Tag Archives: birds

Evening Landscape – Reviewing the Walk

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This evening landscape at the end of my walk this week in Penclawdd on the North Gower coast was not really very late in the day – just after 4pm. The days seem so short at this time of day, but I must try to remember those further north who, if you go far enough north, see no real sunlight at all through the day. I cannot imagine what that is like.

evening landscape

The sounds of this walk include many of the activities of the place, both man-made and natural. It was good to find myself hidden from the traffic and industry so easily by such a low lying shield of land as I walked at the edge of the salt marsh.

Enjoy the sounds along with selected images from my walk below.

Penclawdd Walk Soundscape

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Birds of a Feather

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As I walked back through Penclawdd on my walk this week and headed for my car, the light dimmed further and the birds began to roost . . .

Penclawdd rookery

Into the Light

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Finally on my walk this week I rounded the corner of the edge lands to the salt marsh and was able to appreciate the vast cloudless afternoon sky. The only blemish(?) on the pale blue>green>yellow>orange canvas was a distant airplane. The other mark on that sheet of colour apart from the land itself is a tiny object on the horizon line –  that is Whitford lighthouse. This a Victorian cast iron built feature of the Burry Inlet that I have been to within one or two hundred yards but have yet to find the time to time it right and get right out to it when the tide is low enough . . . someday I will.

sky light

Heading further along I met up with the river which at low tide features some very glorious mud – “mud, mud, glorious mud. nothing quite like it but . . .”  something the birds in the area thoroughly enjoy or at least feed in. Enjoy the sound below.

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Natural Congregation and Reviewing the Walk

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This arc of pigeons arranged on the railings at the end of my walk this week in Roath Park, Cardiff, give the appearance of spectators at an event – but what is the event? I am pretty sure there was nothing going on out of our view here, that it is just a natural congregation of birds probably having a bit of siesta in the early afternoon, but your guess is as good as mine. Anyone got any suggestions?

pigeons

Play the soundscape below and click the first thumbnail of selected images from this week’s posts to watch them in sequence.

Roath Park Soundscape

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Swans taking flight
Walkers, joggers and pram pushers
Sitting ducks
green lake
Feeding Frenzy
Kittywake
Mothers in the park
railings and boats
Roath’s Pride
Monument – Scott Memorial Lighthouse
taking a nap
Roath Park, Cardiff
cormorant concentrating
Spectating

Avian Profiles in Roath Park

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Nearing the end of my walk this week and one of the eastern exits to Roath Park in Cardiff, I am struck by the classic pose set by this cormorant. There are many, many birds of many different species in Roath Park but determining the variety of any specific bird is somewhat of a challenge to me. So I think this is a cormorant and the other avian profile in the images below I think is a Yellow Legged Gull in its first year . . . but don’t quote me on it. The swans I know are swans but what variety of swan I could not say.

Not being able to identify many of the creatures, avian or otherwise, or much of the plant life I see around me in any given environment, does not reduce or hamper my enjoyment and appreciation of that environment, either natural or urban. The naming and labelling of things has its advantages when it comes to communication and understanding but for the purposes of StillWalks and my own personal enjoyment of my surroundings and the benefits I get from it, it is not necessary to name everything. Indeed, considering that StillWalks videos have no voiceovers (or music), it is not necessary to name anything! It is only in my blog posts that you will “hear my voice” so to speak.

cormorant

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Reflecting
cormorant concentrating

Feeding Frenzy

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Walking round Roath Park lake in Cardiff there were many opportunities to photograph the birds – trouble is they will insist on moving! Fast shutter speeds and quick reflexes will suffice but you still have to take a load of pulse shots to have any hope of freezing there sometimes frenzied motion – particularly when they are fighting over food.

More relaxed are the mothers and their their babies enjoying the natural environment in the centre of a busy city.

Kittywake

I think this is a Kittywake

Feeding Frenzy

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Feeding Frenzy
Kittywake
Early Autumn colour
Mothers in the park

My Walk this Week – Roath Park

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My walk this week is from September last year. I had given my daughter a lift to Cardiff and while she did her thing I did mine, namely a walk round the lake in Roath Park.

It is a beautiful and popular park with many different birds, people and dogs all enjoying an opportunity to walk, jog, run, play, cycle, fly, feed, look, listen or just sit and take it all in.

Roath park-2

Ducks and Dogs in Roath Park

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Swans taking flight
mother and child walking the dog
Walkers, joggers and pram pushers