The herring gull is the gull most commonly encountered in Cornwall, with a grey back and red spot on their yellow beak. They live for around 12 years and are highly intelligent birds with strong communication and social learning skills. This has allowed them to evolve strategies to obtain food more easily by stealing it from humans, either when briefly left unattended or by swooping and grabbing from unsuspecting hands.
Whilst their pasty and ice cream stealing antics in coastal resorts might give the impression there are lots around, the coastal herring gull population dropped by about 50% from 1970 to the mid 1980s and the decline has continued with another drop of around 50% up to 2020.
Part of the decline in coastal herring gull populations can be explained by a migration of birds inland to urban areas. Birds have been driven inland in search of food and roosting sites due to declining fish populations and lack of undisturbed coastal nesting sites. In urban areas, streetlights allow gulls to forage by night and there is no longer much competition from red kites, which scavenged the rubbish tips in the Middle Ages.
At the time of writing, a survey of the inland populations is being carried out to determine the relative size of these vs the coastal population and if these are stable. The first datasets from some of the devolved UK Nations suggest that is unlikely to explain the majority of the decline. Since the 1990s, 96% of the population in Northern Ireland died out predominantly from botulism. It's thought that birds seeking food on rubbish tips might be bringing this back to colonies.
The herring gull is an example of a "ring species". In Europe, the lesser black-backed gull and herring gull are distinct species, yet as you circumnavigate the globe, the populations become more similar until they merge in the middle as a single species.
Herring gulls are able to communicate nuances both by altering the frequency and timbre of their calls - conveying, for example, the relative severity of a threat in an alarm call. They also analyse and remember the personality of their neighbours, ignoring more skittish birds but taking action when a more trusted bird raises an alarm.
Coverack harbour was built in 1724. The remains of an old slipway, which predates the harbour, can still be seen between the lifeboat station slipway and the harbour wall.
Some of the buildings around the harbour, such as the gift shop, are former fish cellars or net lofts. There were originally more cellars: the Paris Hotel and its car park are on the sites of two, and one also existed in the area at the top of the harbour where the boats are now kept.
In May 1899, The American ocean liner SS Paris was off course and would have hit the Manacles if a pilot boat had not been nearby and warned the ship to take evasive action. Instead, the Paris ran aground at Lowland Point. The collision was described by an off-duty captain amongst the passengers: "I heard a tremendous crash, and, as a steamboat man, I knew we were on the bottom and that if she slipped from the rock we would be in Queer street."
Fortunately, the sea was calm and no-one aboard was hurt. After the call for "All hands on deck", a passenger recalled: "Many came on deck in their night clothing. One man wore his drawers and his wife's fur cape, but his appearance caused so much smiling that his wife sent him down to dress, which he did in the music room, to the equal amusement of all."
The passengers were all safely rescued from the ship which was lodged upright on the flat rocks. If it weren't for the warning from the pilot boat and the ship had hit the offshore rocks of The Manacles, it is likely that she would have sunk with great loss of life.
Attempts were made to refloat the liner, using six powerful tugs to pull the ship off the rocks, but these were unsuccessful. Finally, a German firm successfully refloated the ship for a fee of a quarter of a million pounds, which would be in excess of £25 million in today's money.
In 2007, builders discovered a secret compartment in Coverack between Gloster Cottage and the house beside (Hillside), thought to be used for smuggling. The structure was built of cob and stone and within it were some remains from the 19th Century including a glass bottle, a bone-handled knife and the remains of glazed pots.
In 1807, the Norwegian ship Veritas was on its way from Gothenburg to Bristol with a cargo of pit props when it collided with another vessel in the English Channel. It underwent repairs in Portsmouth and continued its voyage but started leaking badly as it passed along the Cornish coast. The rising seawater put out the fires in the boilers, so the crew abandoned ship and rowed into Coverack. Tugs were sent from Falmouth to rescue the vessel but whilst under tow in Coverack bay, the bow tilted downwards and all the water inside rushed forwards, causing the vessel to nosedive into the seabed. It stood on end, with the stern at the surface, for two days until it finally sank, landing upside down.
