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

Devon: Bigbury-on-Sea to Wonwell Beach 9/8/1996**


 

Bigbury with Bantham Sands & Thurlestone beyind
 
Burgh Island
 
Glow-worm larva
 
Beautiful demoiselle
Bigbury-on-Sea was a run-down town, its waterfront buildings disused and crumbling, with only Burgh Island to commend it.  The island has an exclusive hotel with Art Deco interior, a pub and a couple of houses, accessible by a dry sand bar at low tide, while a ferry bus with high wheels, like a tall tractor, crosses when the sea is in.  We walked the beach as far as Cockleridge and back, collecting more shells than yesterday because it was low tide.  Reddish cliffs were mixed with black strata further east.  Sea rocket grew at the top of the beach.  Escapes and ruderals spread down the cliffs from gardens above, including fumitory Fumaria bastardii.  At the west end of Bigbury the high seas were being used by surfers.  After low cliffs to Challaborough, past tansy and hollyhocks, we came to a sandy beach backed by an extensive holiday camp, fairly busy despite overcast weather, with more surfers, and lots of facilities. 
      From here it became mainly clifftop walking apart from a few small coves, passing pyramidal orchids, restharrow, thyme, sea campion, kidney vetch and betony.  The small shingle cove at Aylmer had sea rocket, plenty of seaweed and interesting rocks.  Past here there was devilsbit scabious and meadow pea until we descended again to Westcombe Beach, with cliff spurrey and rugged rocks formed from the schists.  The steep cliffs beyond, at Hoist Point, provided a tough walk, but we enjoyed a granite seat at the top for lunch while watching a glow-worm dig a hole in the bare earth of the path, pushing aside small stones with its head.  We warned passing hikers against stepping on it.  Low mists swirled over the cliffs, while male stonechats, with their conspicuous black caps and rusty breasts, pronounced themselves stout chaps on bush tops and fence posts, echoing the scraping of pebbles in the surf below.  Continuing along remote cliffs we saw much slender thistle and common toadflax, some chicory, a lizard squirming out of our way, and occasional haresfoot clover and common centaury.  Holly blue fed on ivy flowers at the cliff edge. 
      We eventually rounded the mouth of the Erme and came down to Wonwell (pronounced “wonnull”) Beach, small, remote and quiet, with sea rocket and frosted orache and no beach rubbish.  We passed through woodland up the rock-strewn river bank, with butcher’s broom and abundant hart’s tongue and polypody ferns, to a small slipway to the ford across the river.  It was currently high tide and we could not cross, so we walked up the long hill to Kingston, seeing a beautiful demoiselle dragonfly with dark wings & shiny emerald body, and the uncommon rough hawksbeard.  We took a bus back to Bigbury and ate dinner at the Village Inn, Thurlestone.
Big wave at Challaborough
 
Schistose rocks at Westcombe Beach
 
Butcher’s broom
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)