Cornwall: Portheras to Zennor 11/6/1999****

 

Small pearl-bordered fritillary   Lesser skullcap                       Southern marsh orchid

At Morvah, a few farms and a church, there was borage growing under a wall where the footpath left for the coast.  The path followed a stream which created bogs at level places, a phenomenon that cropped up continually along these cliffs.  The bogs provided plants such as cotton-grass, bog stitchwort, cuckooflower, bog pimpernel, marsh St. John’s-wort, marsh pennywort, bog asphodel, flea sedge, blinks, creeping forget-me-not, heath woodrush, star sedge, and dwarf yellow sedge.  They were also the haunt of the large cranefly Tipula maxima and the hoverfly Cheilosia albipila.  Back at Portheras Cove we found royal fern in abundance at the western end and could hear grasshopper warblers.  There was again tar on the beach.  We then continued east along the cliffs where bright sun brought out butterflies previously unseen on this leg of the walk, such as small pearl-bordered fritillary, painted lady, wall and green hairstreak.  It was a continual joy to see the tall royal ferns, along with many heath spotted orchids.  At Portheras, however, the geology had changed to granite and the flora as a whole was less varied – no spring squill, and both thrift and kidney vetch were less frequent.  The cliff-tops were used for pasturing cattle and sheep (of a four-horned variety).  At Porthmoina Cove climbers were practising on the cliffs.        On the road, which here runs close to the coast, there is an old mine, but mines generally became less frequent.  The dampness of the cliffs on the west side of Cornwall, compared to those before Land’s End, was marked not only by the bogs and streams, with plants like ivy-leaved and round-leaved crowfoots, but also by creeping willow by the path.  At Porthmeor Cove the river coming down had yellow pimpernel and beautiful demoiselle damselflies, striking metallic green with dark brown wings.  The dolerites started again and the vegetation improved, spring squill re-appeared with slender St. John’s-wort, dyer’s greenweed, allseed and hairy birdsfoot trefoil.  These cliffs are wild and scenic with buzzards soaring and cuckoos fighting in mid-air with harsh hissing cries.  At a path-side bog near Rosmergy were two splendid plants of southern marsh orchid.  Around the steep Carnelloe Cliff the land was slipping away from the edge of the coast path, which will soon disappear here.  Just above the path is a stone wall, so the path will have to be diverted into the field above.  We then descended a stream to Zennor, sitting on the rocks beside it to share an orange.  There was lesser skullcap here and it was relaxing to sit beside the gurgling water with a view of flowers all around.  The downside was that Val picked up a mite on her leg that we had to remove with tweezers.  It was an easy track into Zennor to catch a bus.     Bog pimpernel   Allseed

Portheras Cove   Rosmergy Cliffs                       Stream, Zennor