Tag Archives: water

Red water grasses

Fluffy, Furry and Fuzzy – New Edgeland Growth

Posted on by

The edgeland of Newport which I was exploring on my walk this week were partly coloured by industry, but Spring knows no bounds and prompts all plant life to new growth at this time of year.

Spring growth?

And so, looking away from some of the other aspects of this liminal industrial space, I took a closer look at some of the different wasteland plants that were coming to life around me. The buds and seed heads were fluffy, furry and fuzzy as they set out for the sun against the red earth and water of the ponds in this abandoned area of the Newport Levels.

I never did get to the official Newport Wetlands but was very happy to see this less cared for environment where there was plenty of evidence of man but no man to be seen.

patterns and light
Red water grasses
edgeland ripples
tall grasses
seed heads
Spring time
furry buds
fuzzy buds
Uplands landscape

Punctuated By Ice at The Waterside

Posted on by

My walk this week has been around the lake at The Waterside – Felindre and seems to have been punctuated by ice. Indeed, the whole language and grammar of the posts has been dictated by the freezing icy conditions.

Icy Punctuation

Influenced as I am by the things I see and hear around me, I look at the light and shade, the patterns and textures, and I wonder what it would feel like to touch, to run my fingers along some of the surfaces of frozen water, hard ground lightly dusted with snow or old reeds and rushes from last year as they poke through the semi opaque sometimes mushy lookingContinue reading→

Icy grass skirt

Clothes of Ice

Posted on by

The top end of the lake round which I walked last week seemed to be wearing a range of icy clothes. I suppose I might be forcing it a bit, but the idea came to mind when I took the shot below and thought this rock in the stream had a flouncy skirt look about it.

Flouncy ice

And then I saw the submerged half frozen grass at the edge of the silt pond and thought “Wow! What great effect.”

The last two shots in this short sequence are clearly not references to clothing,Continue reading→

fanning out

What’s Left Behind – Jetsam and Ice

Posted on by

In this my third and last post for my walk this week I am looking at some of what is left behind by both recent weather conditions and humans – the ice and jetsam scattered in the river and around the frozen woodland in a semi urban / industrial area.

ice bubbles

The ice was not yet melting but had created strange bubble-like forms around old reeds at the river’s edge.  Also at the edge of the Afon Llan was a collection of abandoned shopping trolleys tangled up with bits of wood swept downstream and caught up in their old metal mesh.Continue reading→

frozen woodland bog

Frozen!

Posted on by

The rest of the UK had snow but our little pocket of the country somehow managed to avoid it and so my walk this week was freezing but no more than that. The images of frozen water below may not be as dramatic  as some of those to be found in countries closer to the arctic circle, but they are different to our normal situation here in South West Wales where, since taking these photos, we have returned to rain!

Frozen surface

My walk this week was, however, one I had not taken before and although short, allowed me to view an area that combinesContinue reading→

River grass

Reflecting On the Salt Marsh Landscape

Posted on by

Reflecting on my walk this week on the landscape of my local salt marsh I am happy that I took the walk when I did as I suspect this open landscape would have been even more cold in our recent weather than the walk I took at the tail end of Storm Emma (that will be next weeks posts).

Remains of last year

My focus on this walk has been more about the details than the open space and those details have mainly been the marsh grass and one or two of the features within it, such as the fences. I love some of the individual “marks” in this landscape – the spiky reflection of marsh grass in the river, the spiky barbs of a sinking fence, the spiky flicks of individual grass blades amongst the busy textures their stems, the crusty lichen covered surface of thin branches and the twirly wiggle of an old bit of rosebay willow herb from last year.

The audio element was there as well of course andContinue reading→

Cascade

Swiss Valley Water – Reviewing the Walk

Posted on by

My walk this week up to Swiss Valley Reservoir was a very wet one, but also a very enjoyable one despite the amount of water (except for the fact that my umbrella kept collapsing on me!).

Please note:  I need to let you know  that my weekly posts are going to change slightly – from here on there will be no post on Saturday. I am cutting My Weekly Walk posts to Monday, Wednesday and Friday with the soundscape for the walks being posted on the Friday. Further cuts may be necessary in the future.

Swiss Valley Reservoir

I took the walk later in the day than expected and in combination with the wet weather, this meant it was another walk that started out dark and became darker and darker as I followed the riverside footpath up the ravine.  By the time I reached the reservoir (not very far) the scene was as you see it in the image above.Continue reading→

overhanging

Tree Ghoul in the Gloom

Posted on by

The darkness of my walk this week in the rain provided me with a creepy atmosphere from time to time. This tree was one of those  presenting itself as a ghoul in the gloom of the woodland as I climbed the footpath to Swiss Valley Reservoir.

Tree Ghoul in the Gloom

Even the more open areas of the valley floor were gloomy and what light there was created and aged effect on the subtly coloured branches of an orchard.Continue reading→