PILGRIMS once trod the sandy path to the tiny sandstone islands to pray at its chapel, and rock salt refinery workers once drank beer in the tavern close to the factory.

While Hilbre’s importance has moved from monastery to port to wildlife haven, the sands and tides surrounding it have shifted, too.

These changes, happening to the Merseyside coastline over hundreds of years, have inspired a new exhibition of photography, film and sound.

Hydrography, which opens at Liverpool’s National Oceanography Centre on Wednesday, traces human interaction with the landscape through early 20th-century building of the coastal defences and maps of the Wirral and Liverpool Bay created since the early-17th century.

Artists James Brady and Stuart Carter also looked at ecological surveys and archaeological studies of the coastline conducted since the late-19th century as well as ongoing research projects.

Brady, whose work explores the relations between the natural and manmade worlds, says: “This collaborative project is an ongoing artistic interpretation of the environment around Hilbre Island and the head of the Dee Estuary on the North Wirral Peninsula coast.

“It seeks to explore the environmental changes that have, and continue to shape this fragile landscape.”

The work, some of which was exhibited in Liverpool’s 2010 Independents Biennial, as well as a number of new pieces, includes tidal sonar recordings of underwater sand movement at the head of the Dee Estuary, just off the edge of Hilbre Island.

HYDROGRAPHY is at the National Oceanography Centre, part of John Moores University, from August 10 to September 9. To view the exhibition, you must make an appointment on 0151 795 4800.