Tag Archives: wales

My Walk this Week – Early Morning Seafront

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How early is early? For my walk this week along Aberavon seafront in south Wales, it seemed more like nigh time when I started out – it was certainly dark when I left the house but it wasn’t very early, about 7.45. That is perhaps to be expected at this time of year and I guess the murky weather I met with on arrival at the seafront could also be considered normal in this part of the world.

I wasn’t the only one about though, despite the dark sea fret covering the beach.

Aberavon Beach

Seafret and Bird

seafront sculpture
seafront bird
seafront walkers
sea fret
seafront sculpture – detail

A Natural End to Summer

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My walk this week took place at the end of September which this year means it was still a Summer walk as the temperatures were so unusually high. But we are now in the full sway of Autumn and I would be unlikely to see this red admiral butterfly or any of the other natural details of this walk in quite the same way, if at all, were I to return to Port Eynon now at the end of October.

Red Admiral

Red Admiral

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Natural Congregation and Reviewing the Walk

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This arc of pigeons arranged on the railings at the end of my walk this week in Roath Park, Cardiff, give the appearance of spectators at an event – but what is the event? I am pretty sure there was nothing going on out of our view here, that it is just a natural congregation of birds probably having a bit of siesta in the early afternoon, but your guess is as good as mine. Anyone got any suggestions?

pigeons

Play the soundscape below and click the first thumbnail of selected images from this week’s posts to watch them in sequence.

Roath Park Soundscape

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Swans taking flight
Walkers, joggers and pram pushers
Sitting ducks
green lake
Feeding Frenzy
Kittywake
Mothers in the park
railings and boats
Roath’s Pride
Monument – Scott Memorial Lighthouse
taking a nap
Roath Park, Cardiff
cormorant concentrating
Spectating

My Walk this Week – Nash Point

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My walk this week is from Nash Point on the South Wales coast. It is a place that holds memories for me, not least of which is a schools / RNLI project I did with HyperAction some years ago – “Launch the Lifeboats, Stories of Wreck and Rescue in the Bristol Channel”. Other memories are of the cliff lined, wave platform shoreline between Nash Point and Monknash where I produced the StillWalks video “Breakers Walk” for CARIAD, the research unit at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

The lighthouse, its foghorn (no longer used but listen below) and the cliffs with the wave platform at their foot makes this a truly amazing place.

Nash Point Lighthouse

Nash Point Lighthouse

It was pretty windy when we were there and I did not get much done in the way of field recording. – that is not what we were there for. I didn’t even take my camera so all photography for my walk this week was done on my iPhone.

I recorded the clip below on the “Lifeboats” project and you will be able to hear the wind between the blasts of the fog horn if you are not too blown away by the horn itself!

Nash Point Fog Horn

Nash Point Fog Horn

Nash Point Fog Horn

Monkfish Cliffs

Monkfish Cliffs

 

 

Back on the Valley Floor – Reviewing the Walk

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Back on the valley floor at the mountain centre above Corris where I started of my walk this week in the mountains of Wales, I am very pleased that I carried on in spite of the mist. I am not stupid when it comes to hiking in mountains and had it not been for the fact that I had a clear track to follow, I would have been very hesitant about carrying on when it was obvious that a thick(ish) mist was descending. I got my reward at the top though when the weather cleared.

I will eventually finish the StillWalks video for this walk but in the meantime you can Play the soundscape below and have a look through selected images from my posts this week.

Ty'n y Berth Mountain Centre

Ty’n y Berth Mountain Centre

Misty Mountain Walk Soundscape

There is an interesting “tinkling” sound in this soundscape at around 3:15 – 3:30 minutes – can anybody guess what it is?

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

A style of gate
stone edge
old fence wire
Descending mist
mountain wildflowers
Mist and grass
Looking down through the mist
Clearing Cloud
Mountain track
Looking over the edge
Light and Shade
Misty Mountain Ridge
Evidence of Sheep
Sheep on mountainside
Valley floor

Evidence of Sheep

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You will find sheep on virtually any mountainside in Wales. There have been a few dotted about in the distance in my photos of my walk this week and one or two, along with their bleats, looming out of the mist. In reality there were plenty of them about and the photo below provides some evidence of this.

sheep wool on fence

Evidence of Sheep

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Evidence of Sheep
Fence posts
Sheep on mountainside
Mountain Landscape
Valley floor

Misty Mountain Ridge

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So on my walk this week the Welsh mountains were revealed to me, but not all of a sudden. It took time for the cloud to clear but gradually, bit by bit, the details of the mountains could be seen

Mountain Ridge

Misty Mountain Ridge

Mountainside Farm
Light and Shade
Mountain and Cloud
Misty Mountain Ridge