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

Down on the Marshes

Posted on 17/02/201317/02/2013 by Alastair

I managed to get a short walk out at lunchtime on Friday – down to our local marshes. I hadn’t been there for a little while and was reminded of the StillWalks I have produced such as the Old Churchyard Walk (on the Summer Walks page). Despite the sound of traffic in the background, it still one of my favourite local walks.

This week I am going to focus on some of the images from that video but start with the couple of shots I took on my iPhone yesterday.

Loughor River

marshes

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

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

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.

Mist over Lower Lliw Reservoir

Mist over the dam

On the edge

Reflecting the gloom

Drips in the Mist

Mist over Lliw Valley

Winter Lakeside Walk – see the video

Posted on 08/02/201308/02/2013 by Alastair

This is the last post featuring this StillWalk. I am not sure how WordPress delivers video posts by email and so if the link below does not show up in an email, then clicking the image will take you to the web page where you can play it.

At just 6.00 minutes long, a typical length for a StillWalks video, it won’t take too much time out of your busy lives and may be just what you need. Just remember to put other things aside (phones, etc.) and allow yourself to be absorbed by the sights and sounds of Llyn Llech Owain (pronunciation in the previous post). Maybe it will prompt you to take a local walk yourself and listen out for all that is around you. Full scale high definition versions of StillWalks can be purchased online, just contact me through the StillWalks website.

Reflections on the Walk

Posted on 07/02/201307/02/2013 by Alastair

Still reflecting on the Winter Lakeside Walk, here are two more images from Llyn Llech Owain. You can watch this StillWalk on the website.

How to pronounce Llyn Llech Owain . . . the double “Ll” at the start of Llyn and Llech is pronounced something like the Scottish “ch” in the word “loch”, but in Welsh it comes a bit more from the cheeks and with a lot more spit (saliva)! The “ch” at the end of Llech is pronounced like the Scottish “ch” in loch. In the word “Llyn”, the “yn” is pronounced “een” and in the word “Llech”, the “e” is pronounced “ay”. The name Owain is pronounced “Oh-wine” – Lleen Llaych Oh-wine.

Got all that? Have fun 🙂 If any Welsh out there feel I have got this wrong or can describe the pronunciation more clearly, I would be very happy to hear from you.

Reflections

Category Archives: Walks