My walk this week was taken on the first day of January, 2020, and therefore my first of a new year and decade. Being very familiar with the place and the featured suburban lake, I knew that towards the end of a clear day the sun would be low and creating a beautiful, if cold, atmosphere.
The walk was part of a shorter than usual visit to family and I had not brought any of my kit with me – not even my laptop! Both the photos and the sound recording were therefore made on my iPhone. Continue reading→
Exiting Brynmill Park in Swansea the same way I came in on my walk this week, there seemed more people around than ever. There may be some evidence of this lacking in some of the photos I took but the soundscape tells another story. It is a small but beautiful city park which is clearly very popular not only for the people living next door to it but for others as well.
Brynmill Park Walk Soundscape
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While the drama of a new alpaca being born was going on “back at the ranch” (see yesterday’s post), I was enjoying a very peaceful stroll around the lake at The Waterside. While there is so much growth during this time of year, the specific time cycle of development is slightly different for each plant and many wildflowers and this will vary further according to the conditions from year to year and location to location.
So we see here in this hidden South Wales valley the foxgloves in full bloom but the thistle flowers just coming through, the dandelions seeding and the bullrushes getting ready to disperse their seed. There seems to be so much going on – as I have said in previous posts, nature has pounced!
Bullrushes by the lake
Lakeside Birds
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Heading home from my day at The Waterside, I was surprised and delighted to be driving across the Welsh hills and into a fantastic sunset. The colour, light and shade typified the mixed weather from the start of the day to the end.
The soundscape below may not fit perfectly with the sequence of photos if you listen and view them at the same time, but it is not meant to be StillWalks video but hopefully it will help to give you a better sense of that beautiful, secluded South Wales valley.
The Waterside Soundscape
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My walk this week is in the same place as last week except that it is at night. I had expected that, during the New Year break, I would get the opportunity for a walk here. I had not expected it to be at night but what with all the seasonal activity, our visit was almost over before the chance arose for a short walk.
The footpath lights are only on one side of the lake, so the photos may get darker through the week and were taken on my iPhone.
Whatever you thought about my walk around this suburban lake during daytime, this night time walk is quite different. I wasn’t the only person out for a walk and judging from the sounds there was other local games activity too.
Night Walk Sample
If viewing this in an email, to see the sound player you will need to visit the blog – please click the post title to view the full post.
Changeable weather can make it difficult to predict the conditions and therefore what to wear on a walk – rain and sunshine can be expected as well as rapidly changing temperatures. It can also mean that the colours to be seen in the landscape change dramatically and so winter colours can include the deep shadows of cloud and simultaneously the bright colours of nature reflected in sunlight.
These images just begin to show this effect with the colour in the bare branches and twigs of the tree or the reflective feathers of the ducks set against the slate grey of the water
My walk this week is another from my archive of StillWalks® videos. I have chosen it because (writing in advance) this is where I will be during the transition to 2016 and I will certainly be taking at least one walk around this lake at that time.
Blue sky and crisp coldness – if there is no snow or ice to denote the season, the bare trees at least should prove the time of year. These photos are clearly from a less damp winter than we have experienced in Britain this year, even allowing for the fact that the north east is drier than the south west.
For anyone expecting a new post from me today, please refer to the second post that went out on Thursday – “The Great Glasshouse – Contrast in iPhonography”.
I often like to run a series of connected posts across a week and I will prepare these towards the end of the current week and set the scheduled date for each post as I go along. Whilst it is very convenient to do this, clearly I made a mistake with the date on the posts that were published yesterday.
Fortunately updates can be made (and corrections made) at any point before the post is published. However, after the post has gone out, there is not much point in un-publishing it and then re-publishing the next day.
So, short of the intended post for today (which went out yesterday), I am leaving the weekend’s post as the featured StillWalks video for this week. If you have not already had a look at it, “Winter Lakeside Walk” will remain available on this blog for the weekend.
You can use the Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Winter Lakeside Walk” which features Llyn Llech Owain Country Park in Carmartheshire. Click the image below to watch the video. DVD Collections are available to order in the StillWalks Shop.
