Having covered the first half of the year of my walks in a local forest month by month and keeping to the format of posts I have been using for a year now (I think that will change next year), today I am looking back over the past week’s posts and selecting two images from each month/post. To head them up I have chosen one from April with the sun peeking through the trees.
This flower-to-be is a classic of the forest in June and if you don’t immediately recognise it without its colour, check out the patch of colour in the background as a hint or the other photos below. The sun and the colours are bright in June and with the forest in full bloom the light and shade is dappled.
My forest walks in May were typical for this time of year in Wales – everything was very green – except for the yellow buttercups or dandelions!
To judge by my photos from my forest walks in April, the weather was good that month – at least some of the time. However, evidence both in the puddle below in which the trees are reflected, and the pattern of pine needles on the footpath in shot 3, would suggest that we had plenty of rain in April as well. The sunlight that is prompting the young fern to unfurl in shot 5 proves the advantage of having both light and water.
Back in March I was enjoying one of my many walks up through the forest and enjoying the sunny views up the valley at the foot of the forest and then again across the Welsh landscape to the Gower Peninsula from the hill at the top of the forest. No camera or sound kit with me, these shots were taken on my iPhone and it seems I did no sound recording there during that month, so no sound clip today.
Edge of the forest in March
View across fields to the Gower from the forest
View up the valley from the foot of the forest
Looking back at a year of walks through my local forest, today takes me to February when there was fog and frost and fungi to be seen on my early morning walks.
Towards ending the year I am taking a walk through my records of approximately 150 walks through a local forest in the previous year (2015). Each day over the last two weeks of this year will represent the sights and sounds of one month during that time – on the two Sundays I will review the previous six months.
Today I am presenting a selection of images and a couple of sound clips from the forest in January 2015.
Returning to the carpark at the end of my walk this week around the urban lake in the enterprise zone at Llansamlet in Swansea, I was met by one of the lake’s inhabitants! Knowing the reputation for swans being not entirely friendly towards humans, I was slightly cautious when approaching him – but he wasn’t the least bit concerned about me or anyone else!
