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, 24 January 2014

Offa's Dyke: Monmouth to Llantilio Crossenny 13/6/2003


 

Early purple orchids
 
Beautiful demoiselles
There were no problems finding the route and the walking was easy, with only a gradual climb to a peak of 425ft over the first third, starting from the River Monnow at Monnow Bridge.  The Monnow had grey wagtails and sand martins. We skirted a new housing estate, passing a small urban conservation area with a meadow, pond and mallards.  The first part was along Watery Lane, which eventually became a track after we left the housing, following a deep dark stream.  Near Rosebrook Cottages there was a bank of rough grass left beside the stream where corn-cockles were growing, presumably sown by residents.  Kings Wood followed a few fields of rape and corn, whereupon we rose up to an easy forestry track for most of the way.  Here were growing both early purple and common spotted orchids.  Columbines were growing at one point where there used to be a building, since demolished, but they were the dark purple colour typical of the garden variety.  The general flora here was much less interesting than we had encountered in the Wye Valley.  After the wood it was lane and field walking, crossing numerous streams.  We had lunch sitting on a grassy field slope watching buzzards soaring before walking into Llanvihangel-Ystern-Llewern.  The pretty church-yard of St. Michael had its rural peace destroyed for us by someone trimming the long grass, so we moved quickly on.  Near The Grange we passed through an immense cider-apple orchard belonging to Bulmer’s.  It was country-lanes all the way to Llantilio Crossenny, which was no more than a few houses, the pub and garage marked on the map both gone.  The old church (St.Teilo’s) from 1650 stood rather separate in its own corner but provided a peaceful and comfortable spot to await our taxi back to Monmouth.  The most noticeable wildlife of the day were the beautiful demoiselles, the males with virtually black wings, but the females even more striking with brown wings and metallic green bodies.  We saw them on and off most of the day.
St Teilo's
 
Corn-cockle

 
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