Leaving one woodland and entering the next on my walk this week, I noted something of the variety of trees and their Autumnal growth. From red hawthorn berries to acorns, apples and brambles (blackberries). The brambles appeared early this year but it wasn’t too late to enjoy some of those I found on my walk in the woods at Stainton in north east England – the best were beautifully sweet and juicy!
. . . you’ll find some strange wooden serpents slithering through the undergrowth. This Loch Ness monster like fallen branch is classic shape from the crooked oak trees of the woods in Coedbach Park.
It is not the first time I have photographed this particular piece of wood, but it is in a different position in the woods now, so it is obviously on the move!
Some of the colour I found my walk along Swansea Bay’s cycle/foot path recently was a little confusing. Autumn colours in Summer? I discovered this young oak sapling on my walk through a wooded section of the path and although the year is passing quickly, I am pretty sure we are not in Autumn yet.
I guess it is just the colour that this particular variety of oak tree shows at this stage of its life/year. However, not long ago (in Spring) we found our amelanchier putting out a number of red autumn coloured leaves and wondered if the plant life of the planet is as confused as we are by the changing climate.
I don’t know what the red plant is in the second photo but its colour sure stood out against the green background!
The centre is in Penllergaer, near Swansea and my first discovery of this woodland was through the StillWalks project “Sights and Sounds of the Countryside” – that was about 18 months ago.
Since then the woodland and the footpaths through it, have been developed further and there is more to see and hear there all the time. The first image below is of a team of volunteers planting hundreds of new trees – oak, ash, alder, hawthorn and many others.
The bespoke StillWalks video “Marching Feet, Crackling Leaves”, produced as part of the “Sights and Sounds of the Countryside” project, was made with StillWalks by the children of Pontlliw Primary School and features a (miraculously) dry day in Autumn.
Sounds from my walk there last week will be posted tomorrow.
Zooming in from the Welsh landscape overview in my previous post, I can reveal some of the twisted details of our local park. The oak trees of Coedbach Park in Pontarddulais, are wonderful in all seasons, but when the leaves are gone they truly reveal their twisted, crooked forms.
Photo taken on my iPhone 5c. Click the photo to enlarge.
This week’s featured StillWalks video started out as an experiment to see if I could produce an acceptable video using only my iPhone 4s to take the photos and record the sound. Here is the result – Forest Walk – Summer”
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 – “Forest Walk – Summer” which is at Fforest, Carmarthenshire, South Wales. Click the image below to watch the video. DVD Collections are available to order in the StillWalks Shop.
