Introduction


When we started walking the coast of England we had no intention that this would become a major lifetime project. Having to make a last-minute arrangement for our summer holiday in 1987, we said "Let's go to the nearest piece of coast and see how far we can walk along it." It turned out well and we started adding further stretches of coast, initially once every two years, but soon annually, or even twice a year.

We had always enjoyed the coast - there is something refreshingly "edgy" about having the sea always at our side, and one of us was into marine molluscs. We also enjoyed long-distance walking and had long been involved in general natural history recording. This project enabled us to combine all three interests.

You soon discover when embarking on a project like this that you need a few rules, which evolve from the first experiences. Our main rule was that we should walk as close to the coast as possible, which meant beach-walking whenever we could (unlike the official coast paths that largely remain above shore, recognising that at high tides the beach may be inaccessible). The route should also be capable of being a continuous walk, so that when we came to an unfordable river we walked inland along its banks to the first place at which we could cross, whether a bridge or a ferry.

We only carried light packs, so that at the end of each day's walk we had the problem of getting back to our car where we started. Initially we walked back, but soon realised we would be walking the coast twice this way! We used public transport whenever this was available - buses or trains, sometimes adjusting our start and finish points to make this easier. Failing this - and it was often not possible - we would phone for a taxi (an increasingly costly option over the years). Having our car with us gave us more freedom as to where we could stay at night - and after a day walking and only light food we were usually ready for being spoiled by a good meal and a comfortable bed! Even so, we stayed on the coast itself whenever there was a decent option.

Each walk was made for enjoyment, it was not a route-march to see how quickly we could get it finished. We therefore took it gently at times when passing through pleasant scenery or where there were many plants or creatures to record.

In terms of biological recording, we systematically noted every bird, butterfly, creature or sea-shell that we came across, sometimes spending time searching for the shells. We could not record every plant in the same way - there are too many common ones - so we were more selective, noting all coastal plants and any others that were not run-of-the-mill.

In our daily posts, edited from our original diaries, we include a star-rating from no star to **** according to our subjective estimate as to how special that day was from the point of view of natural history. This score (and our daily records) will, however, have been affected by the weather - it is difficult to appreciate the environment fully, for instance, in torrential rain, and there are many more butterflies and other insects to be seen in warm sunshine!

A summary of all our natural history records on the walk can be found using this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1LLGD55lKRHYXd1SGU1QndrcUU/edit?usp=sharing





Friday 13 December 2013

South Devon 8/8/1994: Babbacombe to Torquay****


 

Wall butterfly
 

Cheddar pink
 

Rock samphire
 

Redgate Beach
 

Seaweeds, Redgate Beach
 
At Babbacombe is the entrance to the famous Kent’s Cavern, limestone caves once inhabited by cave bears and hyenas, where the jaw bone of an early man was discovered.  We saw the fossil skull of a bear in the roof of one passage.  Where permanent lights have been set up hart’s tongue fern and mosses had invaded.  Horseshoe bats hibernate here.
 

“Curtain” formation, Kent’s Cavern
 
      Back on the coast we walked around Wall’s Hill, whose limestone cliffs contain a wealth of flowers, although many of the rare ones like white rock-rose, rock stonecrop and lesser meadow-rue had finished flowering. The little blue stars of autumn squill dotted the trodden turf on the hilltop.  We were delighted to find the eponymous wall butterfly!  Still flowering on the cliffs were goldenrod, devil’s-bit scabious, wood-sage, eyebright, saw-wort, ploughman’s spikenard, rock samphire and carline thistle. Musk thistles dominated areas of longer grass.  Among the shrubs were rock whitebeam and Cotoneaster prostratus.  Overlooking Anstey’s Cove on the far side was a thriving plant of Cheddar pink still with two flowers remaining.
 
     The Cove itself, and neighbouring Redgate Beach, were busy with holidaymakers and fast-food stalls, even though accessible only by steep paths, passing maidenhair fern and wall pennywort.  Limpets and winkles clung to the rocks, and a fortuitous low tide exposed masses of seaweed, sponges and sea-squirts. We found the internal shell of the uncommon sea-slug Berthellina citrina here.  The cliffs were a mix of limestone, sandstone and shale, and there was no further access to the shore until Hope’s Nose.  The path round Black Head is wooded.  Walls and rocks harboured ferns like sea spleenwort, wall-rue, and rusty-back. 
     We eventually emerged on Marine Drive, which provides a good sea view.  In a bank beside this road was a small cluster of sowbread.  We left the road by another path that goes around the hooked point of Hope’s Nose, running over heathland with autumn squill right down to the rocks by the sea where a dozen or so people were fishing.  Here grew rock samphire, thrift and silver ragwort, and the beach was made up of smoothly polished pebbles.  Returning to the road for another hundred yards we again took a path to Thatcher Point, with views of the detached Thatcher Rock, all at sea after a Major incursion.  It was roadway again through Kilmorie and Meadfoot, passing below Osborne Hotel, until another cliff-edge path with good views took us to Torquay Harbour.  With continuous housing above it was no surprise to see the cliff vegetation dominated by garden escapes like green alkanet, evergreen and Turkey oaks, tutsan, Rose of Sharon, fuchsia and Jerusalem sage.  We caught a bus back to our car from The Strand behind the inner harbour.  At night, from our rooms in the centre of town, we walked along the main seafront of Torquay Beach, where the main birds were black-headed gulls, and returned through coloured lights reflecting in the water and illuminating the trees.
 
 
 

Hart’s-tongue fern in Kent’s Cavern
 
 
 

Carline thistle
 
 
 

Pebbles at Hope’s Nose
 

Jerusalem sage
 

 
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