Porth Reservoir is managed by the South West Lakes Trust as a mature coarse fishery with carp, pike, bream, tench and roach. Some of the carp weigh up to 32lb and the pike can weigh up to 24lb. The dam was built in 1960 and the lake contains around 500 million litres of water available to quench the hangovers in Newquay. The area around the lake is a designated bird sanctuary with bird hides and the surrounding woodland is used for the teaching of woodland crafts.
Although herons primarily eat fish, they will eat frogs, rodents, moles, ducklings and even baby rabbits! They are quite brave birds and will venture into gardens and parks to eat the ornamental fish. They have also been known to visit zoos to steal fish during penguin and seal feeding.
Many of the trees along the path are oak.
Wood from the oak has a lower density than water (so it floats) but has a great strength and hardness, and is very resistant to insect and fungal attack because of its high tannin content. This made it perfect for shipbuilding.
The mature trees around the reservoir provide a habitat for Green Woodpeckers.
All of the woodpeckers bore holes in trees in which they nest, but only the spotted woodpeckers drill into trees in search of food, spending most of their time perched on a tree. Conversely, green woodpeckers spend most of their time on the ground, hunting for ants. The ants nests are excavated using their strong beak, and then ants are caught on the barbed end of their long tongue. In fact, their tongue is so long that it needs to be curled around their skull to fit inside their head.
As this is a permissive path, it isn't cut by the council so it's reliant on walkers to keep it clear. If you have secateurs, use them to snip away some of the brambles encroaching into the path as you pass along this section. Over the last couple of years, the bramble situation has improved considerably due to regular snipping - it's definitely working.
The woods also provide cover for deer to hide during the day.
The Roe Deer is unusual among hoofed animals as the egg is fertilised at the time of mating but then goes into suspended animation for several months - a process known as delayed implantation. This mechanism means that instead of being born in late winter, the young are born in early summer when food is more plentiful.
In most species with delayed implantation, the mother sends out a hormonal signal to tell the embryo to wake up. However in the case of the Roe Deer, the embryo has a built-in egg timer which sends a chemical message back to the mother that it's time to resume the pregnancy.
Grey squirrels were introduced to the UK from the USA in the late 19th Century and within decades they had replaced the native red squirrel in most parts of the country.
The ruins half-way along on the right-hand side of the track are of Fir Hill Manor.
Much of the valley surrounding Porth Reservoir was part of the large estate of the Hoblyn family known as Nanswhyden (meaning "Valley of the trees"). This once surrounded the elegant Nanswhyden House built in 1740s which was gutted by a fire in 1803. A new manor house, known as Fir Hill house, was built in the 1850s. In the 1960s, its owner died but his heir never accepted the claim, instead living in an RV in California with his sister. This created a 40 year legal impasse where his cousin - the next male family member - was unable to inherit the estate and restore the house, and so the house fell into ruin. Despite never taking his claim, the heir did change the will so that the majority of the estate went to his two sisters on his death, rather than to his cousin. When the heir died in 2011, the legal dispute was settled and the estate was sold so the proceeds could be split between his elderly sisters in the US and used to pay their medical bills.
Blackbirds begin singing from around the end of January but it is normally the overkeen young males initially - the older, wiser males wait until March, pacing themselves for the singing period which continues into the early summer. Blackbirds have been shown to sing more during and after rain but exactly why is not yet known.
Colan Church is situated close to Porth Reservoir, near Newquay. The first church known to be built on the site was in 1250 and the present church dates from 1360, initially built to a cruciform plan and expanded during the 15th century. It was dedicated to a 7th-century Welsh saint known as Collen or Colanus, who like many of the Celtic saints, settled in Cornwall before moving on to Brittany. In 1876, the church was in a dilapidated state, but thanks to the vicar and the Hoblyn family of Fir Hall Manor, the main tower was rebuilt in 1879 and by 1887, the church had been completely restored. It became the Hoblyn family church and some of the Hoblyns are buried there.
There are two holy wells associated with Colan church. One is directly opposite the churchyard gate and may have been the original sacred spring around which the churchyard grew. The other, beside the lane to Lady Nance was visited in a Palm Sunday tradition where members of the congregation would throw their palm crosses into the well. The superstition was that if the cross floated, the thrower would live for another year, but if it sank, the thrower's life expectancy was less than 12 months!
