In our little corner of the world we can be very in tune with the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes through watching the River Severn. The great swathe of water has a very ancient presence, it’s been bringing tides way inland since prehistoric times in the unusual ‘backwash’ known as the Bore.
The Severn Bore
Tides respond to the cycles of the moon and the seasons with monthly swells each full and new moon supplemented by seasonal swells that peak at the equinoxes in spring and autumn. At this point the movement of vast amounts of water upstream, contained within a relatively narrow channel, mean the mass of water at the rear of the tide moves to overtake the leading wave, creating the special wave known as the Bore.
A star rating is given to the Severn Bore from one to five stars for an exceptionally great surge. Five star Bores are exceptional, with years often passing without such a spectacle. This year, 2025, the best we can expect is a four star Bore – and this only once. You’ll have to be quick to catch it on the morning of Monday 31st March.
Awesome experience
Daytime Bores, especially if they happen to fall at a weekend, attract a lot of onlookers, and also plenty of ‘participants’ – surfers, kayakers and observers in the sky – they’re quite an event to witness. However, night time Bores are also a truly special experience if you can get yourself safely to the river bank. Instead of seeing the activity, you sense the surge passing, it’s a visceral experience. By feeling the Bore in this way, you’re in tune with all other creatures – the birds respond to it as much as the animals in fields and creatures in hedgerows.
Allow time
If you’re going to make a trip to the experience the Bore, do give yourself plenty of time. It’s not nearly so exciting to see the surge of traffic flowing against you if you arrive late to navigate the lanes down to the river!
To check timings for the Severn Bore look at the online timetables that are published, but remember this will always only be guidance, nature is her own timekeeper – time and tide wait for no one, and answer to no one. It takes about half an hour for the swell to pass up the river channel, so the actual time it passes you will vary depending on how far up the channel you situate yourself. As an observer the ‘active time’ is about five minutes from sensing the Bore arriving to seeing it pass, leaving behind a significantly risen river, several meters above its former level. It is an incredible force of nature.
The Bore timetables detail various locations along the river. The closer to Gloucester, the narrower the channel, and therefore the bigger the water displacement appears; but further South you’ll also find people have their favourite spots to stand.
World class spectacle
Our Severn Bore is noted as the second greatest rise and fall of tide in the world.
As locals, we have the opportunity to experience the Bore multiple times from multiple places over multiple years, meaning the Severn Bore can provide for us a truly local marker of the changing seasons with global-scale impressiveness.
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