Spring surprise

Wall butterfly sunning

We took advantage of the forecast of good weather on this May Day Bank Holiday to walk our Cornish cliffs from Stanbury to Sharpnose Point. And what a good decision it was. The range of spring species was both surprising and rewarding.

Sea Campion, Thrift,
Kidney Vetch and Gorse,

Our first reward was to see our first Wall butterflies of the year, followed by mass flowering of Early Purple Orchids, always a confirmation that spring has really arrived. Swallows were planing over the cliff tops with the song of Whitethroats close at hand – again the first of the year and an abundance of coastal spring flowers – Thrift, Kidney Vetch, Sea Campion, Violets and Bird's foot Trefoil.

Stonechats, Linnets and Skylarks were about and I found our first local Gorse Shield Bugs on the abundantly flowering Gorse. Another first of the year was a Small Copper and Spring Squill.

Gorse Shield Bugs in spring colous

The sighting of the morning must go to a mammal though.

We are used to our Long-haired Jack Russell bitch pouncing on grass verges as she images she has found some creature. So, we let her snuffle and root about in the springy cliff-top grass unconcernedly. Until, that is, she flushed out a fox cub. No bigger than a kitten, it fell over its own feet before disappearing into a well used run that vanished into a mass of bramble and gorse.

Spring Squill and
 attendant invertebrates

A pity it was quicker than me and my camera, so no picture this time.

Another Leg

Clouded Yellow

Today we walked from Compass Point Bude to Trevose View Widemouth Bay, adding another section to our South West Coast Path Walk.  We took the opportunity of a circular walk by returning via the Kingfisher Walk and Bude Canal for lunch at the Falcon.

Small Copper

Along the cliff top, we were overtaken by many swallows all flying south - summer is coming to and end.  I recorded a couple of Clouded Yellow butterflies and managed my first photograph  They seem so different when feeding with closed wings pale yellow whereas when flying they are a starling yellow and black..  They do seem to prefer the cliff edges on the coastal fringe.

Peacock

Other butterflies were present, particularly amongst the scrubby thistle patches.  Dodder was also in flower but only in one small area near to Philip's Point, Cornwall Wildlife Trust's smallest reserve.


Along the Kingfisher walk, most butterfly species were represented, but in much fewer numbers than last week.  It was warm and sunny, but fairly breezy and getting later in the year too.

Common Darter

The canal was very quiet, but it was afterall lunchtime.  We were delighted by a close encounter with a Kingfisher which "buzzed" us as it flew across the water.  I have never seen so many Common Darter dragonflies.  We were almost into double figures just west of Rodd's Bridge.  The Bird Hide pond was particularly favoured with three pairs  in tandem ovipositing in the open water.

Duckpool – Low tide, no sand

Today, this lunchtime, is the lowest tide of the year forecast to be chart datum 0.0m. I have been anticipating this since I bought my tide table late last year so a visit to Duckpool has been in the diary for some months.

Duckpool - no sand

Duckpool has completely changed. The stream that enters the sea has moved northwards and is deep and fierce where it crosses the pebble ridge. New archaeological features – hearths and flues are revealed, the former upper beach comprised of large boulders is now small boulders and shingle. But, the biggest change is the lack of sand. Up to 2 metres of sand has been stripped off the beach leaving bare rock ridges running to the Atlantic Ocean.

Keelworm

My plan to walk under Steeple Point and look at the Honeycomb worm (Sabellaria alveolata) and the remains of the SS Nettleton were thwarted. The beach is now so much lower that the tide is able to reach further up the beach cutting off the both features. The rocks are almost bare, showing hardly any seaweed and the rock pools are empty. Some Keelworms (Pomatoceros triqueter) and Purple Top Shells (Gibbula umbilicalis), Barnacle sp and a few Limpets were visible.  

Honeycomb worm

I heard Rock Pipits and Oystercatchers and saw a handful of Herring Gulls, but the Fulmars were selecting nest sites under Steeple Point with up to 16 birds on 10 sites.

It will be interesting to see when the sand returns and how the re-colonisation of the beach progresses.