bending lines

My Walk this Week 195 – Station Stroll

My walk this week is more of a stroll along my local railway station and is another short walk fitted in between other things going on in my day.

tunnel and light

Having to wait for something or other, I took a wander down there knowing that, as stations go, it is quite an attractive one. The thick carpet of moss on the unused section of the bending platform was luxurious to say the least – it felt wonderful to walk on! When I turned round to face the sunshine, I could see the light, not at the end of the tunnel but at its far side. Powerful and bright in the distance, it was a classic effect of the conditions.

One of the other noticeable things about the station was the number of bright-sounding birds – I wasn’t the only one enjoying a brief respite from the wind and rain of one storm following directly on from another. And if you listen, you will here amongst them one of our local song thrushes 🙂Continue reading

oystercatchers

My Walk this Week 183 – Revisitation

My walk this week is a revisitation to Aberavon seafront at this current time of year but from 2016 – the weather is much the same today (as I write) as it was then! But that does not make it any less interesting to me and I remember the walk well, though I admit the images and soundscape are a good memory trigger for the atmosphere.

seafront walkers

It was a dark, wet day with a heavy sea fret coming off the bay, but it wasn’t actually raining and people were walking and running as they always are on this wonderful expansive seafront.Continue reading

Sunrise

My Walk this Week 179 – Sunrise Along the Estuary

An early morning walk at sunrise isn’t so very early at this time of year and my walk this week along the Loughor Estuary ended up taking more of the day than I expected. It also fuelled my mind and the day ahead.

marsh grass at sunrise

We have had so much rain lately that a bright sunny morning was most welcome (as it is anytime in Wales). The sun rose over the fields and across the marshes as I walked towards the open estuary where I could enjoy the wide open space with the tide out and the sky reflecting on the still water left by the sea.Continue reading

Kittywake

My Walk this Week 174 – Roath Remembered

My walk this week is another recap – a September walk round Roath Park in Cardiff in 2016. It is a popular park for humans, dogs and a multitude of birds of many different varieties. Although the shot below is of ordinary pigeons (they are interesting creatures in their own right) the view of them all lined up like spectators on top of the curved fence demanded that I photograph them.

pigeons

I can’t remember why I was in Cardiff but I can clearly remember being in the park and enjoying the surrounding sights and sounds and the activities of people and birds alike.Continue reading

lake and trees

My Walk this Week 166 – Gnoll Country Park

My walk this week is through a woodland I have not walked in for a few years – Moss Wood in Gnoll Country Park. In truth I am not sure that this woodland is the one I walked in previously, as the StillWalks video I produced here was in a coniferous wood which has since been cut for lumber.

woods and field

The coniferous trees of the lumbered wood were adjacent to these deciduous trees – I think I simply walked a different route to last time. Either way the walk was beautiful and I will be doing it again without any concerns about coming across the multiple  stumps of felled trees.Continue reading

sun rays

My Walk this Week 140 – First Walk of the New Year

My walk this week is my first of 2019 and I realised, while walking, that my first walk of every year for the last 18 years or so has been this same walk. Normally it would be with my wife and we would be walking, rather than driving, because I would not have been driving on New Year’s Eve.

trees and blue sky

My wife didn’t have her walking shoes with her and although I was sorry not to walk with her at the start of the year, this did give me  a better opportunity to stop and take photographs and do a little field recording, albeit on my phone.

It was a beautiful day with a blue sky and warm sun (for the time of year) but despite this I decided that some of the images should be monochrome.Continue reading

tree reflection

My Walk this Week 139 – Christmas Day Walk

My walk this week was taken in our local park on Christmas Day when the park was almost empty of other people but lively with the sound of birds. I had the idea that the birds thought it might be Spring, perhaps influenced by the warm weather.

Trees and geese

Whatever time of year they thought it was, the geese were in flight, but I only spotted them in the photograph above after I got home again.

This was an impromptu walk and as such all the photos and sound recording I did was on my phone, and that is OK, thoughContinue reading

small herd of goats in forest

My Walk this Week 134 – Surprised By Goats

Click the play button and then the first image to listen and look through the features of my walk this week. It’s another local forest and while it may be true that all forests and woodland consist largely of trees, they are also all quite different. One thing was certainly unexpected on this walk and that was the goats! Looking at the sharpness of their horns I decided it would be best not to confront them but to negotiate a more diplomatic route through the trees.

Forest Walk Soundscape

Starting from the lower reaches of the woods on the edge of Continue reading