botanical colours galore

My Walk this Week 159 – Botanical Beauty

My walk this week looks and listens to some botanical beauty in Swansea’s Singleton Park. It is late Spring and new arrangements have been made in the formal garden and the colours abound in the less formal areas.

Swansea Botanic Gardens

Swansea Botanic Gardens

The hot-house is exotic with the blooming of enormous bright flowers and the sound of running water accompanies the humidity in one section while fading away in the cactus house. The twisting paths both inside and out give a sense of exploration and discovery as you round a corner or enter a “tunnel” and find another colourful viewpoint or vista.

Swansea Botanic Soundscape

Sitting in the peacefulness of the arranged beds, listening to the birds and the gentle hoeing of the gardeners, Continue reading

ducks enjoying the rain

And The Rain Began to Fall

Near the end of my walk this week we approached the double walled kitchen garden of the National Botanic Garden of Wales and as we walked through it towards the hothouse and the butterflies, the rain began to fall. Not too heavy at first so I was able to get a couple more photos before going inside, but while we enjoyed looking at the few large butterflies fluttering around at this time of year, the rain really started coming down and the noise of stair rods hitting the glass roof was noticeable to say the least.

the rain came down

So we took more time in the hothouse than perhaps we might have done but our wait for the rain to subside was futile and we eventually put up our hoods and ventured out towards the entrance and car park. The ducks seemed happy enough!

The sound clip below does not relate to this and I realise in writing this that my habit of posting a soundscape at the end of the week has a flaw. If I only have a sound clip rather than an edited soundscape, then the sound will only be from one particular part of my walk and give no sense of progression or change of environment or conditions. So the clip below should have been posted at the beginning of the week when we were inside the Great Glass House (so I have posted it there now as well as below). It was busy with people and birds all enjoying Mothers Day – mothers perhaps because it was Mothers day and a visit to the NBGW on what was a nice day at the time included a craft fair and the birds because their were plenty of crumbs to be had around the cafe area.

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