Tag Archives: seeds

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

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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

A Countryside Connections Walk

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Swansea Countryside Connections Team, through which StillWalks ran the Sights and Sounds of the Countryside project, put on a number of events throughout the year for those living in eligible rural wards in Swansea. It was one of their dawn chorus walks where I first met Helen Grey and it was she, along with Tim Orrell, who was leading the Nature Detective Walk along the Gower Way from Felindre to Lower Lliw Reservoir last Wednesday evening. See the photos below.

As this was the route taken by the Sights and Sounds project on the production day for the Felindre Families group, I thought it would be good to go along – and indeed it was! I discovered what the funny lumps and bumps are in the first field we crossed. We found a very old ash tree with branches twisting and twining round each other, reflecting its age. We saw Deadly Nightshade amongst other plants and flowers, a badger set, mole holes, young Hazelnuts, whin, thistles, ducks, etc., etc.

“Helen, you will have to remind me of that last little yellow flower I asked you about. I cannot remember it it now!”

Click here (Countryside Connections Events) to see what other Countryside Connections events are coming up.

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