Serpentine rocks are well-known for being slippery. Part of the reason is that the serpentinization process produces soft minerals such as talc. These minerals have a plate-like structure that have strong chemical bonds within a layer, but the bonds between layers are weak so that the layers glide over each other. Rocks composed almost entirely of talc are known as "soapstone" as they are so slippery. Also, because the minerals are quite soft, foot traffic causes the surface of the rocks to become polished.
In February 1912, the 2512 ton steel-hulled German sailing ship, Pindos, was near the end of her voyage from South America with a cargo of nitrates. The ship had stopped in Falmouth but had become trapped by a strong southeasterly wind. The shipping company sent a tug to tow the ship back across the channel to Hamburg. However when they cleared Falmouth, the tug's captain found it was unable to make headway against the strong wind and both ships were being blown down the Channel. The tug had to release the tow to get to safety, but the heavy towing hawser left dragging in the water made it impossible for the Pindos to steer. The ship ran aground on the Guthens rocks and the crew were rescued by the Coastguard and Coverack lifeboat. After a couple of days, a storm broke up the ship, and the wreckage is still strewn over the reef around the rocks.
The route continues to the right but first you may want to explore the headland and beach.
Follow the inland path uphill to reach a gate marked "Coverack Headland".
The path to the left leads out onto the headland - Chynhalls Point and the path ahead from the waymark leads onto the beach ahead - Porthbeer. At high tide the beach is stony but as the tide goes out, a sandy beach is revealed.
There are remains of a cliff castle on Chynhalls Point. The headland is defended via a pair of earth ramparts across the neck of the promontory with a ditch between them, thought to have been constructed around 2500 years ago. On the far side of the rock outcrop, the point slopes quite gently down to a flat area beside the sea, sheltered from westerly winds by the rocks above, which makes a rather nice picnic spot. However, no evidence of any kind of settlement has so far been found on the point.
Foxgloves are reliant on bumblebees for pollination and bumblebees are much more active when the weather is good. Partly, as an insurance policy against bad weather, foxgloves have evolved to stagger their flowering over several weeks, starting with the flowers at the base of the stalk and working up to the top, where the higher flowers protrude over other vegetation that has grown up in that time.
Blackthorn and hawthorn trees both grow in similar places but in each season there are different ways to tell them apart.
In spring, blackthorn is one of the first trees to flower. The white blossom appears before the leaves in April. In warm weather, the leaves may quickly catch up and this is when it can get mistaken for hawthorn, which produces leaves before flowers. However, there are a few other ways to distinguish the flowers: blackthorn pollen is orange whereas hawthorn is pink, fading to black. Hawthorn petals overlap each other whereas blackthorn is more "gappy".
In summer, the leaf shape can be used to tell them apart. Blackthorn leaves are a classic leaf shape with slightly serrated edges. Hawthorn leaves have deep notches dividing the leaf into several lobes a bit like oak.
In autumn, pretty much all hawthorn trees have small red berries, even the windswept specimens on the coast. Blackthorn trees may have purple sloes, but not all the trees fruit each year. Some years seem to result in a lot more sloes than others.
Hawthorn trees are often a little bigger than blackthorn, especially in harsh environments such as on the coast. Blackthorn tends to form thickets whereas hawthorn are typically distinct trees. Hawthorn bark is usually shiny whereas blackthorn is dull. The thorns on hawthorn tend to be shorter (less then 2cm) and point slightly forwards on the stem. Blackthorn has longer spikes that stick out at right angles.
Chynhalls is a typically functional Cornish place name, the gist of which is "house on the cliff".
Ivy is rarely a threat to healthy trees. Ivy is not a parasite. Since it has its own root system, it absorbs its own nutrients. It simply uses a tree for support. The main risk to trees is during strong winds when the surface of the ivy can act as a sail which, together with the extra weight from the ivy, can cause a tree to fall.
