preseli

Carnedd Meibion Owen

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If you’re a regular visitor, you’ll know that if I'm going to go up into the Preselis it's usually on a murky day to get some moody shots but I've got to say it's pretty nice in the blazing midday sun of a summers day. I was up that way last week so decided to pop along to Carnedd Meibion Owen (the Cairns of the Sons of Owen). Legend has it that before humans were around, Pembrokeshire was inhabited by a race of giants. Owen made a basic admin error (not uncommon amongst giants) and hadn't sorted out his will to decide where his inheritance should go. His three sons got quarrelsome about it and had an almighty rumble that involved hurling boulders at each other around the Preseli Hills. It got pretty serious and they all died of their wounds at a spot just above Ty Canol woods. Owen wasn't even dead at that point but it's said he died of a broken heart sometime later. The bodies of the brothers petrified into big piles of rocks and can be seen today. So if you haven't sorted out your will, please let Owen and this post be your inspiration.

There's a nice boulder up there that was dumped there by a glacier (or maybe a giant). It's known as the nodding dog by some. Do you know any better names for it?

Carningli and a Welcome to Autumn

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I’d been in Cardigan yesterday afternoon, I’d watched the drizzle roll in and the day looked like ending in a washout. Checking the forecast I could see that it was only a thin band of rain that was slowly moving East so I decided to head up onto Carningli common and have a look at the heather before the flowers faded away with the hope that I’d get some nice light on the purple carpets up there. As the rain passed over there was beautiful light and I was spoilt for choice of images to make. It’s always been a favourite place to be and to shoot with the view down to Newport in one direction, Dinas Island in another and the Gwaun Valley and Preseli Hills inland. I’ve felt a bit creatively flat recently but with the low Autumn light replacing the brightness of Summer, I found myself seeing opportunities in every direction and being heartened to spend time in the landscape again.

These are all mostly variations on a theme but as it was hard to choose favourites, I decided just to dump a selection here. If you’re reading this, I’d love to know which image stands out to you.

Preseli sunset

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It was nice to head out of the county the other day to take some property pictures for clients in Newport and Llandysul. On the way back I struck gold as I found myself on top of the Preseli Hills as a great sunset was developing. It was a lot colder than it looked from inside the car with a Northerly wind whipping over the tops of the hills but it was a fine sunset to enjoy before my fingers became too cold to feel.

There's the remains of an ancient settlement up here so I guess there's a long tradition of watching the sunset from this vantage point. The view would have been very different when the settlement was occupied. Most of the hills and valleys would have been thickly forested but the land has long been shorn of its trees and is now primarily used as grazing for sheep and cows. There's an element of the concept of shifting baselines at play when enjoying this view. Daniel Pauly developed this concept in reference to fisheries where scientists would set a baseline for the expected prevalence of a species based on numbers encountered at the start of their careers rather than before human intervention. This explains why we readily accept the decline in species because we are usually only comparing what we see to what we have seen in our living memory. Early records show that mariners would be able to scoop fish from the sea with a saucepan as populations were so healthy yet over the generations the baseline has shifted and now we accept that the oceans are far less populated. Looking over this view we accept that the nearest group of trees is in the far distance yet if I was 1000 years old I'd have been shocked at the loss of trees and wildlife. Wouldn't it be something to see trees return to this view and get the chance to ride a wolf into battle against a massive bear thats trying to eat all the chanterelle mushrooms growing in the woods!?

A day out in the Preseli Hills

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The Preseli Hills under blue skies and with a thin coat of snow. We meandered Eastwards between the crags and outcrops that are scattered along the ridge and finished up at Foel Drygarn; an ancient hillfort and the largest in Pembrokeshire, before turning back for home. Carn Goedog was at one point thought to be the most likely source for the Bluestones that were used in the construction of Stonehenge but reading around online it seems that there is still plenty of doubt and opposing opinion on the subject. I expect it’s a debate that will continue for some time. Whatever the truth, the stones have a sculptural quality to them that was no doubt as appealing to ancient civilizations as they are to the wandering photographer in 2021. It seems there isn’t much evidence of any quarrying works which suggests that glacial forces are the most likely explanation for their appearance on the Salisbury Plain. The hills would once have been forested but have been used by humans for millenia and along with the signs of settlement, there are also the lines of ancient drovers routes that can still be seen crossing the terrain. Livestock would have been moved from Pembrokeshire farms to markets further East and many hooves have left scars on the landscape that are still visible now.

The Preseli Hills feel like a miniature version of the larger landscapes of the Brecon Beacons or the Moors of South West England. It’s possible to stroll around the hills in a day and see most of what they have to offer but, like the Cleddau Estuary I wrote about in my last post, the hills are a less explored gem of Pembrokeshire.

I processed these to give a slightly otherworldly feeling as that seemed to suit the collection. Let me know if you think it works/doesn’t work.