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





Thursday, 23 January 2014

North Devon: Lundy Island 6/7/2002****

 
Today we made a break in the coast walk, driving back to Ilfracombe before 8am to catch the boat to Lundy Island, returning at 7.30pm.  We grabbed a warm breakfast at a harbour café – bacon butty and sausage roll.  The sea by the pier in Ilfracombe was full of the purple moon jellyfish Aurelia aurita.  On the trip over, which took the best part of two hours, we saw a pod of dolphins, a couple of basking sharks and a guillemot.  Near the jetty on Lundy we spotted a grey seal, but saw plenty more from the nearby Devil’s Kitchen beach, some of them hauled out on a sea rock.  The beach was full of schistose rocks and grey shale pebbles, with good rock-pools, where we spotted blennies.  From the beach we saw more jellyfish in the sea: purple moon jellyfish again, compass jellyfish Chrysaora hysoscella and Cyanea lamarckii.  On the beach were also remains of a huge Rhizostoma octopus jellyfish.  Along the track up to the small settlement on top of the island (a church, tavern, shop and farm buildings) we saw several sprawling clumps of the endemic Lundy cabbage, which we studied closely to distinguish it from a number of similar-looking plants.  Two species of beetle feed solely on it, one a small weevil and the other a flea-beetle, and we were able to spot both.  A sunny morning brought out two butterflies we had not so far seen this holiday, the peacock and small tortoiseshell, although the meadow brown was the most frequent.  Among planted turkey oaks that had to be supported from collapsing on the path we saw a chiffchaff.  After a leisurely stroll we had a decent cooked lunch in Marisco Tavern, run, like the whole island, by the National Trust.  We had a special Lundy Island bitter, which used to be brewed on the island, until the rainfall became insufficient 9 years ago to support the industry, so that it is now manufactured by the St. Austell brewery.  It was the best beer we had had this holiday.  Other pubs had been dominated by the Barnstaple Barum brewery.  In the tavern window there was a rose chafer.  The vegetation, apart from the unique cabbage, was impoverished, the island being made up largely of acid granites.  Sheepsbit and thrift grew on the rock face.  The centre is dominated by bracken moorland with some bogs, which have bog pimpernel and are wet enough for cross-leaved heath.  The main birds, persistently singing, were meadow pipit and skylark.  The east cliffs are dominated by bracken and spreading rhododendron, limiting the range of the cabbage.  Perhaps the rabbits, too, are a problem – those we saw appeared to be a larger race than usual!  After walking along the sheltered east side of the island for a while we crossed it at the Quarter Wall and explored some of the exposed and windy west side, with sheer rocky cliffs where many seabirds were nesting – herring gull, lesser black-backed gull, fulmar, guillemot, and a small number of puffins.  As it got increasingly cold we returned to the tavern to await the return boat, having some more of that beer.
 
 
Compass jellyfish
 
Sheepsbit and thrift on cliff face
Lundy cabbage



 
Puffin
 

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