There is one native species of elm in the UK: the wych elm. The name is nothing to do with witches but is from an Old English word for "supple", referring to its use for longbows. An originally non-native European species of elm was thought to have been introduced during the Bronze Age and this has radiated into some forms that are now distinct to Britain. The main ones are field elm and the English elm.
The route continues on the path currently directly ahead, but first you may want to explore the sculpture park.
Follow the path to reach a private path joining from the right and continue ahead to reach a pedestrian gate. Go through this and follow the path out onto the coast to reach a crossing of paths with a waymark for Kennack Sands.
The Terence Coventry Sculpture Park consists of around 30 sculptures, mostly of animals from the rural environment. Their creator gave up an art career to work as a farmer and eventually returned to his passion, incorporating the influences of working on a Cornish coastal farm.
The cattle breeds known as Devon were also the traditional breeds used in Cornwall until recent years. The South Devon breed, affectionately known as "Orange Elephant" or "Gentle Giant", is the largest of the British native breeds: the largest recorded bull weighed 2 tonnes. They are thought to have descended from the large red cattle of Normandy, which were imported during the Norman invasion of England. The other breed, known as "Devon Ruby" or "Red Ruby" (due to their less orange colouration), is one of the oldest breeds in existence, with origins thought to be from pre-Roman Celtic Britain.
Lizards are cold-blooded so they need to bask in the sun to warm up to their "operating temperature" which is around 30 Celcius. They usually do so with an area of cover nearby which forms an escape route from predators. You're therefore likely to encounter them in sunny spots on footpaths and footbridges. Once they spot you, they will usually make a hasty escape - they can move pretty quickly once they are warmed-up. During winter they hibernate as in cold temperatures they are too slow to catch any food (insects, spiders etc. which are also less numerous over the winter).
Over recent decades, the kestrel population has been in decline and is now about half of what it was at the start of the 1970s. The exact reasons are not known but it's strongly suspected it is connected to a decline in vole numbers perhaps due to changing farming methods. Reduced availability of nesting sites (e.g. in old trees) may also be a contributing factor.
A lookout was built on The Lizard's Black Head during the Napoleonic Wars to spot invading French vessels but by the end of the 19th century this had fallen into ruin. During the First World War, a new lookout was built. The first version, known as "Hotel Cecil" was somewhat improvised out of driftwood, rocks and turf with a galvanised iron roof. In 1915, this was replaced with the present structure which remained in use until 1987. It is now owned by the National Trust and is open to the public. Inside there is information not just about the lookout itself but also the local wildlife and geology.
The 1500 ton steel sailing ship, Gunvor, was on its way back from Chile in April 1912 when it ran into fog off the Cornish coast. The vessel ran head-on into the cliffs of Black Head with such force that the steel masts bent over and the whole ship swung in against the rocks, ending up parallel to the cliffs. Where the ship came to rest, the bowsprit extended over an area of dry rock so the crew were able to escape along it and use a rope ladder to get to the shore. The remains of the wreck lie under the cliffs but have been broken up to a large degree by the sea.
In April 1914 the "Normand" was carrying ballast on its way back from delivering cargo to Nantes and headed for Fowey. As it rounded the Lizard it encountered thick fog and hit the shore at Beagle Rock in Kennack Bay near Black Head. The crew were able to scramble ashore onto the rocks but the ship was destroyed by the sea.
In 1917, the Camarthen - a steamship of over 4,000 tons - was entering the Channel on a return journey from Genoa when it was holed by a torpedo from a U-boat. A trawler attempted to tow the sinking vessel to the shore but the Camarthen grounded off Beagles Point (recorded elsewhere as "Eagle Cove") to the west of Black Head and was lost.
The county flower of Cornwall is the Cornish Heath - a plant that most people (Cornish included) have never heard of let alone seen. The only place in England that the shrub grows is on the Lizard Peninsula and it looks fairly unremarkable until late summer when it produces the most beautiful tiny lilac-coloured flowers. It is easy to distinguish from other heather flowers by the dark ring around the ends of the pale flowers.
