Against the Clock
I forgot to post this bit of nonsense film that I made last year in the IAC 48hr challenge. Featuring Shaaron Barafundle who happens to live next door. So here it is, 4 mins, 22 seconds of your life that I will have deprived you of. Sorry.
Beyond our ken
There’s something about a crow on a Welsh mountain that feels older than the landscape itself. You’re not imagining that sense of “crow lore” — they carry an atmosphere, a presence, as if they’re not just in the world but somehow aware of it in a way we aren’t. Humans observe; crows appraise.
Up on Mynydd Twr, aka Holyhead Mountain, with the wind coming in off the sea and the light shifting over the rocks, a crow’s call feels like a message sent across realms. They’re social, yes, but there’s a deliberateness to their communication that makes you wonder what’s being said. A friend in the distance, a reconnaissance of the walkers with their sandwiches — it’s all part of a pattern we only ever glimpse the edges of.
Otherwise they are oblivious to our human realm. They move through our presence without deference, without fear, without the slightest sense that we are the main characters. They’re busy with their own networks, their own hierarchies, their own mountain politics. We’re just passing through.
Film & Video Maker
My 21st edition as editor, graphic designer and general putter-togetherer of this fine print magazine is now about to land on doormats across the UK and the world.
Congratulations to Peter F. from Wem, Shropshire for correctly identifying the deliberate error as the magazine rolled over from 2025 to 2026 but the year on the cover didn’t. As a test for our reader’s observation skills, we like to drop in at least one error, be it typo or factual with every issue. This is the first time we’ve taken this competition to the front cover.
Peter’s prize of a round of applause from the entire FVM editorial team will be issued this Thursday evening just after the Archers. Sorry, but entries for this issue are now closed
Pregnant Tree
If I was in a seat already, I’d have given it up for this tree who was so obviously heavy with saplings. This also above Elan Valley visitor centre.
Somebody’s birthday
Not mine. But I got to have the same amount of fun without feeling special. Here we visited Elan Valley and quickly escaped the Twixmas crowds by climbing upwards, ever upwards above Caban Coch reservoir. We got to the only real sitting place for a picnic and there were two sodding people there already. We tried the standing over them and glaring but they weren’t for budging.
These are a few
…of my favourite things. Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens you can keep, thank you. Give me a pint of HPA, a laptop showing a Wrexham win and a four poster bed in a lovely hotel in Presteigne, Mid Wales.
Mynydd Tŵr
AKA Holyhead Mountain. 722 feet (220 m) is the highest point on Ynys Môn. It’s also bloody cold up there on a Boxing day morning. Quick Nickipedia facts here: The summit is rocky, quartzite, and the slopes clad in heather. There is an Iron Age hillfort called Caer y Twr. The material for the breakwater at the port of Holyhead was quarried from the limestone areas of the northeastern side of the island, with seven million tons of limestone being removed from long-established quarries to form the longest breakwater in Britain, at nearly one and a half miles (2.4 km) long.
Stanley
This is Stanley. Stanley is a seagull. Stanley hangs around whenever he sees a window open on Conwy ward, Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor. He likes custard creams, garibaldis and bits of hospital sandwich. He never says thank you. Nor does he chew. Fun can be had by feeding him the widest biscuit possible just to see the shape of his neck afterwards.
Crepuscles
Not strictly a word is that. But to make up for it, here are some crepuscular rays just off the sea at Aberystwyth and on my birthday and all.
Where are we?
Got a bit lost in the foggy Radnor hills today. Luckily we came across this way marker to tell us where we were.
