Indian Summer

Giant Puffball - £2 coin for size

Dock Shieldbugs

According to my researches, an Indian Summer, which is an American expression, is used to describe a period of unseasonably good weather coming at the end of Fall, or as we would say autumn.

This last week has been a most welcome period of really warms, settled weather following a very mediocre period that should have been summer.  A real Indian Summer.

Small Copper

Yesterday was warm and dry with a cooling easterly breeze just the right weather for a good walk. We decided to walk out to our cliffs then north along the South West Coast path to the Bush Inn for lunch before returning home.

We were rewarded by a surprising number of species.  We started with a group of Giant Puffballs near to Stanbury cliff followed by a growing number of butterflies on the wing – eight different species in all at the end of September. 

Other invertebrates were about too, innumerable Silver Y moths, a Common Darter and two species of Shieldbug, Dock and Gorse.

Flocks of Linnets were seen, a large group of Herring Gulls, a couple of Kestrels and Oystercatchers too.  Masses of white butterflies were seen many too distant for specific identification and there was a definite migratory movement of Red Admirals heading south.

Red Admiral feeding on Ivy

One memorable sight was of eleven Red Admirals seen feasting on the newly opened tiny flowers of Ivy.  This is a good reminder to keep your Ivy until after these flowers have formed the hard bright black berries.  The flowers are magnets for flying  invertebrates of all sorts and the berries are a staple in the diet of Blackbirds and Thrushes.

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.

Morwenstow Cliffs

Between the wet and windy squalls, we finally made it to Stanbury cliffs to see what, if anything, the severe weather had left in its wake.

The path to the cliffs was, as expected, extremely wet and muddy in places requiring a detour to prevent mud coming over the tops of our boots, but we were undeterred.

Wave after wave of them ...

Our first sight at the end of the footpath above the beach was a Kestrel hovering in the teeth of the wind. It was high tide and huge waves were crashing into the foot of the cliffs, line after line of them. We determined to go towards Higher Sharpnose passing the worst of the eroding cliffs on the way.

There were lots of Mole hills on the South West Coastal Path and Badger evidence – well worn tracks under the Blackthorn and obvious latrines beyond the little stream on the way to Sharpnose.

The new detour

There was the appearance of rock slides once we were able to look back at the cliffs, but the most obvious was the new track into the gorse (where there is usually Dodder in season) to keep people away from the sheer eroded cliff. This has been slipping for a long time and was very attractive to people and dogs to inch to the edge and look over. As we inspected from a safe distance we could see the small stream that follows the path before falling over the cliff actually running uphill. On the detour we thought a squall was coming in as the spots of rain hit us – it was not, it was the small waterfall coming back over the path and wetting us!

The uphill waterfall

We headed nearer to Sharpnose and spotted a Peregrine high over the cliffs. The views of the waves

breaking against the cliffs were spectacular.

On the return we identified sprinklings of shale over the path and field where the storms has stripped loose pieces from the cliff and flung them back inland. I would not have liked to have been there in the teeth of it.

Back at the footpath half a dozen Meadow Pipits were piping and feeding in the field as a Magpie cruised over. The only other birds about was a group of very noisy Herring Gulls obviously in their element.