Bryher and I were inspired by the wonderful drawings that have been submitted to the Fire Lab Kids website and we wanted to make, and share about, our own Wondrous River Creature! One sunny morning, we headed to Clyne Gardens for some aquatic inspiration. We feel so lucky here in Swansea to be surrounded by […]
Exploring your local river on Google Earth
We can learn about and visit our local rivers, but sometimes we might like to learn different things and see more of the river than we can do by visiting it locally. How can we do that? One way is to use tools like Google Earth that project satellite imagery onto our computer screens, allowing […]
My local river – the day a shark ate Fred’s banana
Hi, I’m Merryn and I recently started working with the FIRE Lab team using creative methods to engage young people with fresh waters. Since March I’ve been looking for ways to entertain two young people at home, four-year-old Bryher and one-year-old Fred, mainly befriending woodlice and trying to grow things from the food waste bin. […]
The creation of Salmonmayfly
Hi, I am Daphne and I am a Visual Designer. I joined FIRE Lab in January 2020 and I am keen to explore the relationship between science and art. Underwater Haiku Exquisite Corpse Creation, is one of the many sci-art projects we work on, here in FIRE Lab. Initially we envisioned it as a series […]
Art Up A Mountain
On a freezing Sunday morning in mid-November, I set out with Steph to walk Nant Tawe Fechan, from Tafarn y Garreg to the Tawe’s source high on the Brecon Beacons, making art as we went along. Technically not mountains, hills, but that’s a matter of elevation. We wanted to try out a few different art […]
Investigating the world of marine inverts in Worms’s Head, Gower
Last week, Dr Ed Pope kindly offered me the opportunity to join him and his class of second year biosciences undergraduate students at Worm’s Head to take a glimpse of the intertidal marine invertebrate community. The weather was on our side, giving us a good window of sunshine to explore the fascinating inverts in the tidal […]
Fire in the hole! Watch out for art and science along the Tawe River
A few months ago myself, Rose, and James headed up the Tawe River valley as part of some exploratory research in relation to science and art on tributaries to the Tawe. We are looking at differences on culverted and non-culverted streams, and bringing together arts and sciences to do so. It’s a growing area of […]
How culverts transform rivers
In an earlier blog post, I wrote about how the River Tawe harbours a range of flora and fauna despite a long history of neglect and strain inflicted by human activities. While changes in the management of rivers has improved ecological conditions across the catchment, ecosystems supported within the Tawe are still threatened by different […]
Tawe Walks: A walking – technology experience
Last week Tara shared about our recent walk up and down the River Tawe in south Wales. This week I will build on what Tara shared and talk about a reflection I had on the return walk from the upper reaches of the Tawe. On my way back downstream I decided to take a different […]
#FishInThePost: European Perch
This week’s #FishInThePost question was, ‘which freshwater fish have been known as the wolves of the river?’ The answer we were looking for was the European Perch (Perca fluviatilis) and it was correctly guessed by @UnderwaterMedia. We were also very taken by the lovely photo of a Perch shared by @UnderwaterMedia and look forward to […]
