Tag Archives: trees

Reflections, Angles and Timing

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The photo below does not show the “Elysi m Galley”. It shows the building which houses artists’ studios which are part of the Elysium Gallery with the gallery itself being down the street and round the corner (so to speak). If I had chosen a different angle I might have been able to capture the whole name.

I found an angle In the photo sequence below to capture a reflected conversation in the street but the timing of my walk this week proved a bit rubbish – it was rubbish collection day and inevitably the gulls had taken advantage and managed to spill some of it across the pavement.

Elysium Gallery

I like the mixture of signage and reflection on the doorway shot and although I cannot remember what the shop is open for, looking at the details I can see that they are advertising English lessons. And thinking of languages, the trees lining the street in the last image, and their bark, remind me of France and the profusion of plane trees they have lining so many of their streets.

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Reflected Conversation
Rubbish Collection Day
Opening Hours
Tree Line

Crossing to the Other Side

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Crossing to the other side of the street on my walk this week revealed more natural life than it occurred to me I might find. This is a busy city centre street (or close to it) and the predominant features tend to be of man-made materials – concrete and metal, tarmac and bricks.

As I reached the point where the street I was on changes its name, I crossed to the other side and as I waited at the pedestrian crossing I noted some of the patterns around me and also the plants and flowers lining sections of the street.  The perspective of trees lining the extension of this street is a deliberate plan, but the plants and flowers (some would say weeds) in the forecourts (if they can be called that) of the buildings on this section of the street are there because that is what nature will do if you let it.

The owners of these buildings and businesses are clearly not concerned about this aspect of their working lives and from my point of view the growth of the wild flowers and grasses are a lot more attractive than concrete, but each to their own. At least the vegetation allows some natural drainage.

Street-side plants

Street-side plants

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Street Perspective
Pedestrian Crossing 1
Pedestrian Crossing 2
Pedestrian Crossing 3
Street-side flowers
Street-side plants
Bins and wildflowers

Hidden in the Trees – Reviewing the Walk

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The endpoint of my walk this week at Penllergare Valley Woods was the cafe at the northern end of the valley. The cafe was only developed in the last few years by The Penllergare Trust who are restoring the gardens to something t like their original state in Victorian times. Much of the work is done by volunteers and if you are interested in helping or becoming a friend, visit their website for details.

Penllergare Valley Woods cafe

Below I have selected some of the photos from my posts this week which you can view in sequence while listening to the soundscape of the walk. Click the play button and then the first thumbnail image to review the walk.

Penllergare Valley Woods Soundscape

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Rock Design

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Walking along the upper footpath on the western edge of Penllergare Valley Woods, you can find (if you look) an area dramatic rock faces towering above the woodland floor. My first photo today was taken on my iPhone and reveals the structure and patterns in the rock.

The structure in the rock is obviously natural, but whether it is natural that these patterns have been revealed, I cannot say. I wonder about it because so many features of the valley were designed by John Dillwyn Llewellyn during Victorian times and it is entirely possible that the drama of the feature was intended.

Either way, nature has entirely taken over now and although there are more rock faces to be seen than I have shown here, the more the season moves on, the more the greenery tries to hide them.

rock patterns

On this upper footpath the distant sounds of Swansea and other signs of man can be heard more easily in the background than on the sound clip I posted on Monday at the start of this week’s walk. That piece of field recording was made near the valley floor which is shielded from the urban influence.

But the sounds of an urban environment can come and go according to the lie of the land in your immediate surroundings. Sometimes the background soundscape can be hidden by features like this enclave of rocks, while at other times the rocks themselves may reflect those sounds back to you. So much depends on the atmospheric circumstances prevailing at the time of listening.

Penllergare Woodland Sounds

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Eight Men and Four Women

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It was a good day for my walk this week and the local rowing club obviously though it was good for them as well. They rowing up and down the river regularly – I don’t know how high up the river they go but in the past I have seen them up near the Liberty Stadium at Morfa where I enjoyed my walk last week.

rowing team of eight

I wasn’t able to capture the sounds of the rowers as well as take these photos but one of the sounds I did record at this stage of my walk can be heard below.

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Riverside Trees and Buidlings

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Trees and buildings, urban sounds and natural sounds, those are the defining features of my walk this week. The buildings were always there but were often well hidden by the trees.

buildings and trees

The birds were always there but they too were well hidden in the trees. People and dogs were evident as well but until writing this post I had not included them in the images I selected for any of my posts this week – what does that say about me?

There were walkers (adults and children), dog walkers, joggers and cyclists using the footpath and as can be seen in the one photo I have now included with people, they are very conscientious dog owners who have all cleared up after their dogs..

Walking the Dogs

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Under the Woodland Bridge

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This was a first for me – viewing the railway into Swansea from underneath. For some reason it had not occurred to me that the Tawe riverside footpath would, at this location, inevitably pass under the railway.

There is something fascinating, even exciting, about the combination of natural and man made – wood, leaf, concrete and iron – the different (and similar) scales has as much to do with my fascination as the juxtaposed materials and textures.

Railway Bridge and trees

The reflection of the bridge in the waters of the river below provides a link between the hard functional materials of its construction and the more natural woodland lining the river.

Both the railway and the footpath were in use on this Sunday morning with plenty of walkers, joggers, children and dogs enjoying the woodland. However, I didn’t either see or hear a train during my walk.

Walking Conversations

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Downhill Through the Woods

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Returning to the car on my recce walk this week took me through a section of pinewoods and is not the planned return route for the production walk I hope to do next week. See the event on the website for details of the walk if you are going to be in the area.

Lledr Valley Forest

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