My walk this week is around an urban lake that I have visited before but not at this time of year. It had been my intention to take my camera and sound kit with me but as I was focusing on the meeting I had before this walk, I completely forgot the kit and had to use my iPhone for both photography and sound recording.
Finally on my walk this week I rounded the corner of the edge lands to the salt marsh and was able to appreciate the vast cloudless afternoon sky. The only blemish(?) on the pale blue>green>yellow>orange canvas was a distant airplane. The other mark on that sheet of colour apart from the land itself is a tiny object on the horizon line – that is Whitford lighthouse. This a Victorian cast iron built feature of the Burry Inlet that I have been to within one or two hundred yards but have yet to find the time to time it right and get right out to it when the tide is low enough . . . someday I will.
Heading further along I met up with the river which at low tide features some very glorious mud – “mud, mud, glorious mud. nothing quite like it but . . .” something the birds in the area thoroughly enjoy or at least feed in. Enjoy the sound below.
The route of my walk this week took me around the back of working buildings in Penclawdd on the North Gower coast. Although it was bitterly cold in this area shaded from the sun and the beautiful views across the salt marsh were obscured, there were still fascinating finds to be made. I guess they are everyday things at this time of year – frosty grass, icy pools and so on – but looking at the patterns the cold weather creates and the colours affected by the light on this day, I found there were any number of things to record, both sights and sounds.
Penclawdd at Work
My walk this week is in a place I have walked and worked in on a number of occasions. As it was a clear day and I was there anyway, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a short walk along the edge of the salt marshes in front of Penclawdd on the North Gower coastline.
With the marshes stretching out across the Burry Inlet and Loughor Estuary, the sky becomes massive. While you could often expect to see a scene of turbulent clouds, on this day there was not a cloud in sight. The subtle colours blended smoothly from blues and greens to mustard and yellow, all gradually changing to include deep reds later in the walk.
Penclawdd Traffic, Frost and Leaves
The old iron railing on the footbridge which I crossed on my walk this week will be familiar to those who saw my posts a couple of weeks ago about my previous walk on this route. I wasn’t originally going to include the sound clip below because it’s just water flowing under the bridge – but then on listening to it again, I changed my mind!
The sounds of that flow have three distinct stages: the first part has a lot of bubbly texture to it, including trickles and tickles, gloops and bloops, splashes and plashes (in preference to more technical language), the second is more even with those highlights less noticeable, and the ambience of the third stage has greater weight on the right hand speaker but with a gloopy base returning in the background – and then the sound fades to my footsteps climbing a dry leafy slope.
Water Under the Bridge
My walk this week is the same but different to one I posted about just a couple of weeks ago – I walked the same route but in reverse, starting where I finished previously. This is a simple technique commonly used to provide a different perspective on familiar things, but I am sure you will recognise some of the features.
There were other differences of course – this version of the walk took place on a bright frosty morning whereas previously the light had been more muted. Unfortunately I forgot the windshield for my Edirol sound recorder, so there will be less to a soundscape this time round. However, starting in the valley as I did, there was very little wind anyway.
Starting the Walk – Water and Gate
The sound clip I have included with the images below may be said to sound like wind in trees, but apart from the fact that it is not and the images would also suggest otherwise, I think there is a difference. I don’t deny that the sounds can be very similar but I like at least to imagine that there are subtle elements of each that would allow me to differentiate between the two. However, I’m not sure I would bet on it – every sound in any environment will always be different according to the circumstances at the time of listening or recording but attuning your ear to those individual elements can be a challenge.
Whatever, I love the sound of the sea, the sea in the clip below and feel confident that the waves breaking amidst the general water and wind ambience can be distinguished as such. See what you think!
Clearly a Sea Fret
I like to think that I would spot different details or snippets of my surroundings regardless of the photographic blinker provided by a camera. But I also think that using a camera over the years has helped me to put a mental frame around aspects of my local environment that has allowed me more easily to focus on certain details.
On my walk this week along Aberavon seafront I took many photos, both detail shots and wide angle. Thinking of using them and my field recordings for a StillWalks video of this time and place, it was important for me to view the bigger picture as well as the details. The “bigger picture” shots below reveal that the sea fret that had lifted a little for a while, had descended again to mask the details in the distance.
