Garlic, Bluebells and Summer Snowflakes were a welcome companion on my Scottish countryside walks along the coast in Galloway.
Tag Archives: nature
Beauty in Age
Maybe it’s just me but I find these dying daffodils still hold their beauty. It is just different to when they were young.
Spotted on the Fence
. . . and on the fence is where this little ladybird/ladybug had to stay. This is the final image that was filtered out of the sequence that makes up the StillWalks video “Autumn Reservoir Walk” (not online yet).
White Bluebells or Blue Bluebells
Spring is the only season left for me to produce a video from Lower Lliw Reservoir. I am hoping that now that the bluebells are coming out in our garden, there may also be some showing themselves at the reservoir.
I wonder if they will be white bluebells or blue bluebells?
Photos were taken on my iPhone 5c.
50 Years and Getting Back to Nature
The moss covered steps in the image below never really had a chance – not without the intervention of man. Nature and the tree have been taking their course for 50 years and will not let puny things like concrete get in their way.
There are many different reasons for managing woodland. Whether it be to gain resources for one use or another, or to ensure the ecology of the woodland stays mixed and allows a variety of plants and animals. Either way, we manage woodland for ourselves, not for the woodland or the wildlife.
Left to its own devices, in time a woodland may become a monoculture. Given the sort of time that nature considers a millisecond, but we think of as millennia, who knows what would happen?
If you leave it alone, nature will do just fine by itself. The fact of the matter is, of course, that we are here on the planet and we need to live side by side with the rest of the creatures and plants. For me the key to all our survival is to live side by side and not to try and take over or rule over the natural planet (or ourselves for that matter).
Dai Morris talking about a Sweet Chestnut tree, one amongst many varieties being planted and managed at Coeden Fach woodland near Swansea, South Wales.
This week’s featured StillWalks video is from the south west of Scotland. This medium resolution full length version will be here all week and will then revert to the sample.
The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Coastal Walk – Spring” which features part of the Galloway coastline in Scotland. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.
Walks, Walking and Wilderness
I am always on the lookout for new walks.
Whether it be the natural or man made environment, I try to keep my eyes and ears open for interesting things or a way to look at something that makes it interesting.
These photos are from a short exploratory walk I did recently when, driving along a small country road through what felt like a complete wilderness, I passed a “footpath” sign. These signs always make me want to stop immediately and take a closer look at the route to which they point.
On this occasion it was easy for me to stop and park the car off the road and grab my cameras. I wasn’t able to go very far on this occasion but I will certainly be exploring the area more in the future. The location was near Cwm Cerdinen, just over the mountain from where I live in South Wales.
This week’s featured StillWalks video is set a few weeks ahead of the current date in terms of the time of year but the flowers and activity of the birds celebrate the beautiful sunny weather of Spring with gusto and are a welcome change to the wild, wet and windy weather we had through Winter.
The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Garden Park Walk – Spring” which features Clyne Gardens in Swansea, South Wales. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.
What a Lot of Wattle – Fencing at Llys Nini
Wattle fences are becoming common at Llys Nini Animal Centre.
One of the many woodland jobs carried out as part of Llys Nini Animal Centre woodland management is the building of wattle fences. The woodland is managed by Phil Morgan and it is he, along with an extensive team of adult volunteers and visiting school children, who create these wonderful pieces of weaving in the natural environment.
This abandoned section of wattle fencing I came across in one of the fields next to the woods, gave me some great subject matter for my photography. I love its unwinding form and apparent keenness to get back to the earth.
Looking Ahead at Llys Nini
Last week I revisited the woodland at Llys Nini Animal Centre.
The centre is in Penllergaer, near Swansea and my first discovery of this woodland was through the StillWalks project “Sights and Sounds of the Countryside” – that was about 18 months ago.
Since then the woodland and the footpaths through it, have been developed further and there is more to see and hear there all the time. The first image below is of a team of volunteers planting hundreds of new trees – oak, ash, alder, hawthorn and many others.
The bespoke StillWalks video “Marching Feet, Crackling Leaves”, produced as part of the “Sights and Sounds of the Countryside” project, was made with StillWalks by the children of Pontlliw Primary School and features a (miraculously) dry day in Autumn.
Sounds from my walk there last week will be posted tomorrow.
