Category Archives: Field Recording

Seeing Snippets with a Photographic Blinker

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I like to think that I would spot different details or snippets of my surroundings regardless of the photographic blinker provided by a camera. But I also think that using a camera over the years has helped me to put a mental frame around aspects of my local environment that has allowed me more easily to focus on certain details.

On my walk this week along Aberavon seafront I took many photos, both detail shots and wide angle. Thinking of using them and my field recordings for a StillWalks video of this time and place, it was important for me to view the bigger picture as well as the details. The “bigger picture” shots below reveal that the sea fret that had lifted a little for a while, had descended again to mask the details in the distance.

sea wall snippet

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My Walk this Week – Early Morning Seafront

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How early is early? For my walk this week along Aberavon seafront in south Wales, it seemed more like nigh time when I started out – it was certainly dark when I left the house but it wasn’t very early, about 7.45. That is perhaps to be expected at this time of year and I guess the murky weather I met with on arrival at the seafront could also be considered normal in this part of the world.

I wasn’t the only one about though, despite the dark sea fret covering the beach.

Aberavon Beach

Seafret and Bird

seafront sculpture
seafront bird
seafront walkers
sea fret
seafront sculpture – detail

Way Barred at the Final Gate

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The title of this post is literal rather than metaphorical. The sixth and final gate on my walk was accompanied by a cattle grid and so the way, at least for animals, was indeed barred. I started the posts for my walk this week with some images of walls and so as I approach the end of the walk it seemed appropriate to include the walls I found at this last stage.

The sound of this gate is also included below.

cattle grid

Barred Way

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The Challenge of Gates

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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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Look, No Hands – Cycling in the Sunshine

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The path we followed on the Swansea Health and Wellbeing Walk is divided like many others into separate areas for walkers and cyclists. It is a very useful thing for cyclists to have bells on their bikes – most useful to the walkers. So thanks to all those many cyclists using this path during our walk for warning us that you were there as it is easy to stray from one part of the path to the other. With the noise of traffic on a busy road, the bells become essential!

cyclist

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Musket View from the Salt House

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Having returned from the Horton and Port Eynon RNLI station, we set off again in the opposite direction for this Taste of Gower walk and visited The Old Salt House which stands on the rocks at the southern end of the beach. Originally used, as the name suggests, to harvest sea salt, the building is now in ruins but has an interesting history which can be read at the link above.

salt house window

View from a musket loop in The Salt House at Port Eynon

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