During our walk through Cwm Nash woodland, I spotted what looked like the entrance to a tunnel. It clearly wasn’t, but the growth pattern and arrangement of the trees growing at the side of the footpath appeared shortly before an actual tree tunnel that would take us out of the woods and towards the sea.
The ruined stone wall hidden in amongst the trees of Cwm Nash Woods was a surprise find – for me at least. The wall belongs to an old mill beside the Ffynnon Marl river. The StillWalks production walk I did with Dr Cathy Treadaway as part of the “Walk and Draw for Health and Wellbeing” research project, was done without a recce walk beforehand.
I had been asked to go along with a completely fresh eye (and ear). I don’t normally do this because there are distinct production advantages to checking out the lie of the land beforehand. However, whether the walk is done as a recce or as a production, new surroundings are always exciting to explore and Cwm Nash absolutely “came up to the mark” for me as a new discovery.
. . . you’ll find some strange wooden serpents slithering through the undergrowth. This Loch Ness monster like fallen branch is classic shape from the crooked oak trees of the woods in Coedbach Park.
It is not the first time I have photographed this particular piece of wood, but it is in a different position in the woods now, so it is obviously on the move!
It was the shadow of the stamens on the petals that I really like about these shots of another beautiful flower from Swansea’s roadside verges. I like the contrast in the first image and the subtlety of the same shadow in more muted sunlight in the second.
Can wild flower varieties be called wild flowers if they have been planted by man?
In the last couple of years Swansea has been allowing various roadside verges and common areas of land to grow unhindered by grass cutting and has thrown a range wild flower seeds into the mix with a view to promoting biodiversity (and perhaps saving some money at the same time).
The results have been widely popular and most people have thoroughly enjoyed seeing these jewels by the roadside. The birds and the bees like it too, I suspect!
We have had Blackbirds in our garden every year for many years now but this year there are more than ever. A family of 5 lost one of their crew to one of the local cat recently but its youngest sibling is still around and enjoying the seed we put out for it and the other birds.
You can still see the yellow border to its beak showing that perhaps calling it a teenager is going a little beyond its age.
I like nothing better than to watch and listen to them outside my studio door. Below is one of the recordings I made of Blackbirds a couple of years ago.
It may be a common wild flower, but that doesn’t make it any less pretty – another photo from the Pembrey Country park “Floral Walk” in Carmarthenshire, Wales.
