The Green Fayre at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea on 24th and 25th November is the next event for StillWalks. Last weekend’s Christmas gift fair at the Botanic Gardens went OK overall as long as I remember that it is about meeting people and getting StillWalks seen as it is about making direct sales.
Having said that, Saturday wasn’t a bad day for sales – Sunday was a better opportunity for taking some more photos of the gardens myself . . .
. . . here are a few – more are on Flickr and if anyone is interested in buying any prints, you can do so through the website by clicking on the Photobox Prints button or going direct to Photobox Gallery here.
NBGW Great Glasshouse
Inside the Great Glasshouse, NBGW
The heating grill inside the Great Glasshouse, NBGW
When I arrived at corporate entrance to the National Botanic Garden of Wales today for the Christmas Gift Fair, I was met by Paxton’s Tower looming out of the mist across the valley. I got a quick pic and went on to set up the StillWalks stall.
The day went well, i.e. it didn’t rain, and subsequently there were visitors. I not only had a lot of interest but also made reasonable sales which is great as I had no high expectations.
I’m looking forward to the 2nd day tomorrow (Sunday) – anyone coming? 😉
Here is Paxton’s Tower and a few other photos I snapped during a quiet moment or two.
Careful placing of the stalls kept most of us gratefully warm on a bright but cold day.
Don’t worry, no plot spoilers here 🙂 Just a great StillWalk at it’s full length (5:32 mins) rather than the short clips you get on the website.
Autumn Lakeside Walk is now up on Vimeo. In fact, you’ll find others there as well including those from the Josef Herman Art Foundation residency project.
OK, it’s not entirely free – i.e. it’s only in standard definition and whilst it looks great, the StillWalks videos look fantastic in Full HD. If you want an HD version you’ll have to go to the website and pay all of £2.99 to download it or any of the growing collection . . . and of course you’ll have the advantage of not having to wait for the online version to buffer. You can even transfer them to your mobile device and watch them any time you like – anytime, anywhere.
from Autumn Lakeside Walk, Gnoll Park, Neath.
Just one more thing – StillWalks will be at the National Botanic Garden of Wales Christmas Gift Fair on 10th and 11th November with DVD Collections 1 and 2 plus printed images from selected StillWalks, (framed and unframed) as well as gift vouchers and cards.
Last Friday I went down to Blackpill in Swansea Bay to meet a group of people doing Nordic Walking and try it for the first time myself. I wanted to try this for a few months but my prompt to do so was as much to do with the StillWalks project, Sights and Sounds of the Countryside as my personal interest – the project still needs further funding and if anyone is interested in helping out with this, here is the crowd fundinglink – 7 days to go to the deadline for funding.
The walkers are a group organised through Mentro Allan and I wanted to meet them in order to make first contact with carers in the area. We would like the community group on the Sights and Sounds project to be made up of carers from rural wards in Swansea.
Neptune’s Audience! Arriving early in the bay and having brought my camera, I got a few shots off before others arrived. Here is the reason for the title of this blog post 🙂 Other photos can be seen on Flickr.
StillWalks Sights and Sounds of the Countryside Project – Crowd Funding
The StillWalks Crowdfunder pitch for outstanding funding towards the Sights and Sounds of the Countryside project is now live and looking for sponsors / investors.
This is a brilliant project that I hope, in future, to replicate with many other schools and communities.
Only £10 – Invest anything from as little as £10 and get a reward for your support.
Please take a look at the Crowdfunder pitch and help me promote the project and pitch by passing on this publicity to your network of contacts and friends.
I have personally guaranteed to cover this shortfall if the funds cannot be raised as I feel the project is so important not only to the schools and groups taking part but also to StillWalks and its development to say nothing of our natural environment.
All or Nothing – All the funds required through the Crowdfunder pitch must be raised if anything at all is to go towards the shortfall in the project funding. If the target is not reached in the time allowed (30 days), then you pay nothing and my guarantee comes into play.
Last week I visited Berry Woods on the Gower. The purpose of the visit was to explore the the area to be used as the production location for Knelston Primary School and the Sights and Sounds of the Countryside project (mentioned in a previous post) which is due to start next month.
I am really looking forward to going out with the children and the other project workers, Emily Hinshelwood and Julie Brunskill, to investigate the landscape in detail.
Here are some pics from my visit to the woods.
En route to Berry Woods
Moss in Berry Woods
Berry Woods
Berry Woods
A friendly face near Berry Woods
Heading back from Berry Woods
I spotted four of these Buzzards while around Berry Woods
I had a great day in Singleton Park, Swansea this week where I and about 20 others enjoyed a day of training in the delivery of the John Muir Award (see pics below). John Muir’s environmental philosophy and the award criteria fits perfectly with the ethos of StillWalks.
Appreciation and understanding of the natural environment is at the top of the agenda with StillWalks as are other features such as stress relief, health and wellbeing – these elements are also a part of the John Muir philosophy.
Town and Country – StillWalks, however, does not exclusively feature the natural environment and wild places. Indeed, the urban environment is of as much relevance to StillWalks as the countryside – and in fact this is the case with the John Muir Award as well. The young and the old, school children, teachers, families and individuals are all encouraged to look at and listen to, explore, discover and appreciate the wild places within urban areas as much as those in our countryside.
And the news is – StillWalks is going to be carrying out a project with schools and communities over the Autumn and Spring called Sights and Sounds of the Countryside. The project will tie in closely with John Muir Award work also being delivered to schools by Tim Orrell and Swansea Nature Conservation Team (hence the training day). StillWalks has successfully applied for funding for the Sights and Sounds project from Swansea’s Countryside Connections, Sustainable Development Fund and Literature Wales to work with an artist and writers to produce a collection of videos similar to those made on the Josef Herman project.
The training day was interesting, useful and great fun. Fortunately it was good weather and we were able to get out and about in the park for some fun and games.
Last Friday night was a first for me – I found myself without a torch in our local park hunting for bats. It didn’t occur to me to take a torch but fortunately there were plenty of other people there to whom it had occurred and a great time was had by all.
Click here to listen on the blog to the sound of Common Pipistrelle bats in Coedbach Park last Friday night or here on SoundCloud.
Steve Lucas, Welsh Bat Officer with the Bat Conservation Trust gave a fascinating talk/slideshow about the various species of bats and their habitats until it got dark. Then we ventured out and were given bat detectors to use in the woods and along the hedgerows. We heard three different types of bat in Coedbach Park – Common and Soprano Pipistrelles and a Whiskered bat.
Seeing with Sound – The bat detectors respond to the very high frequencies bats use as their “sonar device” to detect and catch insects and “see” their surroundings – bats, however, are not blind. The frequency range of a Pipistrelle bat is around 45Khz (kilohertz). The range of the RODE NTG-3 shotgun mic I use for StillWalks recording (see the last blog entry) has a range that goes up to 20Khz and so has no chance of picking up the sound of bats!
The sound file above is a recording of the output of the bat detectors we were using made on my Edirol RO9 recorder – the hiss is mostly from the bat detectors but the sound patterns of the bats are quite clear. Adults and children alike were excited and fascinated to hear the bats at first hand rather than on a TV programme and I, for one, am looking forward to the next time.