Two of the narrow inlets in the bay are named "Zawn Carve" and "Zawn Vinoc".
According to "The Z to Z of Great Britain", there are just over 40 place names in Britain that begin with the letter Z; over three-quarters of them are in Cornwall. One of the main reasons for this is that the Cornish word for "coastal inlet" is zawn, and coastline is something that Cornwall has rather a lot of.
Lankidden Point is a dyke of hard, grey gabbro rock which protrudes through the surrounding blacker serpentine rocks. The rock stack on the end is called Carrick Lûz, which is Cornish for "grey rock".
At high water the beach consists of serpentine boulders, but as the tide goes out a sandy beach is revealed with numerous rockpools along the edges. The sand is fine and pale in colour, similar to Coverack beach. Downas Cove faces south so it gets the sun all year round and it gets some shelter from Beagles Point.
The underwater landscape between Downas Cove and Lankidden Point has been described as one of the best snorkelling locations in Cornwall both due to the marine life and the underwater serpentine rock formations.
The path to Lankidden Cove departs from the left after the coast path passes through a blackthorn hedge, and just before the coast path descends into a dip.
Lankidden Cove is almost covered at high tide; as the tide goes out, a white, sandy beach is revealed. The beach is sheltered by the point and high cliffs and faces south, making it a sun-trap. Access is from a steep path that ends with a climb down rocks using a rope.
Just before you turn right to go up the track, Lankidden cliff castle and point is at the end of the field on your left. There is a grassy area at the end of the point overlooking Carrick Luz that is a nice spot for picnics on a calm, sunny day.
On Lankidden point are the remains of a cliff castle in the form of a single well-preserved bank and ditch across the headland. The structure dates from the Iron Age and isolates an area of approximately one hectare on the end of the headland.
The settlement of Arrowan was first recorded in 1312. The name is thought to be based on a Cornish word, although exactly which is uncertain. One possibility is harow which is similar to the English word (i.e. farming implement to break up soil).
Common fleabane grows in damp areas and produces shin-height flowers resembling a large yellow daisy during July and August.
The leaves have a scent reminiscent of carbolic acid (phenol). The plant was therefore thought to be an insect repellent without too much thought given to what pollinates it. It was kept in houses in the hope of driving away fleas, hence the name. The genus name also derives from the Latin word for flea.
There are over 4,000 farms in Cornwall covering over a quarter of a million hectares. Over 70% of Cornwall's land is farmed.
Ponsongath was formerly Ponsangath and there are still some road signs with the old spelling. The name is from the Cornish words pons - "bridge", an - "the", and kath - "cat" (which mutates to gath when placed after an). The gist is "pussycat bridge".
Purple loosestrife usually grows in damp places such as next to a stream and can be spotted from spikes of bright purple flowers in August-September.
The common name is thought to be the result of a 16th century mistranslation of the Latin name. Attempts were then made to make "loose strife" fit with reported uses for the plant to try to rationalise the wacky name. The Latin name is now thought simply to refer to the name of city in Thrace (Greek-Turkish border) which perhaps had the plant growing along its watercourses.
Willow trees are usually found in wet places including riverbanks and waterlogged ground. Common species include grey willow and goat willow but these often hybridise so they are more often known by the more broad-brush collective term "pussy willows" (due to their catkins). In January the fluffy, grey male catkins appear and and turn bright yellow in March when they release their pollen. Then in April, the fertilised female catkins develop into woolly seeds. In early May, air can be filled with the downy seeds that look a bit like dandelion seeds.
In marshes, micro-organisms thrive in the wet mud and use up the supply of oxygen. To survive being partially buried in mud with low oxygen levels, many marsh plants have therefore evolved snorkels: air channels in the stem which allow oxygen to reach the base of the plant. This is why the leaves of reeds feel spongy.
