A Countryside Connections Walk

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Swansea Countryside Connections Team, through which StillWalks ran the Sights and Sounds of the Countryside project, put on a number of events throughout the year for those living in eligible rural wards in Swansea. It was one of their dawn chorus walks where I first met Helen Grey and it was she, along with Tim Orrell, who was leading the Nature Detective Walk along the Gower Way from Felindre to Lower Lliw Reservoir last Wednesday evening. See the photos below.

As this was the route taken by the Sights and Sounds project on the production day for the Felindre Families group, I thought it would be good to go along – and indeed it was! I discovered what the funny lumps and bumps are in the first field we crossed. We found a very old ash tree with branches twisting and twining round each other, reflecting its age. We saw Deadly Nightshade amongst other plants and flowers, a badger set, mole holes, young Hazelnuts, whin, thistles, ducks, etc., etc.

“Helen, you will have to remind me of that last little yellow flower I asked you about. I cannot remember it it now!”

Click here (Countryside Connections Events) to see what other Countryside Connections events are coming up.

The Flags Are Out

A late evening walk down on the marshes (last weekend before the rain returned) revealed some colour through the dim light after sunset in the form of an Iris or Flag, whichever you like to call them.

The light really was fading a lot by the time I took these photos which required full manual mode on the camera as any automation tried to over-compensate for the lack of light.

A high ISO of 3200 was needed, f11 at 1/60 for the first shot and ISO3200, f7.1, 1/25 for the second. A good job my Canon EF70-300 lens has image stabilisation.

Flag

IMG_4630

A Flower from the Garden – Welsh Poppy

Neither the sun nor the flowers were in the right position for the angles I wanted in the photographs I took of these Welsh Poppies in my garden yesterday, but it was good practice for another time.

Click the images to enlarge.

Welsh Poppies

Welsh Poppies

About to bloom

Autumn at the Gardens

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

NBGW Great Glasshouse

Inside the Great Glasshouse, NBGW

Inside the Great Glasshouse, NBGW

NBGW

The heating grill inside the Great Glasshouse, NBGW