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, 17 January 2014

Cornwall: Perranporth and Penhale Sands 18/6/1999****

 
 
 
Sea slater on seaweed
 
 
 
Cornish gentian
 
 
 
Pool on Penhale Sands
From the beach car-park at Perranporth we had to cross bridges over two streams entering the sands, as the tide was high and there was no sign of the wide beach glimpsed yesterday afternoon.  Herring and black-backed gulls occupied what sand there was, making the most of the time before the sunbathers descended.  We walked as far as we could, the shells well scattered and fragmentary, mainly Spisula and mussels, and bootlace seaweed knotted around some unpleasant-looking detritus, although we did find Great Shipworm Teredo navalis.  A sea slater scurried through the seaweed. The tide was still lapping at the low cliffs we ascended to Penhale Sands behind.  These are extensive dunes with very good slacks.  At the front were stems of salsify gone to seed, with large showy brown spherical seed-heads.  Near the ruins of an old church engulfed by the sands was some hound's-tongue.  Scrubby areas often had stinking iris.  The predominant vegetation of the looser sand was marram and sea bindweed.  Dry stable areas were ablaze with eyebright Euphrasia confusa, common centaury, common storksbill, lady’s bedstraw, fairy flax, Portland spurge and yellowwort.  There were also patches of pyramidal orchids, which were especially common in the northern part, the military training ground.  There were occasional bright yellow patches of biting stonecrop, while leaves and fruit-stalks (in one case also flowers) indicated a mass display of cowslips earlier in the year.  There was even some long-stalked cranesbill, not commonly found on dunes.  The best find, however, was the little Cornish gentian, a hybrid between early and autumn gentians, which we found in large patches near a lake and in small numbers elsewhere.  Other plants in these marshier areas were yellow rattle, downy-fruited and other sedges, marsh horsetail, square-stalked St. John’s-wort, slender spike-rush, marsh bedstraw, thread-leaved water crowfoot, and cuckooflower.  Some slacks also had great displays of southern marsh orchid and ragged robin, often with an edging pink carpet of bog pimpernel.  One lake with bulrush also had a huge population of lesser water plantain and here we found the nymphs of great green bush-crickets.  Both kestrel and buzzard were seen several times, with the many rabbits presumably providing the latter’s prey, although one gull carcase indicated that they might also be partial to a bit of seafood.  Insects included cream-spot tiger moths, flame shoulder moth, the tortoise beetle Cassida murraea on common fleabane(limited to dune-slacks & wet cliffs in the SW), the burying beetle Silpha laevigata, the dune chafer Aegialia arenaria, and fan-bristled robber fly Dysmachus trigonus (a coastal species).  At the end a steep zigzag path led back to the beach.  At this more isolated end naturists were using the beach, dunes and ocean quite extensively, though army trainees were apparently not distracted from their rock-climbing among them.  We stayed at a B&B in Perranporth, Morgans in Granny Lane, high on the hill behind with a grand view of the whole town, the beach and the surf attracting many surfers.
Salsify seed-heads
 
Great green bush-cricket
 
Cassida murraea
 
Fan-bristled robberfly
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