morning mist and sun

My Walk this Week 247 – Misty Marshes

My walk this week is really my walk last week when I ventured down to the misty marshes early one morning before the day warmed up and enjoyed capturing this beautiful place with stills, video and audio.

Any environment differs according to the weather conditions, but this can be perceived in different ways. Visually (and in a tactile way) the misty marshes are exciting to me. Even though the river is moving ever so slowly, the fog in the air is mysterious and the atmosphere is dank or clammy to the touch.

An excess of moisture is literally hanging in the air and this changes our experience of sound as well as vision. The short video clip above shows the this moisture and also transports the sound of traffic on the motorway very efficiently. The result of course is that on this day, at that time, the marshes were noisier than usual – not only with the busy road but also with the birds shouting over it.

In the soundscape below I have been able to focus more on the birds than on the background traffic and we do this with our ears (or rather our brains) as well – filter out or dim down the sounds we do not want to listen to and focus on the those we enjoy most. That, for me, is not only the birds and in this instance includes those wonderful gates as well.

And then there are the stills, an opportunity to capture a moment in time, a snippet of what is seen and felt, both of the broader landscape and also some of its details, textures, patters, nuances.

I hope you can enjoy the different aspects of this little corner of Wales as much as I did on my walk. Click on the first image and look through the carousel on a larger scale while listening to the soundscape.

Loughor Estuary

My Walk this Week 193 – Estuary Atmosphere

My walk this week took me down to the Loughor Estuary which has its own unique atmosphere whatever the weather conditions.

Loughor Estuary

On this occasion it was dull and windy but no less enjoyable for that. If you like the wind, as I do, then this open, expansive land and waterscape is a good place to find it at a low elevation. The place can be spectacularly still and beautiful during a quiet sunset but I enjoy almost as much the cloud cover and wind here – a place that feels somewhat mystical in all conditions.

Lonely, harsh, wild, still, contemplative – all of these adjectives and more suit the place at different times.

Estuary Soundscape

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The soundscape follows me down a farm track, past early signs of Spring and a rushing stream to the open, wind blown estuary and salt marshes, under the railway bridge and out through the tall marsh grass by the river where I disturbed a pair of ducks but caught them fleeing on camera.

So click the play button to listen while viewing the images below – click the first one and then again to move forward through the carousel.

overhanging

Tree Ghoul in the Gloom

The darkness of my walk this week in the rain provided me with a creepy atmosphere from time to time. This tree was one of those  presenting itself as a ghoul in the gloom of the woodland as I climbed the footpath to Swiss Valley Reservoir.

Tree Ghoul in the Gloom

Even the more open areas of the valley floor were gloomy and what light there was created and aged effect on the subtly coloured branches of an orchard.Continue reading

Across the marshes

Project Walk 1 – Returning to Weobley Castle

After exploring and recording their reaction to the salt marshes on this project walk, we all returned to Weobley Castle to eat our sandwiches in the dry before setting off for another Gower environment.

Weobley Castle

The views from the castle across the marshes are excellent and if the mist and rain were wet, they also added a timeless atmosphere to the place. Though some were more wet than others, everyone was happy to carry on.

Project Marsh Walk Soundscape

Forest Formation

Forest formation

My walk this week is from 2010 but the post title “Forest Formation” does not refer to the past of the trees so much as the rocky ridge feature near the footpath that I often like to sit on and soak up the atmosphere of the place. Continue reading

Cairnholy Landscape

Having said that the weather could have been better on my walk this week, today I am posting the proof. The view from Cairnholy chambered tomb on the Galloway coast in Scotland would be pretty good if it weren’t for the clouds and rain – but there you go, that’s Scotland (or perhaps I should say the UK) in these days of unpredictable seasons.

On a more positive note, the landscape did not loose any of its atmosphere or colour as a result of the weather and it seemed to make it easier (though I don’t know why it should) to imagine people there in neolithic times.

Scottish landscape

Seaview

Scottish landscape

Scottish landscape

Clearing Cloud – Revealing the Landscape

Clearing cloud – yes! Just as I started to head back down the mountain, having decided that the mist was not going to lift and my walk this week would not have the potential views of Wales’ mountains and valleys that I had hoped for, the sun broke through and the scene below me was revealed. I was so pleased 🙂 and in awe at the views.

The walk / climb to this point had been . . . mmm . . . atmospheric. However, despite the mist it had still been very enjoyable. But to be able to look at the other mountains around me and the valleys below is always a wonder that cannot be experienced on a screen. Having said that I will of course endeavour to produce a StillWalks video from this walk that goes some way to presenting the experience and hopefully draws people in to join me in my memories of it.

Clearing Cloud

Clearing Cloud

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Lonely Atmosphere

The sun was trying hard on my walk this week, to lift, or at least thin the thick mist that surrounded me and obscured so many details of the landscape. The foreboding atmosphere of the holloway footpath in yesterday’s post is repeated here with this naked tree at the edge of a field.

tree and fog

But as becomes apparent in the photos below, the mist is also influenced by a breeze and is therefore constantly moving. Continue reading