Tag Archives: seed heads

The Grain of Woodland Details

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Starting with a close up, this first photograph is a very close crop of the second shot. I particularly liked the grain effect of the exposure with a very high ISO. It seemed to suit the atmosphere of the dark place in those ancient woods by Cwm Green on the Gower Peninsula.

Most of my photography in these woods needed a high ISO as much of this environment was quite dark. Whilst I have both a monopod and a tripod, when carrying the field recorder and mic as well as kit bag and two cameras, it is just not practical to take a tripod as well and on this occasion I had not included the monopod.

However, as I say above, I think the graininess of some of the shots I took are very appropriate for the subject matter and I would be happy, as with this first shot, to emphasise it.

Cwm Green Seed Heads

Cwm Green Seed Heads

Cwm Green Seed Heads

Cwm Green Moss

Cwm Green Moss and Ferns

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Seed Collecting in Bishops Wood

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Following my photo session and field recording (see yesterday’s post) at Cwm Green on the Gower where I heard so many small and large aircraft enjoying a sunny Saturday morning, I went along to Bishops Wood to pay a visit to the seed collecting group which had been organised by Swansea’s Countryside Connections team.

Bishops Wood is just above Caswell Bay on the South Gower coast. I used to walk there regularly but had not been for some time. Both the woods and the bay are beautiful and popular spots on the Gower and as I was in the area, it was no hardship to call by.

On Sunday morning I went on the mushroom and toadstool hunt arranged by the Friends of Coedbach Park in Pontarddulais and in the afternoon we went for a walk along the Millennium Coastal park footpath at Llanelli in Carmarthenshire.

An active weekend all in all and one that has provided me with plenty of material for both blog and StillWalks production!

Bishops Wood Seed Head

Bishops Wood Seed Head

Caswell Bay, Gower

You can use the new Donate button below to help StillWalks, pay what you want and receive a download of this week’s featured StillWalks video. Sticking with the Gower, this weeks featured video is from Rhosilli by the Worm’s Head right at the end of the Gower Peninsula. Click the image below to watch the sample.

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Soggy Seeds

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The woodland at Ynystawe through which I was walking last weekend really was wet! The day was nice but the rain from previous days had had its effect on the plants at the end of Summer.

The colours of flowers are on their way out and we have not yet reached that stage of Autumn that brings so much colour again in the leaves. But there is still pattern and texture and light (perhaps less of the light) – you just have to look around you 🙂

Ynystawe-9 Ynystawe-10 Ynystawe-12 Ynystawe-14

Ynystawe-15 Ynystawe-17

Honesty – Seed of Memory

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I tried taking photos of our Honesty plants some weeks ago but was not happy with the results – the evening light gave a colour cast that, when seen in the images, did not look natural. Now the plants have been moved to a more suitable spot in the garden and the dry seed heads were laid out on a table.

Why Seed of Memory? Because Honesty is a plant that always brings back memories for me of our garden in Northern Ireland when I was young. My mother must have talked about it and the name, being an easy one to remember, has stuck in my mind and is now associated with a time in my life when it was not only in the garden, but also in the house as decorative dry seed heads.

Thinking of this association with memory, I immediately think of one of my all time favourite albums – Seed of Memory by Terry Reid. This too, brings back some strong memories of people and places for me. I’m not sure what the copyright restrictions are for the file below but it is on YouTube and available to buy on that web page.

Seed of Memory by Terry Reid

Honesty seeds 1

Honesty seeds 2