During the 13th century Edward the First built a series of castles along the welsh coast in order to impose his rule over the fractious natives.
The most northerly of these is Flint castle on the estuary of the river Dee, featured in this video.
When the castle was originally built the sea came right up to the walls, providing both defense and a means of resupply in the event of a siege.
But over the centuries the river Dee silted up, leaving Flint castle high and dry for most of the year.
However, every now and then when there's a particularly high spring tide the sea manages to briefly reclaim the land it lost, returning once again to wet the stones at the base of the castle.
Such was the case on this day in late March 2021, when my wife Liz and I positioned ourselves on the earth berm overlooking the salt marsh in front of the castle to watch and film as the tide came in.
The weather that day was lovely and calm and sunny, allowing a reflection of the castle to appear in the shallow tidal waters.
As well as shooting this real time video, I also shot a time lapse video of the rising tide, Flint Tide Timelapse #3 ,showing the marsh grasses slowly disappearing under the sea as the tide rose to its highest level.
All things considered, a couple of hours well spent!
Filename - flint castle video 02
Camera - Canon EOS 6DMK2
Lens - 24-105mm zoom
Exposure - Aperture and ISO selected to allow 1/60 sec shutter speed.
Filters - 2 stop neutral density graduated filter used to reduce the brightness of the sky.
Location - Flint, North Wales
This clip - HD 720p, 30fps (1080p HD format also available)
Clip duration - 30 seconds
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2024 unless otherwise stated.