Gelli-Hir Woodland Walk – Something A Bit Different!

Gelli-hir Wood is a partly ancient woodland of around 28 hectares, situated on the northern edge of Fairwood Common, Gower, Swansea. The wood is managed by The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales and is a popular spot for walking, birdwatching and nature study.

The wood is a mixed broadleaved wood, with a variety of tree species including oak, ash, beech, birch, willow and holly. The ground flora is also diverse, with wildflowers such as bluebells, primroses, wood anemones and celandines in bloom in spring.

The wood is home to a variety of wildlife, including birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects. Some of the birds that can be seen in the wood include tawny owls, green woodpeckers, nuthatches and blue tits. Mammals that live in the wood include dormice, badgers, foxes and rabbits.

Gelli-hir Wood is a beautiful and peaceful place to visit, and it is a great place to get back to nature. The wood is open to the public all year round, and there are several public footpaths that run through the wood.

Armed with my Fujfilm X-T3 and Viltrox 56mm F/1.4 along with the Olympus E-PL8 and 17mm F/2.8 lens, I decided to use my Fujifilm primarily as a macro lens, and used an ancient x10 close-up filter that I had with a camera that was bought in the 1970s (Olympus OM10). While others concentrated on birds, I just wanted to capture the beauty in a different way.

Of course, my signature pathway shots are here, they are images I always love taking! My initial edits for today which I shared on Facebook were the jpegs, however, for these I used the raw files and edited the images in ON1 Photo Raw 2023. I cropped them and added a Classic Neg LUT to give them that Fujifilm vintage look, plus of course my border surrounding the 5:4 aspect ratio crops.

I hope you enjoy these images! I enjoyed the day taking them. Next week we will see castles, cattle and more woodland!