My walk this week started with a couple of surprises! There was more than tadpoles to see and on my arrival at The Waterside Firstly I was unexpectedly met by a couple of horses, but more of them later in the week.
The real excitement came when just before setting out on a walk round the lake with my camera and sound kit, Steve ran over to tell everyone that a new arrival in the form of an alpaca was on its way.
Tadpoles
It was difficult to know how long the delivery was going to take but it wasn’t going to be immediate so rather than hang around in a small crowd of spectators, I set off round the lake. I was back in time to see the new alpaca just after its birth. You can see it staggering around its mother in the video clip and photos below. Introducing newborn Caleb!
The endpoint of my walk this week at Penllergare Valley Woods was the cafe at the northern end of the valley. The cafe was only developed in the last few years by The Penllergare Trust who are restoring the gardens to something t like their original state in Victorian times. Much of the work is done by volunteers and if you are interested in helping or becoming a friend, visit their website for details.
Below I have selected some of the photos from my posts this week which you can view in sequence while listening to the soundscape of the walk. Click the play button and then the first thumbnail image to review the walk.
Penllergare Valley Woods Soundscape
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There are a number of “viewpoints” along the various upper footpath routes at Penllergare Valley Woods. Some reveal the amazing range of greens to be seen in so many trees. Others allow you to look down on lower path networks or reveal the contrast between trees and water.
As I near the end of my walk this week, there are cultivated details to be seen as well. The yellow welsh poppy may grow naturally all over the place, but the old tree stump these wildflowers are springing from may have had a helping hand in the positioning of plants. If so, then it was very well done!
Walking along the upper footpath on the western edge of Penllergare Valley Woods, you can find (if you look) an area dramatic rock faces towering above the woodland floor. My first photo today was taken on my iPhone and reveals the structure and patterns in the rock.
The structure in the rock is obviously natural, but whether it is natural that these patterns have been revealed, I cannot say. I wonder about it because so many features of the valley were designed by John Dillwyn Llewellyn during Victorian times and it is entirely possible that the drama of the feature was intended.
Either way, nature has entirely taken over now and although there are more rock faces to be seen than I have shown here, the more the season moves on, the more the greenery tries to hide them.
On this upper footpath the distant sounds of Swansea and other signs of man can be heard more easily in the background than on the sound clip I posted on Monday at the start of this week’s walk. That piece of field recording was made near the valley floor which is shielded from the urban influence.
But the sounds of an urban environment can come and go according to the lie of the land in your immediate surroundings. Sometimes the background soundscape can be hidden by features like this enclave of rocks, while at other times the rocks themselves may reflect those sounds back to you. So much depends on the atmospheric circumstances prevailing at the time of listening.
Penllergare Woodland Sounds
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There are people hidden in this first photo today from my walk this week at Penllergare Valley Woods – you can just see them near the centre of the image. They are enjoying the area on the river where the waterfall from the lake flows over the rock arrangement constructed by John Dillwyn Llewellyn back in the 19th century when he was developing the original valley gardens.
The colour of the rhododendrons in this image is accompanied by foxgloves below, and then there is the beautiful yellow of buttercups in a marshy looking meadow displaying the lushness of the environment at this time of year.
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My walk this week takes me back to Penllergare Valley Woods. I have produced StillWalks videos of all four seasons here but that is no reason not to take another look. In this walk the conditions are inevitably different and as well as that, further work has been done in the park by The Penllergare Trust volunteers.
I don’t remember this arbour and arch being here perviously and of course, the next time I visit, it will have grown more and changed again.
I wil be posting just one or two sound clips from the woods through this week, but I have a soundscape for the walk to post on Sunday with the walk review.
Penllergare Woodland Sounds
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Nearing the end or turning point of my walk this week, I emerged from the riverside woodland footpath at the Enterprise Park near Llansamlet in Swansea. This zone has grown over the years and one of its main characteristics is that you are almost forced to take the car from place within the zone.
However, despite the sound of passing traffic (below), once I had crossed the road I was able to enjoy the lake that forms a central feature in the area. As in any urban area, there is always the background sound of city activity and traffic, but the lake here forms an essential and effective oasis from all that.
We need these oases in modern urban living, but it is not just a matter of them existing. We need to make sure we use them as they were intended and enjoy the natural benefits they can bring on a regular basis.
Walking around a lake or park, down a tree-lined street, along a river, we are offered the opportunity to not just exercise of our limbs, but also to exercise our sensory perception. Looking and/or listening is possible for almost everyone and in my experience is well worth it.
Passing Traffic
Lakeside Ambience
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