marked as a shellfish harvesting zone!
fredrussell
Well-known member
People skimping on the antifoul perhaps?
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
Not me - I have Coppercoat
But I certainly wouldn't eat anything out of the marina! There are some quite large fish - mullet, I think - but they're safe from me!
johnalison
Well-known member
Grey mullet was on the menu when we visited The Last Anchor some years ago. Although curious to know what it was like, I forwent the chance to try it.Not me - I have Coppercoat
RobbieW
Well-known member
Muddy
RivalRedwing
Well-known member
'Magic' is DEFRA's map, take it up with them, I agree there are some anomalies.
Cantata
Well-known member
Last year we asked CEFAS and they confirmed there were no current licenses or permissions to lay or harvest oysters in Kirby Creek.
We'll ask again to make sure nothing has changed and I'll post the results.
We'll ask again to make sure nothing has changed and I'll post the results.
Sailing steve
Well-known member
That'd be really helpful - ta muchly.
MikeBz
Well-known member
We anchored in Kirby Creek last summer, a little downstream of Honey Island. Plenty of depth (we draw 1.6m). It’s a beautiful spot and the holding was good, but from the noise of the anchor scraping across the seabed there are a lot of big stones/small rocks. Previously we had anchored further downstream and not found this.
Looking upstream to Honey Island:
Looking downstream:
Looking upstream to Honey Island:
Looking downstream:
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ianc1200
Well-known member
In the first photo, the boat on the left is where there is a large deep hole, close to the Honeypot Island side. Between the varnished boat on right (Will O' The Wisp?) and the buoys a really good place to anchor. There's an unofficial landing point too on the Birch Hall Farm side beyond the buoys.
jezjez
Active member
Thanks for your responses - I think you’ve said it’s okay to anchor there unless someone turns up and aggressively tells me to get lost but they probably won’t although you never know 