Before Christianity, the Pagan Celtic people of Cornwall worshipped wonders of the natural world. Where clean, drinkable water welled up from the ground in a spring, this was seen as pretty awesome. The sites were seen as portals to another world, and is why fairies are often associated with springs. Where the springwater dissolved minerals, for specific conditions (e.g. deficiency in a mineral) or where the minerals present had antibacterial/fungal properties, the water appeared to have healing powers.
The first records of Tregoose Mill are from 1562 and the mill was recorded as still in use in 1830. The name is likely to derive from the Cornish word for woodland.
In early spring, the bank on the opposite side of the bridge is covered in snowdrops.
Snowdrop bulbs are poisonous but contain a chemical compound which is used in the treatment of early Alzheimer's, vascular dementia and brain damage. The plant produces another substance in its leaves which inhibits the feeding of insect pests. This is being researched to see if this substance can be introduced into other plants to reduce the use of pesticides.
The river rises in the marshes on the opposite side of the A30 from Goss Moor. Below Porth Reservoir, it has cut a deep valley beside St Columb Minor. The river enters the sea on Porth beach and the slot-shaped beach with headlands either side are effectively all part of this valley. Despite this and a legend about the river being created by blood spilled when St Columba's head was cut off, the river has no name.
The first record of the settlement of Nanswhyden is from 1262 (as Nanswhidden) but the Cornish language name implies it dates from the early medieval period. The name is derived from the Cornish words for valley and trees. Amongst the farm buildings there is the remains of a dovecote which is unusual for being heated. It had a fireplace and chimney to keep the birds warm.
The male and female parts of a foxglove flower mature at different times to help avoid self-fertilisation. This also ties in with the flowers maturing at the bottom of the spike first as pollinators often start at the lowest flower and then work upwards. They land on the mature female flowers first with a cargo of pollen from another plant, and then leave via the mature male flowers with a new load of pollen.
If you're doing this walk in the morning, you may notice a layer of fog above the reservoir which then begins to clear during the walk.
The layer of fog which forms above the land or water during the night is known as "Radiation Fog" as it is caused by the surface cooling (by radiating away energy as infra-red) during the night. This in turn cools the air close to the surface which reduces its ability to hold moisture and this condenses out as a fog of tiny droplets. Once the sun rises and the ground begins to warm up, the fog usually dissipates relatively quickly.
Meadow buttercups spread across a field relatively slowly as most seeds fall quite close to the parent and although it has a creeping root system capable of propagating new plants, this only extends a fairly short distance from each plant (unlike creeping buttercup which has a much more extensive root system). Because grazing animals avoid buttercups due to their acrid taste, this allows them to accumulate over time. The combination of these factors allows the number of meadow buttercups in a field to be used as an indicator of how long it's been used for grazing.
An acre is a unit of area dating back to mediaeval times, based on the amount of land that could be ploughed with a yoke of oxen in one day. It was standardised in 1824 as a rectangle of 4 rods (66 feet) by one furlong (660 feet). The 10:1 "letterbox" aspect ratio comes from the long, thin field shapes in mediaeval times to minimise the awkward process of turning the oxen around. In fact the name "furlong" comes from the Old English for "one furrow long". The acre has since lost its prescribed shape and now just means 43,560 square feet.
As all the public footpaths in this area are graded as "silver", they don't get cut regularly. The area around the gate/stile and around the footbridge is prone to getting overgrown so if you have secateurs, give the vegetation here (especially any brambles) a good snip on your way through. The next walkers will then be able to cut it back a bit further and slowly, but surely, it will get pruned into shape.
Bramble roots are perennial but its shoots last just two years. In the first year, the shoots grow vigorously (up to 8cm in one day!). In the second year, the shoots mature and send out side-shoots with flowers.
In the 1990s, a process was put in place to transfer the leisure activities managed by South West Water to a new charity. The South West Lakes Trust was formed in 2000 and looks after the following lakes in Cornwall: Argal, College, Crowdy, Porth, Siblyback, Stithians and Tamar. The trust now also includes the Wheal Martin china clay museum.
Biologically, there is no clear distinction between ducks, geese and swans (geese and swans are one lanky subfamily of ducks). Dark-coloured ducks get the equivalent of "grey hairs" with age - their feathers gradually turn white.
The species of duck that you're most likely to encounter is the mallard. Mature males have striking iridescent green heads and dark bodies whilst females look totally different - a brown and white pattern which offers much better camouflage. However, both have a common feature that is unique to mallards - an iridescent blue patch on their wings.
In situations where ducks need to watch out for predators, they can sleep one half of their brain at a time, keeping one eye open for danger. In safer circumstances, ducks will sleep fully.
