Roadside Wildflower Biodiversity

Can wild flower varieties be called wild flowers if they have been planted by man?

In the last couple of years Swansea has been allowing various roadside verges and common areas of land to grow unhindered by grass cutting and has thrown a range wild flower seeds into the mix with a view to promoting biodiversity (and perhaps saving some money at the same time).

The results have been widely popular and most people have thoroughly enjoyed seeing these jewels by the roadside. The birds and the bees like it too, I suspect!

Roadside wildflowers

 

Roadside wildflowers

Roadside wildflowers

Overside and Underside

The architecture of the main entertainment block in Park Tawe, Swansea, could not be said to be very inspiring. There is a covered walkway over to the centre of town which is purely functional in its design.

However, viewed from the right angles and in the right conditions, some great patterns can be seen. Even the peeling paint on the underside creates a kind of two tone map of some imaginary archipelago.

covered walkway

shadow pattern

walkway underside

Fractured Glass – Stars and Stripes

I guess, on this day you could call these photos stars and stripes (no offence intended) 😉

My recent walk around part of Swansea to look at some of the architecture and cranes revealed more patterns than those created by construction.

The details of this fractured glass, when seen close up, are fascinating. I was frustrated not to have taken a much closer macro shot when I looked at the images on my computer. The second image is a screen shot of the first image zoomed in to full size but is not one that would print well due to it being at screen resolution – click on that image to see it larger.

broken glass

broken glass detail

broken glass

Constructing and Constructed Architecture

I love the complex patterns created by the scaffolding on this construction site in Swansea. I have no idea what the new building will look like but it will be sitting beside the interesting patterns to be seen in the design of the BT tower across the road.

The BT tower is not a particularly attractive building – it looks a bit like something you would need to plug in for your phone. There are, however, many fascinating shapes, patterns, reflections to be seen in its surfaces and structure.

scaffolding patterns

scaffolding patterns

BT tower Swansea

BT tower Swansea