equine observer

My Walk this Week 235 – Forest and Woods

My walk this week looks at the loss of a small forest and the enjoyment of local woods. To be fair the conifer forest that is now gone was originally planted with the intention of harvesting the lumber and the area is being replanted with native deciduous trees. All the same, the change was and still is a bit of a shock to the senses.

The day was still and quiet but as always there was the background sound of traffic. However, as I was not listening to the traffic but instead enjoying the stillness and the birds, I decided to filter out that more urban ambience from the video above.

The intimacy of the Autumn – Winter woodland with its wet leaves and moss plus the curious observers of my audio visual activities is something I have missed recently as the last time I was here was back in August. 

Watching

My Walk this Week 175 – Forest Changes

Hello everyone, I’m back from my break and while I will be posting about some walks taken while away, my walk this week is one of those I have taken since returning and illustrates some of the changes to my nearest forest.

open forest

I have already posted about the timber felling in this woodland and I went there in trepidation of what I would find. In the first six shots below you can see what, previously, you could not! The landscape, beautiful as it is, would have been seen from this position through a thick latticework of branches. The blue sky would have been a fine mosaic seen through the canopy and theContinue reading

dry grass

Low Flow and the Colour of Grass

The low flow of rivers and the colour of the grass has changed the landscape in the UK. Hosepipe bans are coming to the north and without sustained rainfall in the near future in the south, I can imagine that we will have them too.

low river

The river above is normally raging over the weir but with the reduced flow the soundscape is changed as well as the landscape. I haven’t produced a soundscape again this week butContinue reading

Valley Walk 2 – Reviewing the Walk

hillside lane

Nearing the end of my walk this week, the second of my walks up Cwm Dulais on consecutive days, I am reminded how different this walk was to the one on the previous day (posted last week). I did not do any field recording on this occasion and so the soundscape below does not reflect the misty atmosphere. However, I didn’t want to leave without an aural experience so I have included an edit of another recent walk in the same place but on a much brighter day.

So remember, if you are listening to the sound file at the same time as viewing the images, the two environmental atmospheres are quite different.

Continue reading

Walking through the mist

Rising higher on this, my second consecutive walk up the Cwm Dulais valley, I came into a heavy mist. The mist was not so heavy that I couldn’t see the friendly horse in the field at the top to whom I like to chat, but his own grey colour is not far off that of the mist – well camouflaged for weather like this!

heavy mist

Continue reading

The Other Side of the Fence

Up above the valley on my walk this week I reached another familiar gate and enjoyed the views over the landscape below. I was disappointed on this occasion not to meet the horse which can just be seen on the other side of the fence in the image below. Normally I would stop and have a wee chat with him but he was hidden behind the bank as I passed and didn’t follow me along to the other end of the field.

Where this hill had been in the earlier stages of my walk when starting from the other end a couple of weeks ago, I am now approaching the end of my walk – it’s all downhill from here and through the crunching Autumn leaves 🙂

fences in sunlight

Horsey Horsey

Climbing to the top of the hill on my walk this week the surface underfoot was stone at one of the steepest parts of the route. As the track is used frequently by horse riders, I have often wondered how the horses cope with this section as it can get slippery when wet (which is often the case in Wales!).

Having reached the top, the friendly horse that currently shares a field with a couple of donkeys, came over to greet me. I enjoy taking a short break in my walk up there where I can take in the landscape around me and it is good to have a quiet conversation with the horse – he really is a lovely animal!

flying mane

Meeting a Resident

Having returned to the top of the farm track near the start of my short walk this week at MLRUK and Blaenige in Carmarthenshire, I met one of the local residents – in the form of one of their horses. I don’t know its name (I don’t even know if it is male ore female), but it was very friendly, pricked its ears up and came over for a chat.

Horse in blanket

Horse Head

Horse Eye