Male ducks (drakes) have a penis which falls off every autumn and regrows the following spring. The length each year depends on the amount of competition for females and varies up to a maximum of the duck's whole body length.
Ducks can change gender. This happens for about 1 duck in 10,000 and more commonly from female to male than the other way around. It seems to occur in a flock of ducks where there is a significant gender imbalance where it gives the duck that changes a competitive advantage. It's likely that the female to male direction is a bigger evolutionary win because one male can fertilise multiple females.
Feeding bread to ducks is quite bad for them although not feeding ducks anything at all is potentially worse as many have now become reliant on being fed. White bread lacks many of the nutrients that ducks need but ducks will gorge on it to the point of ignoring other foods, effectively becoming junk food addicts. The problem is that by filling up on just this, they can become malnourished, deformed and even die. Some healthier things to feed ducks are leftover peas, sweetcorn, seeds, rice and salad.
The common carp originated in the inland delta of the Danube River about 2000 years ago, and was torpedo-shaped and golden in colour. The Romans then farmed it in large ponds in southern Europe, and domesticated version became gradually fatter through selective breeding. During the 13th-16th centuries, domestic carp was spread around Europe by monks who kept it in abbey ponds as a source of food.
Carp are omnivorous and although the prefer worms and crustaceans, they can survive on a diet of water plants. In British lakes, carp can reach over 70lb (30kg) in weight which makes them popular with anglers.
Pike are predatory freshwater fish with a long body shape which allows them to accelerate rapidly and ambush their prey. The name comes from the long pole with a spike on the end, used as a weapon.
Pike feed predominantly on fish which can include smaller pike. Larger pike will also eat rodents and birds including ducklings. With enough food, a pike can reach more than a metre in length.
The athletic nature of pike makes them a highly-prized quarry of sport anglers.
Roach are silver freshwater fish with red fins that are members of the Carp family. They are typically found in shoals in fairly static water such as lakes and canals. Cornwall's fast-flowing streams are the domain of more powerful swimmers such as trout.
Roach are tough little fish that can live for up to 15 years. They are able to cope with more pollution than most other fish, salty water, cold temperatures and can even adapt their body shape to deal with a scarcity of food. They are able to survive on just about anything from insects and fish eggs to water plants.
They can be confused with their cousins rudd which are similar in shape and also have red fins. The easiest way to tell them apart is that rudd have distinctly upturned mouths for hoovering in floating water plants.
Coots are black with a white beak and head shield. This white patch is the origin of the phrase "bald as a coot". Moorhens look similar but have a red beak.
Coots are extremely aggressive, especially in the breeding season. If their chicks annoy them, the parents will bite them. Consequently quite a few coot chicks starve to death due to mean parents.
The name "bream" is confusingly used for unrelated fish.
"bream" on its own is normally applied to a freshwater fish of the carp family, sometimes qualified as "freshwater bream" or less usefully as "common bream". This is often stocked in lakes for sport fishing.
"sea bream" is a very loose term used to cover over 100 species of marine fish. Many are warmer water fish which is why Cornwall is the main place in the UK they have been caught. The most common (and likely to be sold in supermarkets or restaurants) are black bream and red bream but at least 5 other species are also caught, gilthead bream being perhaps the next most common in Cornwall. Some of these species are on the increase in southern UK waters, most likely as a result of global warming.
The yellow water iris (also known as yellow flag) is a native plant but can become invasive and have a negative effect on biodiversity due to its ability to out-compete many other water plants. It is thought by some to be the original plant on which the "fleur-de-lis" heraldic symbol is based.
If heavy metals are present in the soil, the plant is quite effective at absorbing these. This together with its aptitude for growing in pools of shallow water makes it potentially useful for detoxifying mine drainage.
Kingfishers are found near slow-moving or still water where they dive to catch fish, as their name implies, but they also eat many aquatic insects, ranging from dragonfly nymphs to water beetles.
The Kingfisher is able to switch between light receptors in the main central area of its eye and a forward-facing set when it enters water, allowing it to judge distances accurately underwater. It is estimated that a female needs to eat over twice her own body weight in order to increase her condition sufficiently for egg laying.
The unmistakable metallic blue and orange birds fly fast and low over the surface of the water so may only be apparent as a blue flash. The pigment in their feathers is actually brown but the microstructure of their features results in light interference patterns which generate the brilliant iridescent blue and orange colours. Unfortunately the result, during Victorian times, was that kingfishers were extensively killed for display in glass cases and for use in hat making. The population has since recovered and is now limited by the availability of suitable waterways.
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