5 November 2014
What a glorious day! Cold, though, so on with the hobo hat and winter jacket. There was not a cloud in the sky until after one o’clock, and then not many until high, hazy cirrus slid-in before sunset. Today’s explore was to the north-east of Glasgow and it was a case of drive and look, park and walk.
Anywhere north of the Great Western Road is new ground for me and there are a lot of open spaces to explore among and beyond the housing estates and retail park. A metalled path climbing into woodland looks enticing. There’s a sign, an invite to view the “Proposed Forest Design Plan” which, among other things, promises “to provide a varied pathside experience” and “a welcoming woodland theshold”. You couldn’t make it up. Anyhow, what welcomes me to Garscadden Wood is a beautiful Buzzard which glides silently just a few feet above my head before skimming over the tree-tops. I am so surprised, so stilled by the encounter (or was it a path-side experience?) that my camera is forgotten for the moment. In the distance two ice-cream vans seem to competing for rare winter custom, both chime-playing Yankee Doodle over each-other, and now and then an aircraft climbs noisily out of Glasgow Airport.
It’s a day for moving around, working quickly while the light is good. The Drumchapel water tower is an unusual sight, an interesting shape and, backed by unbelievable blue and framed by a couple of arching trees, is a gift for the photographer. Nearby in Faifley there are broad views back into the centre of Glasgow past pylons and over open fields. Even behind the retail park in Knightswood (where I stop to shop at Sainsbury’s) there is an open derelict site shining in autumn colours. A very good day.
There is five minutes of wild sound from Garscadden Wood here, for your enjoyment.