observations from isfryn

A record of seasonal sightings and a portrait of life under the bank

OBSERVATIONS FROM ISFRYN, which translates from the Welsh as under the bank, is a filmmaking record of a single location within a working Welsh hill farming landscape. It is a record of day to day events. The project attempts to bind together all the landscapes protagonists with the location that holds them.

The project was started in September 2016 and there are eleven films to date.

observations from ISFRYN

HIRAETH

At the top of the bank, at the boundary with the common land, I found the hare.

The hare’s presence, though broadly free from man-made borders, was a timely reminder of the existence of borderlines, whether visible or not.

The approaching storm and the threat of lightning forced us all to run for cover and the safety of our own respective homes.

Filmed in mid Wales, August 2022

Music by Olan Mill

AFTER THE RAIN

The wonder here, in many ways, is the unexpected.

The rain arrived, and I was forced to take refuge under a canopy of hawthorn blossoms. It was only then I noticed the Redstarts and their home.

Filmed in mid Wales, June 2021

Music by Chequerboard

COUNTING SHEEP

It was a quiet day. I was positioned in the shadow of a large Horse Chestnut tree. I had been manoeuvring to be as close to the hare in its form as I dared. To my rear, the valley and a view of the day’s farming activities.

I was then joined by one of the field’s more permanent residents. It felt, for a moment, as though the two of us stopped and watched the roundup together.

Filmed in Wales September 2020

Music by Chequerboard

BARE KNUCKLE

Boxing hares, to me, are synonymous with spring; so it was with surprise that I saw two hares square off and do the rounds in early October.

Filmed in mid Wales, October 2020.

Music by Chequerboard

THE OWL

There have always been Tawny Owls here. Heard but rarely seen, it nonetheless has been a reassuring presence. On a single winter’s night I have counted six individual owls calling.

Two years ago, I bought an owl box and hung it in the large tree in the corner of the field, and this summer a single owl has spent the days high up in the canopy of that tree.

Little appears to go unnoticed.

Filmed in mid Wales, July to October 2019.

Music by Slow Meadow

THE KESTREL

"What is?"

"The Kestrel is", I said.

The Windhover is back.

It's been absent from this corner of the common for two years now. Its return is reassuring.

Filmed in mid Wales, September 2018.

Music by Chequerboard

HERE HARE HERE

My journey home takes me across a piece of ancient common land. Until recently my sightings of hares have been fleeting.

By a bend in the track, there it was.

Filmed in mid Wales, July 2016.

Music by A Winged Victory for the Sullen

1, TWO, III

I noticed the flock gathered at the corner of the common. It's out of the wind here. There hasn't been room in the sheds for these expectant mothers and so their lambs have been born in the open. But unlike those born in the sheds these lambs have no coloured dye denoting ownership yet. They are optic white and they share the same ground as the hares that also live in the corner of the common.

Filmed in mid Wales, April 2018.

Music by Phaeleh

THE VIEW

"I have been watching this view since I was a boy".

Filmed in mid Wales, between November 2016 and January 2017.

Music by Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker

THE POOL

"I accepted the invite".

The pool is ordinarily hidden from view. Its existence is a topographical surprise. Lying directly behind the farm, approximately 4 acres of water almost touches the sky. It's the crossroad for many ecologies.

Filmed in mid Wales, November 2016.

Music by Olan Mill

THE HARE

This is the first story from ISFRYN.

I had always hoped a hare may live in the field. I came across it by chance. I was looking for the tawny owl who had been roosting in a horse-chestnut tree all summer, and there, in the long grass of its shade, it was.

Filmed in mid Wales, September 2016.

Music by Lisa Knapp

APPROACH

“It makes me feel like I am part of something continuous. Isfryn refers to an area of ancient common land and neighbouring fields in mid Wales. Some of it is a designated SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest). A single observed event provides the kernel to build each film. This is then followed by a process of focused filming.”

Article | Nature Matters 2019: Time for Nature