Category Archives: birdsong

Rainy Days in Wales and England

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Sorry to those of you who noticed the lack of a blog entry last week. Here are a couple of the many reasons for the omission.

Pant-y-Sais Fen – Last Friday I discovered this place by Jersey Marine near Swansea. This was part of a bird song identification walk with Bob Tallnack and others from the Gower Ornithological Society. It was most enjoyable in spite of the rain and the fen by Neath Canal is a beautiful place where I hope to do produce a StillWalk on some dry day in the future. More photos can be seen on Facebook.

You’ll need to click on the blog title in order to listen to the Chaffinch in this place as it can only be viewed on the actual blog.

Neath Canal

Neath Canal near Pant-y-Sais Fen, Jersey marine.

York’s River Ouse oozes out – It was still raining when I attempted a production day in York last Sunday – the photos here show the evidence. Fortunately, Monday morning brought the sun with it and although the waters had not receded much, I was still able to get the images and sound I need to produce a new StillWalk.

River Ouse, York

River Ouse, York

River Ouse, York

River Ouse, York

Millenium Bridge, River Ouse, York

Millenium Bridge, River Ouse, York

From the Millennium Bridge, Millenium Bridge, River Ouse, York

From the Millennium Bridge, Millenium Bridge, River Ouse, York

River Ouse, York

River Ouse, York

Monday Sun, River Ouse, York

Monday Sun, River Ouse, York

If I were to associate a StillWalks with this blog entry, I think it would be Quarry Walk – Autumn Rain even though it is the wrong season.

Therapy at its Best in Scotland

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Featured StillWalks – Coastal Walk Spring

For me, this is therapy at its best! Recently we had some unexpectedly good weather for the time of year and it reminded me of slightly later in the Spring last year when this StillWalk was produced.

Downloads – Coastal Walk Spring is from the South West coast of Scotland. The sample version on the StillWalks website is only 1.5 minutes of the full 6.5 but gives a good taste of a walk well worth downloading. There are some fascinating temporary sculptures on the stony beach. They can also be found in Coastal Walk Evening  where they look like sentinels watching the tide.

FREE StillWalks – If you have not already signed up for FREE to StillWalks, you will be able to download a walk of your choice FREE when you do.

Here are some of the images from the full length walk – enjoy 🙂

Coastal Walk Spring

Coastal Walk Spring

Coastal Walk Spring

Coastal Walk Spring

Coastal Walk Spring

Coastal Walk Spring

Sunny Sunday and Week 5 Marsh Wood Birds

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At last – sunshine in amongst all the drizzle and mist in South Wales. It’s a couple of days ago now and, of course, we were straight back to the drizzle on Monday but the memory remains.

Saturday was at least dry and allowed me to get out to record week 5 of the birds down at the marsh woods. Listen to the clip below. This is a 2 minute clip but I could have sat and listened through the cans for a lot more than the 7 minutes of the full clip. Remember, if you’re reading this in an email, you’ll have to click the title above or the http link at the bottom to see the full blog entry with sound clips . . . or you could click the comment button.

And then in the woods the birds were arguing over territory again – or was it food? The two things guaranteed to make birds or humans argue. Listen below.

Marshes

Marshes

Robin

This Robin's keeping an eye on me

Old Railway Track

Old railway track through the woods

Sunday AM

At last, a bright day. At least for today there would be no SAD. I took a walk down to the old St Teilo’s Churchyard and had to take my coat off in the warmth – I love this place and have done a StillWalks there, a Summer sample of which you can see here – Old Churchyard Walk. Here are a few pics from Sunday AM.

Marsh Grasses

Marsh Grasses

St Teilo's Churchyard

St Teilo's Churchyard

St Teilo's Churchyard

St Teilo's Churchyard

River loughor

River Loughor - Down on the Marshes

Sunday PM

With the sun still shining, a trip to Cardiff was called for to take Ellen back to Uni – she had come down to Swansea to go and see the National Dance Company of Wales (NDCWales) at the Taliesin Arts Centre with us. They were awesome 🙂 Anyway, not wanting to waste the sunshine, we had a walk in Roath Park and got a cuppa in the cafe there. We were reminded what a popular place it is . . . with birds and people alike. Whoops! How did I manage to miss both people and birds off these shots – I wouldn’t have thought it possible lol. The sound clips at the bottom prove they were there though.

Roath Park

Roath Park

Roath Park Crocuses

Roath Park Crocuses

Roath Park

Roath Park

Remember, if you’re reading this in an email, you’ll have to click the title above or the http link below to see the full blog entry with sound clips . . . or you could click the comment button.

Beautiful Morning – Beautiful Sounds

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It was a beautiful bright morning this morning and I decided I just had to get out to look and listen to the sights and sounds in the park and on the marshes. Had thoughts of a new, part time project – to record at the same time each week the sounds from the same spots in this location over the period of a year and then look back and see (or hear) how they change with the seasons. Question is, will I be able to persuade myself to do it when the weather is horrible, as it is often enough in Wales!

Remember, if you’re reading this in an email, you’ll need to go to the blog to listen to the sounds – the Song Thrush is really lovely! 🙂

Early Morning in the park

Early Morning in the park

Song Thrush

Song Thrush

Early morning over the marshes

Early morning over the marshes

The bad and the ugly

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“Daily” doesn’t seem to be working out too bad at the moment when it comes to posts! Here is a clip from yesterday. Does anybody hate IKEA like I do?

ikea car park

IKEA car park

ikea car park

Next door to the IKEA car park

Another Cardiff multi storey car park

Another Cardiff multi storey car park

. . . and then here is a sound clip from today – a bit of a nicer tune from a Robin.

Active / Inactive weekend

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Active? Inactive? Which was it? Actually I had a very active weekend but still found time for a walk at the Botanic Garden of Wales and got to see some great moss and fungi which I shared with the Moss Appreciation Society on Facebook. Gonna have to update my iPhone if I’m going to take photos with it!

soft moss

Soft Moss

moss & fungi

Moss & Fungi Friends

fungi city

Fungi City in the country of Moss

Saturday morning had a bit of a spectator sport going on – the spectators and the competitors were starlings. Check this out –

and this

And then on Sunday morning we had some peace . . .

Tesco Rooks

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It’s been a while since I blogged but I am gradually getting there! More to come in the next week or two. In the meantime here is a little snippet of sound I enjoyed recently.

Every year about this time we get a huge flock of rooks stopping off at our local Tesco’s car park. The sight and sound is amazing – here is the sound at least!

Tesco Rooks

Churchyard re-visit

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I was down the old churchyard on the marshes again the other night (see the Old Churchyard Walk) and took these pics on my phone. Watch out on this blog for the impromptu StillWalk from the same evening also using photos taken on my (old) iPhone.

If you like the mossy pics, why not join the Moss Appreciation Society on Facebook