Cow parsley, also known by the more flattering name of Queen Anne's Lace, is a member of the carrot family. Over the last few decades, cow parsley has substantially increased on roadside verges: there is more than half as much again as there was 30 years ago. The reason is thought to be to an increase in soil fertility caused by a few different factors. In the more distant past, verges were grazed or the grass was cut and used for hay. Now when it is cut by mechanical devices, it is left to rot in place forming a "green manure". In the last few decades there has also been an increase in fertilising nitrogen compounds both from farm overspill and from car exhausts. Whilst this extra fertility is good news for cow parsley and also brambles and nettles, it is causing these species to out-compete many other wildflowers along hedgerows.
A stone hand axe, some pebble tools and quite a lot of prehistoric flints have been found in the fields in this area.
On the downs ahead are the remains of a prehistoric field system and 5 Bronze-Age hut circles.
The low stone walls remaining as hut circles were once the foundations of a round house. The granite foundations were likely to have been set into cob (mud and straw) walls which provided insulation and draft exclusion over bare-stone walls. A conical thatched roof on a timber frame rested on top of the walls. Heating was via a central fire which required some care with the thatched roof - presumably roof fires were not unheard of! These buildings varied in size from a just over a metre in diameter up to 10 metres. Some had walled enclosures attached and a few also had internal partitions.
The settlement of Polcoverack was recorded in 1262 and is thought to mean "Coverack cove", based on the name of the stream that meets the sea there. The name Coverack itself is from the Cornish word gover for "stream".
In English we often add a -y ending to a noun to turn it into an adjective; for example "rock" becomes "rocky". For many of the nouns imported from French, we add "-ic" (acidic, magnetic, artistic...). The equivalent in Cornish is to add -ack or -ek to the end of the word. Thus meynek is "stony" (men is stone), stennack means "tinny" (sten is tin).
375 million years ago, the rocks on Coverack beach were a molten state around 10 kilometres below the seabed; they were pushed to the surface by the huge pressure created by two colliding continents. The rocks on the beach include the actual junction between the Earth's crust and mantle, known as the "Moho discontinuity". To the left of this, in the direction of Lowland Point, the rocks are gabbro, formed in the oceanic crust. To the right, towards the harbour, the darker rocks are serpentine and originated in the earth's mantle. At the junction between the two, there are boulders with bands of one rock type forced through the other.
During late winter or early spring, if you encounter a patch of plants with white bell-shaped flowers, smelling strongly of onions, and with long, narrow leaves then they are likely to be three-cornered leeks. Once you're familiar with their narrow, ridged leaves, you'll be able to spot these emerging from late October onwards.
The plants get their name due to their triangular flower stems. As the name also suggests, they are members of the onion family and have a small bulb. In fact, in New Zealand they are known as "onion weed". They are also known as "snowbell" due to their white bluebell-like flowers.
Three-cornered leeks are native to the Mediterranean and are first recorded as being introduced to the UK in 1759. By Victorian times, they had become well-established in the wild. They thrive in the moist, mild climate in Cornwall and are salt-tolerant so will grow almost anywhere, even on the coast.
The plant spreads to form dense colonies, crowding-out native species. The onion-flavoured seeds are very attractive to ants who carry them quite large distances and forget some of them, allowing the plant to colonise new areas. In fact three-cornered leeks are so invasive that they are illegal to plant in the wild.
All parts of the plant are edible by humans and the flavour of the leaves is relatively mild so they can be used in recipes in place of spring onions or chives. They are at their best for culinary use from November to April. By mid-May, they have flowered and the leaves are starting to die back.
The long leaves can be mistaken for bluebells or daffodils which are both poisonous but do not smell of onions. However, fingers that have previously picked 3-cornered leeks also smell of onions and so mistakes have been made this way.
All plants in the onion family including three-cornered leeks are poisonous to dogs. Keep dogs away from the plant and wash their paws if they come into contact with it.
Blackberries are closely related to raspberries and technically neither is a berry but an aggregate of many individual tiny fruits, each containing a tiny stone like a miniature cherry.
Blackberries are high in vitamin C, K and antioxidants. The seeds, despite being a bit crunchy, contain omega-3 and -6 fatty acids and further enhance blackberries' "superfood" status.
