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, 10 January 2014

Cornwall: Polhawn to Crafthole 16/8/1996***


 

Shore dock at Polhawn
 
Long Sands
 
Callista chione
We took the path along the middle of the cliffs, past an isolated holiday home, until we spotted a track going down to Polhawn Cove.  Here we immediately found a specimen of shore dock in the marsh at the top of the beach, which was fine shingle and sand.  There were a good many shells, including fragments of the large smooth Venus Callista chione, which is largely restricted to this bit of coast and NW Wales.  Being low tide, we could walk round the rocky promontories to further beaches, increasing our haul of shells.  Eventually there was a much longer beach with a variety of rocks and sands, closed at times because of the military camp above it.  Here we found golden and rock samphire, sea rocket, cliff spurrey, sea spleenwort and, oddly, a couple of plants of common millet.  At the end of this the rocks were too large to negotiate and we had to ascend to Freathy and walk along the cliffs by the side of a road to Tregantle Down and the military Tregantle Fort.  We found a path down to the start of Long Sands, which are very wide at low tide and extend over a mile without obstructing rocks.  At Freathy we could get ice-creams.  Holidaymakers were concentrated at its smaller beach where the flora was mostly exotic, such as pink oxalis and honesty.  Long Sands, however, had much more beach-head vegetation with abundant sea rocket, sea holly, both samphires again, rock sea-lavender, frosted orache, sea campion and saltwort.  On the shore we found excellent complete specimens of the smooth Venus shell, and this was by far the best list of species of mollusc for the holiday so far.  They included the tellin Angulus squalidus and the bubble-shell Retusa truncatula.  Above flew buzzards, peregrines and kestrels. 
      Encountering difficult rocks just before Portwinkle, and the tide coming in rapidly over the flat sands, we tried to climb up the cliffs, but to no avail due to thick stands of blackthorn.  We had to retreat rapidly along the beach and take a path up through Tregantle Fort to reach the road and a long inland trek back to our car.  This made us late for dinner at the Finnygook Inn at Crafthole. 
      The problem with this excellent section of coast is that the MoD has blocked the former footpath serving the whole length and prevented access to many beaches.
Golden & rock samphire
 
Retusa truncatula
 
Angulus squalidus
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