My walk this week ends with another cloudy sunset. We were mostly lucky with the weather on our Autumn holiday in Scotland. Of course I took many more pictures than I have shown here this week but these are a selection of the most enjoyable ones for our surroundings during that time.
This arc of pigeons arranged on the railings at the end of my walk this week in Roath Park, Cardiff, give the appearance of spectators at an event – but what is the event? I am pretty sure there was nothing going on out of our view here, that it is just a natural congregation of birds probably having a bit of siesta in the early afternoon, but your guess is as good as mine. Anyone got any suggestions?
Play the soundscape below and click the first thumbnail of selected images from this week’s posts to watch them in sequence.
Roath Park Soundscape
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Nearing the end of my walk this week and one of the eastern exits to Roath Park in Cardiff, I am struck by the classic pose set by this cormorant. There are many, many birds of many different species in Roath Park but determining the variety of any specific bird is somewhat of a challenge to me. So I think this is a cormorant and the other avian profile in the images below I think is a Yellow Legged Gull in its first year . . . but don’t quote me on it. The swans I know are swans but what variety of swan I could not say.
Not being able to identify many of the creatures, avian or otherwise, or much of the plant life I see around me in any given environment, does not reduce or hamper my enjoyment and appreciation of that environment, either natural or urban. The naming and labelling of things has its advantages when it comes to communication and understanding but for the purposes of StillWalks and my own personal enjoyment of my surroundings and the benefits I get from it, it is not necessary to name everything. Indeed, considering that StillWalks videos have no voiceovers (or music), it is not necessary to name anything! It is only in my blog posts that you will “hear my voice” so to speak.
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Walking round Roath Park lake in Cardiff there were many opportunities to photograph the birds – trouble is they will insist on moving! Fast shutter speeds and quick reflexes will suffice but you still have to take a load of pulse shots to have any hope of freezing there sometimes frenzied motion – particularly when they are fighting over food.
More relaxed are the mothers and their their babies enjoying the natural environment in the centre of a busy city.
I think this is a Kittywake
Feeding Frenzy
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My walk this week is from September last year. I had given my daughter a lift to Cardiff and while she did her thing I did mine, namely a walk round the lake in Roath Park.
It is a beautiful and popular park with many different birds, people and dogs all enjoying an opportunity to walk, jog, run, play, cycle, fly, feed, look, listen or just sit and take it all in.
Ducks and Dogs in Roath Park
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With the weather still fine towards the end of my walk this week with the Taste of Gower walkers at Penclawdd, the blue paint of this local boat almost perfectly matched the sky.
On the Taste of Gower walks people don’t usually stop to look and listen to their surroundings. However, once we got up on top of the hill above Penclawdd, the views are in almost all directions are wonderful and the group could help but stop and gather to take it all in.
On a clear day like this, looking south and south west you can see the rest of the Gower Peninsula and across the Burry Inlet to Pembrokeshire in the distance. Looking west you see Llanelli, Burry Port and Carmarthenshire and looking north and north west you see as far as The Black Mountain.
Taste of Gower walkers
Closer to hand were other sights such as a circling buzzard and evidence that the tide was coming in rather than ebbing – the birds on the sand bank in the middle of the estuary were getting more and more crowded as we continued on our walk.
Overlooking Penclawdd
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Exiting Brynmill Park in Swansea the same way I came in on my walk this week, there seemed more people around than ever. There may be some evidence of this lacking in some of the photos I took but the soundscape tells another story. It is a small but beautiful city park which is clearly very popular not only for the people living next door to it but for others as well.
Brynmill Park Walk Soundscape
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