My Walk this Week 215 – Cycle Path 2

Posted on 10/07/202010/07/2020 by Alastair

My walk this week repeats the route along the cycle path I posted about a few weeks ago, but to my surprise there were more differences on the walk than I expected.

I thought it would be a challenge to present a different post about the same place so soon, but it seems my lack of a sense of time extends beyond the delay in writing this post (I have been a day behind in my head all week) to a perception that less time has passed since I last walked this path.

The wild flowers in bloom now, compared to those a few weeks ago, demonstrate the fast pace of natural changes at this time of year. While I enjoyed the patterns and textures of my last walk there a month ago, it is wonderful to see the rosebay willow herb and other wild flowers come back into colour.

Cycle Path Soundscape

The photos and sound were again recorded on my iPhone and due its sensitivity to wind, the soundscape above is shorter than my usual. Hopefully you will still enjoy it while looking through the images.

The pool in the river is empty of children this time but shows that idyllic spot on a Summer day where, on my last walk there, you could hear the sheiks of laughter from local youngsters making the most of a hot day and ignoring the Covid-19 lock down advice on social distancing.

My Walk this Week 214 – Park Positive

Posted on 03/07/202002/07/2020 by Alastair

My walk this week is in Singleton Park, Swansea and took advantage of the slight relaxation in the Covid-19 lockdown measures. Whether it was right or not to do this with regard to the coronavirus pandemic, it was a very positive thing to do for the sake of my mental wellbeing.

Sheltering under the trees from the rain I took advantage of the pause in our walk and snapped a shot or two, including the crushed wild garlic that was giving off a wonderfully powerful scent.

Once the sun reappeared the clover shone like jewels in the open grassland of this expansive urban park. While the botanic garden was closed due to the difficulty of distancing, the rest of the park-scape caused no problems in this respect and everyone there respected the social distancing advice.

In the smaller Brynmill Park on our return, this was a little more problematic, but people mostly did what they could to maintain a distance and the lake there is a popular attraction.

Park-scape Sound Clip

I have not called the audio above a soundscape because recording on my iPhone as I was and that not taking well to the wind, I did not capture as much sound as I would have liked.

The media player does not show on the WordPress Reader, so please visit the website to listen to the sound clip and view the images at the same time.

Memory – Colour, Texture and Sound in an August Forest

Posted on 27/12/201619/12/2016 by Alastair

On my forest walks in August I mostly used my iPhone for my photography and sound recording. It seems I was focusing on colour and texture on those occasions, but not only in what I could see but also in what was to be heard – not that I had any particular influence over that, other than to be there.

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Ending the Year – A Walk in the Forest

Posted on 19/12/201619/12/2016 by Alastair

Towards ending the year I am taking a walk through my records of approximately 150 walks through a local forest in the previous year (2015). Each day over the last two weeks of this year will represent the sights and sounds of one month during that time – on the two Sundays I will review the previous six months.

Today I am presenting a selection of images and a couple of sound clips from the forest in January 2015.

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The Challenge of Gates

Posted on 17/11/201613/11/2016 by Alastair

Yesterday I mentioned the difficulty for horses of a steep and slippery section of the footpath/bridle way that I have been following on my walk this week. Here is another challenge for the riders of those horses. While gates may not present much of a difficulty to a well practised rider, some of them have mechanisms that require some extra effort to operate. I can’t remember for sure but I think one of the riders of the pair below dismounted in order to open this one.

As well as the pleasure I get from gates and in particular their various sounds, I also get (as I am sure do many other people) enjoyment from the sound of horses hooves on the ground. Listen below.

gate

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Returning Down Below

Posted on 08/04/201608/04/2016 by Alastair

Returning, on my walk this week, from the heights of Llansteffan Castle’s battlements to the beach below led me through the woods and away from my companions on this visit to Carmarthenshire in South Wales. I was able to look down on them just as they reached the beach.

Before we left the castle itself, I stood in the entrance to the castle and although I didn’t have my field recorder with me, still managed to capture something of the aural atmosphere of this calm day.

Listen to the sound clip below and if you are viewing this in an email, you will need to click the post title to see the sound player on the post itself.

Llansteffan Castle Sound Clip

Early Start for Dawn Chorus Day

Posted on 11/05/201211/05/2012 by Alastair

It was fun to get up at 5.30 AM last Sunday for Dawn Chorus Day to go and join the Friends of Coedbach Park and Helen Grey from Swansea Nature Conservation Team. Helen organised the event and arranged for Martin Humphries to lead us on a walk and help with birdsong identification. A great time was had by all and I was able to record much of what was going on with the birds in the ancient oak woods.

Sound Clips and Spectral Images – A set of these sound clips can be found below (remember to click through to the blog if you are reading this in an email) along with a couple of the spectral displays from the clips.