Still climbing on my walk this week, I reached the first gate I needed to open. Loving the sound of gates, I just had to record it and of course that popular seasonal sound of dry Autumn leaves as the crunch underfoot.
Shadow of a Gate
Goppa Gate
Tag Archives: leaves
Looking Through the Leaves
Heading back to Blackpill in Swansea Bay on my walk this week with the Swansea Health and Wellbeing Walk I looked out across the bay from time to time and enjoyed the colours in the sea and sky. The weather being good and Autumn not being too far advance at that time, there were still many green leaves on the trees and the sunlight shining through them created some beautiful overlapping patterns.
Wellbeing Weather
Swansea Bay is great in any weather but there can be no question that a dry sunshiny day is good for a sense of wellbeing. Certainly it encouraged people to come on the health and wellbeing walk along the cycle/walking path from Mumbles to Swansea.
Walking Soundscape – Reviewing the Week 45
Sometimes I listen to “Ramblings” on BBC Radio 4. Clare Balding presents the in programme which she meets and converses with various people as part of a countryside walk. She does a good job of describing the scenery they walk through and the talk is always interesting. There is just one failing for me as a radio programme – there are never enough pauses to listen to the environmental sounds of the walk. They are there in the background but constantly over-layered with talk.
I like to listen to all of the sounds I encounter on a walk or in the case of a quiet walk, I like to listen to the lack of sound, the stillness.
The series of sound clips below last about 15 minutes and follow my walk this week. Starting in a Welsh country lane with autumn leaves all around, continuing up a local hill (Cefn Drum) to the cairn at the top and then back down again to the leafy lane. It was a very still and peaceful walk but there are plenty of sounds to listen to along the way.
I like to listen to other field recordists’ soundscapes as well – one I enjoy regularly is set in Paris (Sound Landscapes) but the sounds of the city are as fascinating to me as those of a natural landscape.
Click the play button below and listen to the soundscape of my walk this week while browsing through the sequence of images. It’s not a StillWalks video but I hope you can relax and enjoy it in the same way.
Walking Through the Seasons
The fact that every year we see similar sights in Autumn (or any other season) to the ones we saw the previous year does not make them any less enjoyable. In fact we look forward to the sights that different seasons bring with them – colours, textures and patterns. The fact that we can feel continually in awe of the same things happening again and again is perhaps an essential survival mechanism.
The changes we see, feel and benefit from repeatedly as the seasons go by, are most noticeable in the natural world. This suggests how important it is to have that world an integral part of our urban landscape and planning and to have footpath access to open countryside.
Whether it be in a city park, a country lane, open hills or simply a tree lined street, walking with awareness of the natural elements of the local environment is something I could not do without.
Woodland Ways
Having crossed the local park, the salt marshes and farmland by the river Loughor, my walking route took me up the Castell Ddu road alongside a woodland stream. The woodland is private but I still got to enjoy the sights and sounds of the stream and the birds as I followed the stream back up to the main road. You can listen to these below (along with the distant aircraft and motorway!).
Castell Ddu stream and woodland
Autumn Leaf and Reviewing the Week 41
It seems the sweet chestnut is one of the trees that sheds its leaves earliest in Autumn. This one is on its way but the stage I like these leaves best, after they have fallen, is probably into the Spring when they have been lying on the ground for months and have gone thin and papery. Their structure breaks down and their colour becomes pale, almost bleached. I have photographed them like this in the past and you can see the results in one of my previous posts here.
