Planes and Birds and Beautiful Weather

A beautiful saturday morning is not the best time to choose to go sound recording on the Gower Peninsula. Swansea airport may be small but when the weather is good at the weekend, it would seem there are plenty of aviators who want to get into their airplanes.

It wasn’t just the small planes that were out – the vapour trails in this photo prove the number of inbound flights to the UK first thing on a Saturday morning. They weren’t the only ones enjoying the sunshine. The sound clip below proves that the birds were out in force as well. Click to play or listen to it on SoundCloud.

Vapour Trails

Poppies Are Prettier

I took these photographs of flowers on the same day I took those shots of fences and sheep. Whatever way you look at it, Poppies are prettier than sheep!

The Welsh Poppy is one of my favourite flowers and is beautiful at every stage. Here the flower’s petals had just dropped. It must be one of the last for this year and the petals fell as I was setting up for the shot.

Welsh Poppy

Welsh Poppy

Hemp Agrimony

Hemp Agrimony

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A Pattern of Poo . . . sheep poo!

Here are the culprits enjoying a mid morning meal in the old St Teilo’s Churchyard down on the marshes on the Loughour Estuary.

Walking along the old footpath beside the River Loughor last Sunday morning, I followed one of the gullies made by the flooding tide – the marshes are tidal and the salt marsh lamb that is produced as a result is very tasty indeed!

The gullies fill regularly with the tide but not all the way to the top except at those times of year when the spring tides occur. This means that the upper part of the gullies tend to be shallower and the mud exposed for longer periods.

Not just the mud of course – the sheep poo as well! You may not agree with me, but at the time of my walk, I was fascinated by the patterns left in the gullies by the mixture of mud and sheep poo drying out in the sun – a kind of burst bubble effect. Go on, say it . . . “simple things amuse simple minds”, to which I would answer, “to each their own” or “live and let live”. Don’t think of it as poo, just as pattern.

Sheep in Churchyard

Pattern of Poo

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A Pair of Ponies

I regularly walk down on the marshes by the River Loughor near my home but do not often meet others doing so. The path is well worn, so there must be more people using it than I meet there.

Earlier this year the route of the footpath had to be changed slightly to take it a little further back from the river bank. The evidence of erosion can be seen in the photos of fences in yesterday’s post. The new route runs through a field or two near the old St Teilo’s Churchyard and the fields are normally empty of animals. Sometimes there are sheep there but on this occasion there were two new occupants. They seemed friendly and pleased to see me.

I just have one question about the piebald one – could he be described as dappled on this occasion? 😉

Ponies 3

Ponies 1

Ponies 2

Ponies 4

Ponies 5

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Featuring Fallen Fences

Last Sunday morning I went to the park thinking I was going to be late to join the Friends of Coedbach Park on a hunt for mushrooms and toadstools. There was a great deal of activity in the park with two football and matches and a rugby game going on and others waiting in the wing.

I walked around the woods but could find nobody looking for mushrooms or fungi of any sort – I found some mushrooms though – you can see them on Instagram! I should have checked my diary, I would have found the event is down for next Sunday, so I won’t miss it after all.

In the meantime I carried on with my walk and took the opportunity to focus on fences instead and here are a few of the shots I took.

Fences 1 Fences 2 Fences 3 Fences 4 Fences 5

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Light and Shade – Morlais Patterns

On a sunny day the patterns are easy to find, particularly around mid morning when the sun is at its most creative angle in this respect.

I was taking photos of fences last Sunday morning . . . not these ones though. These are from the end of my walk along the River Morlais. I had been thinking ahead and wondering how I was going to get good photos to finish with, knowing that the short section of footpath that returns to the road is not the most attractive feature in the area.

However, the sun was shining, it was mid morning in July (I started at 5.00 AM), and the patterns created left me in no doubt as to how the video for this walk would end!

Morlais Patterns

Morlais PatternsYou can use the new Donate button below to help StillWalks, pay what you want and receive a download of the completed StillWalks video from this area – “Troserch Woodland Walk“, this week’s featured walk.

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Possession – For What It’s Worth

If StillWalks is to survive . . . Following a similar model to that taken by some bands in the music industry, I have added a Donate button to the StillWalks website and blog. I must at least try this, if StillWalks is to survive.

The StillWalks Donate button – click now for a quick and easy way to get the currently featured StillWalks video in high quality full length and enjoy it anytime, anywhere.

Pay as little or as much as you would like or as much as you think it is worth and you will receive a link to download a high quality, full length version of the currently featured StillWalks video. Videos will be changed on a weekly basis and showcased on the blog.

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This week’s featured StillWalks video is Troserch Woodland Walk. You can view the sample video on the blog or the website.

The advantages of ownership

      • Higher quality
      • No waiting for video to load
      • No stuttering video due to low internet band width
      • Transfer or download to a mobile device
      • Enjoy anytime, anywhere

The music industry and musicians have been struggling for some time now to find new ways of selling their product to us. We are all familiar with the reason for this – the free or virtually free availability of music via the internet. One of the approaches taken by some bands to move with the times, has been to offer their music for as much as people are willing to pay for it.

StillWalks cannot survive on goodwill alone and much as I would love to give away all the videos at full length and in full High Definition (HD), it takes time and skill to produce them and so, like the musicians, I am exploring all avenues with regard to generating revenue in order to continue StillWalks production. All donations are welcome and you will always receive the current featured video to download for use on your computer, laptop or mobile device (copyright restrictions apply).

Starting today, if you click the donate button and make any donation to StillWalks, small or large, you will receive a link to download a high resolution, full length version of the latest StillWalks video. Videos will be changed on a weekly basis and showcased on the blog.

If there is a particular one you would like, then it will still be available through the buy now system on the website but if you would like to quickly and easily build a collection of these beautiful, relaxing and unique videos, just click the donate button now.