Protecting the Dead

Posted on 20/02/201320/02/2013 by Alastair

They say time heals all wounds. Time is having a different effect on these railings around an old grave in St Teilo’s churchyard down on the marshes near Pontarddulais – unless you consider that nature is healing by gradually taking over.

The trees below will not, I think, be healed by time. These magnificent trees were cut down as part of the restoration of the walls of this old churchyard. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I went there one day to find them gone completely, and I wondered how the residents of the graves felt about it.

Protecting the Dead

Churchyard Trees

Meat on the Marshes

Posted on 18/02/201318/02/2013 by Alastair

The walk from Coedbach Park across the marshes to the old St Teilo’s churchyard is one of my local favourites. You can see it in the Old Churchyard Walk. The marshes on the River Loughor are tidal and therefore salty.

I don’t know what this sheep thinks about it all and I can’t say that it is specifically a Salt Marsh sheep but it is one of the flock from the marshes.

Given the recent news about the mix up of meats – beef? horse? – people may be looking at other meats at the moment and I know the salt marsh lamb I have tasted is pretty good stuff. One place to get it is Gower Salt Marsh Lamb. Whether it is meat or veg, I cannot recommend highly enough the taste of your own home grown or locally produced food.

Marsh Sheep

Singing in the Rain

Posted on 15/02/201315/02/2013 by Alastair

The sound of a Song Thrush singing in the rain in Lliw Valley – what more can I say!

Song Thrush

Lliw Valley in the Rain

River Torrents

Posted on 14/02/201314/02/2013 by Alastair

There was plenty of water flowing at the Lliw Reservoirs recently and during my walk in the rain I took a number of shots of the fast flowing rivers, trying out different settings and shutter speeds.

I have never been a great fan of slow shutter speeds and the “smooth water” effect it gives with flowing water. However, whilst using a fast shutter speed may show the explosive nature of fast moving water, slower shutter speeds will certainly help to represent the flow.

River Torrents

For the shot above the ISO had to be super high (6400) to allow a shutter speed of 1/1250 at f4.

River Torrents 2

Whereas with this shot the ISO was 100 and shutter speed 1/25 at f4.5.

River Churning

Again, the shot above was taken ISO 6400 with a shutter speed of 1/1250 at f9.

River Churning 2

And this one was taken at ISO 100 and a shutter speed of 1/25 at f7.1

The camera was a Canon 550D and the lens was the Canon EF70 – 300mm IS USM.

And for those who are interested, the changing sounds of the river as the flow varies alongside the footpath (4:22 mins).

Looking and Listening . . .

Posted on 13/02/201313/02/2013 by Alastair

. . . seeing and hearing, that’s what StillWalks is all about.

As I walked through the woods on Sunday on my way towards Upper Lliw Reservoir, it was quite clear that the birds were perfectly happy with the rain. Although they were hard to spot, they were very easy to hear.

Can anybody identify the birds or the fungi?

Tree Growths

Tree Growth

A Walk in the Rain

Posted on 12/02/201312/02/2013 by Alastair

We’ve had everything at Lliw Reservoir now except the sun – hopefully I will be able to get there if it ever appears again. In the meantime, following the snow and the mist, this week’s photos are from a walk up there in the rain. More pics to come through the week.

Rain on the Water

Raindrops

At least the duck seem to like it

Mossy Features

Posted on 10/02/201310/02/2013 by Alastair

The misty weather shown in yesterday’s post provided perfect conditions for some.

I originally posted these images on the Moss Appreciation Group on facebook.

Moss droplet

Moss droplets

Moss Collectors

Looking back through the mist

Posted on 09/02/201309/02/2013 by Alastair

Looking back at the recce walk we did at Lower Lliw Reservoir for the StillWalks “Sights and Sounds of the Countryside” project, when the weather made us hesitate about going ahead the next day, the theme of mixed and unpredictable conditions stayed with us for the rest of the work.

On the pre-production recce, we had thick snow . . . which was gone the next day. The following week the weather looked promising with a beautiful sunny Saturday . . . only to be followed on Sunday by what you see below. Very atmospheric but not quite in keeping with the rest of production.