This old rusty gate and shed are just two of the ageing things I found by the wayside on one of my walks through the Galloway countryside in Scotland.
Tag Archives: woodland
New Spring StillWalks Videos
This week’s featured StillWalks video is a sample of one from a new set of videos I have produced featuring Lower Lliw Reservoir.
The full set of four walks (one for each season) will be available soon on DVD and this will include an introductory video. The HD videos will be available to purchase online at a later date.
The walk round the lower reservoir is beautiful at all times of the year and I hope that you will enjoy this short sample. When the DVD is published in a few weeks, it will be available through the cafe at Lliw Reservoir and also via the StillWalks website.
50 Years and Getting Back to Nature
The moss covered steps in the image below never really had a chance – not without the intervention of man. Nature and the tree have been taking their course for 50 years and will not let puny things like concrete get in their way.
There are many different reasons for managing woodland. Whether it be to gain resources for one use or another, or to ensure the ecology of the woodland stays mixed and allows a variety of plants and animals. Either way, we manage woodland for ourselves, not for the woodland or the wildlife.
Left to its own devices, in time a woodland may become a monoculture. Given the sort of time that nature considers a millisecond, but we think of as millennia, who knows what would happen?
If you leave it alone, nature will do just fine by itself. The fact of the matter is, of course, that we are here on the planet and we need to live side by side with the rest of the creatures and plants. For me the key to all our survival is to live side by side and not to try and take over or rule over the natural planet (or ourselves for that matter).
Dai Morris talking about a Sweet Chestnut tree, one amongst many varieties being planted and managed at Coeden Fach woodland near Swansea, South Wales.
This week’s featured StillWalks video is from the south west of Scotland. This medium resolution full length version will be here all week and will then revert to the sample.
The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Coastal Walk – Spring” which features part of the Galloway coastline in Scotland. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.
Before and After – raw material and finished product
There is a range of wood grown and used at Coeden Fach Woodland.
Here you can see the different stages of material and product with the wood growing, cut and layer in stacks ready for use and then the final product in the form of chairs.
Not all the material in the chairs is the same wood as is evident from the the different colours. My favourite is definitely the dogwood chair with its beautiful range of reds, greens, browns and yellows.
This week’s featured StillWalks video is from the south west of Scotland. This medium resolution full length version will be here all week and will then revert to the sample.
The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Coastal Walk – Spring” which features part of the Galloway coastline in Scotland. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.
Woodland Discoveries
You may expect to find some King Alfred’s Cakes in a woodland that includes Ash trees.
The Coeden Fach woodland area of Bishops Wood, near Swansea had these and other less expected things. We found (were shown) the King Alfred’s Cakes, otherwise known as Cramp Balls, on the fallen branch of an Ash tree. Knowing what to look for after that, we found several more.
Less expected was the beautiful but sad discovery of the grave of Alanna Mary who died just a few days after birth. Near the grave was a sculpture in the form of a wooden dog which clearly took the interest of one of our canine companions.
This week’s featured StillWalks video is from the south west of Scotland. This medium resolution full length version will be here all week and will then revert to the sample.
The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Coastal Walk – Spring” which features part of the Galloway coastline in Scotland. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.
A Day in the Woods
The woodland management day I went on at Coeden Fach consisted partly of a tour around the woodland to see some the ways in which Dai, from Coeden Fach, manages the 9 acres they have near near Bishopston, Swansea.
This woodland is managed for a range of resources and activities but I think if you wanted to harvest some wild garlic, this would be a good place to do it! The scent was powerful to say the least but the taste of the flower heads was something else – delicious 🙂
Garlic, Celandine, garlic, Wood Anemone, more garlic, Snow Drops were amongst those hundreds of different plants and trees we came across in the woods. All photos taken on my iPhone 5c.
And the sounds? Listen below to the birds of Bishops Wood.
This week’s featured StillWalks video is from the south west of Scotland. This medium resolution full length version will be here all week and will then revert to the sample.
The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Coastal Walk – Spring” which features part of the Galloway coastline in Scotland. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.
The Male of the Species – Catkins at Llys Nini
These male Hazel Catkins are looking for a mate.
I suspect that these catkins have been hanging around at Llys Nini Animal Center woodland area for a little while as the weather in the UK this winter has been confusing to say the least!
What a Lot of Wattle – Fencing at Llys Nini
Wattle fences are becoming common at Llys Nini Animal Centre.
One of the many woodland jobs carried out as part of Llys Nini Animal Centre woodland management is the building of wattle fences. The woodland is managed by Phil Morgan and it is he, along with an extensive team of adult volunteers and visiting school children, who create these wonderful pieces of weaving in the natural environment.
This abandoned section of wattle fencing I came across in one of the fields next to the woods, gave me some great subject matter for my photography. I love its unwinding form and apparent keenness to get back to the earth.
