Tag Archives: walks

Bright Yellow Buttercups – Reviewing the Walk

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My walk this week started with the birth of an alpaca – a Spring / early Summertime event that was reflected in all that surrounded me on this walk, including these bright yellow buttercups on the banks of the lake at The Waterside. A place I will be visiting again next week so I guess I will get to see how the little ‘un is getting on and may even meet another newborn from what I have heard.

buttercups in the valley

buttercups in the valley

Listen to the soundscape and take a loo at the image sequence at the same time

The Waterside Walk Soundscape

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new born alpaca
new born alpaca
Tadpoles
Foxgloves
Thistle
Bullrushes by the lake
Stepping Up
Mother and Child
A Sparkle of Sunlight
Riverlight 1
Focusing minds, making connections
Lakeside reeds
stallion and mare
waterflow
buttercups in the valley

Two of a Trio – Unexpected Horses

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Almost full circle on my walk this week and I get to meet two of the trio of horses mentioned at the start of this week. There is no equine element to The Waterside so I was surprised to be met by this pair.

It turned out that they had wandered here from several miles away and had to be rounded up at the crack of dawn. The owners were eventually rounded up as well but although they arrived in time to witness the birth of the new alpaca (see Monday’s post), they were not able to arrange for the horses to be collected until the end of the day. This was perhaps most significant for the mare (on the left) as the stallion . . . well, I will leave that to your imagination!

horses grazing

horses grazing

stallion and mare

stallion and mare

The horses were in the field next to the outflow stream from the lake. I stopped to record a short sound clip to use in the soundscape for my walk this week which will be posted tomorrow as usual. The last time I recorded this water flow it was more of a torrent.

waterflow

waterflow

Focusing minds, making connections

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My walk this week is follows the lakeside at The Waterside, a place ideal for focusing your mind, making connections and reflecting on the discoveries that can be made there. Discoveries may be as straightforward as observations of the nature in this hidden Welsh valley – more likely they will be deeper still than that.

Whether I am simply amused by the alpacas or excited by the play of light on water in either rain or shine, the conversations I have here are always valuable. Being away from the normal working environment (however much I like my studio) and coming to a place where new and different connections can be seen and made all around me, helps to bring clarity to my mind. I look forward to my next visit on 1st July, another First Friday event.

Focusing minds, making connections

Focusing minds, making connections

I produced the first 4k version of a StillWalks video and I can’t wait to see it on The Waterside’s 55″ UHD screen!

Distant Voices Across the Water

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Focusing minds, making connections
Lakeside reeds
mid lake reeds
Lakeside Reflections

What’s going on here then? Who are you?

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Surprised alpacas! They weren’t expecting me and I didn’t have a familiar face so I guess surprise should be expected. Or maybe I was wearing my hat – I’m told they don’t like hats.

Having crossed the footbridge to the western side of the lake at The Waterside I was entertained by some of the alpacas that are kept here (Welsh Valley Alpacas) and reminded of their fluffy faces by the bullrushes revealing their fluffy seeds on the lakeside.

Alpaca - mid chew!

Alpaca – mid chew!

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Alpaca – mid chew!
What’s going on here then? Who are you?
Bullrush
Lakeside bullrushes

A Sparkle of Sunlight

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My walk this week around the lake at The Waterside revealed some truly beautiful patterns of sunlight. That’s not to say these effects of light have not been seen before, I’m sure they have – however, that does not make them any less remarkable. I don’t think I could ever get tired of the wonders of nature, however small or common they may be, they still connect with my brain and spark my synapses to produce a sense of wonder.

 

The Waterside Walk-16

A Sparkle of Sunlight

After climbing the lakeside steps and shooting a mother duck and her single duckling (photographically speaking of course), I came upon the footbridge seen the background of one of yesterday’s images.

Crossing the Footbridge

Looking closely at the water flowing into the lake the sun glinting off the ripples made me pause and shoot again. My first shot was underexposed but just like the overexposed photo I posted during my walk last week, the effect was quite powerful.

The correctly exposed image is the first of the flowing water shots in the gallery below and this presented an interesting phenomenon – a bubble on the surface of the water appears not to be affected by the fast flow. I guess it was only there for the split second I took the shot. The underexposed image is the last in this sequence and I further enhanced the effect of light and dark, but only a little.

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Stepping Up
Mother and Child
Flowing Water Patterns
A Sparkle of Sunlight
Riverlight 1
Riverlight 2
Light and Dark

Wildflowers Down by The Waterside

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While the drama of a new alpaca being born was going on “back at the ranch” (see yesterday’s post), I was enjoying a very peaceful stroll around the lake at The Waterside. While there is so much growth during this time of year, the specific time cycle of development is slightly different for each plant and many wildflowers and this will vary further according to the conditions from year to year and location to location.

So we see here in this hidden South Wales valley the foxgloves in full bloom but the thistle flowers just coming through, the dandelions seeding and the bullrushes getting ready to disperse their seed. There seems to be so much going on – as I have said in previous posts, nature has pounced!

Bullrushes by the lake

Bullrushes by the lake

Lakeside Birds

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Foxgloves
Thistle
wildflowers
Dandelion clocks
waterside grasses
Bullrushes by the lake

Return Route – Reviewing the Walk

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Looking back on my walk this week with the Taste of Gower group at Llanmadoc, we were very lucky with the weather. We saw both sunshine and clouds over the beautiful open space of the beach at Whitford Point with the old Victorian lighthouse not quite clear of the tide. Having said that, one of the main reasons we have such a green and luscious land in Wales is the amount of rainfall we get. It is less predictable where it is going to fall these days and looking again at the dark clouds and sun bleached beach, that is why I say we were so lucky not to be rained on until the end of the walk.

Country lane

return route

My soundscape for this walk is about the same length as usual (around 4 mins) but I could easily have made it twice that length or more. I may decide to produce a StillWalks video from the photos and sounds I have collected on this walk but it will have to wait in line with the others I have not yet post produced.

Llanmadoc Walk Soundscape

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Cefyn enjoying the water
Walkers on the Beach
Cefyn enjoying the sea
calm before the storm
Oystercatchers
Bleached Beach
Beach Pebbles
Shoreline
Yellow Flag
Bare feet
Tree Bark
Walkers in the wet
return route

Hunting for Snails

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My walk this week with the Taste of Gower walkers has taken in coastal burrows, expansive beach, woodland and now marshland. Emerging from the woods we came across three people sitting in the middle of the marshland, heads bent in concentration as they hunted for and counted a particular species of snail that was said to inhabit that stretch of land.

The weather was still dry at that stage of the walk but it wasn’t long before the rain reached us and we donned our coats. The last stretch of footpath took us back towards Llanmadoc and the excellent cafe where the organisers of these walks, the Gower Landscape Partnership, paid for the tea and cakes provided.

researchers

Many of the people joining these walks come from a broad range of disadvantaged and other “hard to reach” groups. If it weren’t for the support provided by organisations like the Gower Landscape Project, many of those people would never have the opportunity to get out and walk, appreciate, benefit from and enjoy the countryside so near to them and yet so far.

A significant part of the funding that allows this and many other organisation to provide these services comes from the EU and it is unrealistic to think that if the EU funding were lost as a result of the UK leaving, it would be replaced by our own government. The same can be said for the arts.

Hunting for Snails
Tree Bark
Wooden Gate
Walkers in the wet