According to folklore, you should not pick blackberries after Michaelmas Day (11th October) as this is when the devil claims them. The basis for this is thought to be the potentially toxic moulds which can develop on the blackberries in the cooler, wetter weather.
A project to analyse blackberries picked from busy urban roadsides vs quiet rural lanes found that there was a slightly elevated level of lead in the blackberries from busy roadsides which is thought to have accumulated in the soil when leaded fuel was in common use. Surprisingly, commercial blackberries from supermarkets also showed higher levels of lead than the wild blackberries from rural lanes.
An impressively purple blackberry, pear and ginger chutney can be made with blackberries stashed in the freezer. Simmer 500g blackberries, a few chilli flakes, 4 chopped pears and a finely-chopped 8cm piece of fresh ginger until the liquid reduces. Add 150ml distilled or white wine vinegar, and sugar to taste (amount will depend on tartness of the blackberries). Reduce a bit longer until the desired "gloopy" consistency is achieved and finally season with a little salt to taste to balance the sweetness.
To make blackberry wine, combine 2kg blackberries + 4 litres of boiling water in a plastic container with a lid. Once the water has cooled to lukewarm, mash blackberries and add red wine yeast and pectic enzyme (blackberries contain pectin so this is needed to stop the wine being cloudy). Cover for 4-5 days then strain through muslin.
Transfer the liquid to a demijohn and add 1kg of sugar. Top up with a little more water to make it up to a gallon. After fermentation, the wine should clear by itself; in the unlikely event that it doesn't, use some finings. Rack off from the sediment and bottle; it's worth allowing the wine a year or two to mature as it massively improves with age. As a variation, you can add 500g of elderberries and increase the sugar content for a more port-like wine which will need a couple of years longer for the elderberry tannins to mellow out.
Several species of heather grow in Cornwall and are most easily recognised when they flower from July to September. The one with the most brightly coloured (purple) flowers is known as bell heather due to the bell-shaped flowers. This is the earliest one to start flowering - normally in June. Bell heather is usually interspersed with ling or common heather which has much smaller flowers which are usually paler and pinker and come out at the start of July. A third kind known as cross-leafed heath is less abundant but can be recognised by the pale pink bell-shaped flowers that grow only near the tips of the stems, resembling pink lollipops. A fourth species known as Cornish heath grows only on the Lizard and has more elaborate flowers which are mostly pale with a dark purple crown at the front.
Heathers and heaths are members of the Ericaceae family. The formal definition of a heather is a member of the Calluna genus within this family whereas heaths are members of the Erica genus. Bell heather is actually an Erica and therefore technically not a heather but a heath.
Heather plants have a symbiotic relationship with fungi which grows inside and between some of the plant root cells. Up to 80% of the root structure can be made up of fungi. The fungi are able to extract nutrients from poor, acidic soils that plants struggle with. In return, the plant is able to generate other nutrients (e.g. sugars by photosynthesis) that are useful to the fungi. A similar partnership between plants and fungi occurs in lichens.
Heather can grow in soils which have concentrations of metals normally considered toxic to other plants and they are also tolerant of salty (high sodium) environments on the coast. Their symbiosis with fungi restricts metal uptake through their roots.
Heather plants can live up to 40 years and over time they form woody stems. This provides them with a way of excreting heavy metals that they absorb by locking it up in the layers of dead wood (found by researchers as the areas in the plant with the highest concentrations). Their woody stems have also found many uses over the centuries including fuel, thatch and ropes. One other use has made it into the genus name for heather - kallune is Greek for "to brush".
Hemp agrimony is a fairly tall plant that grows in damp places and produces large number of tiny pink flowers from July to September, hence an alternative common name of "raspberries and cream". The flowers are rich in nectar so bees and butterflies are often found on them. It's one of the later plants to be in flower in the hedgerows so it keeps bees and butterflies going during the early autumn.
It is unrelated to hemp and also to plants in agrimony family. The reason for "hemp" in common name and "cannabinum" in the Latin name is because the leaves look a bit like cannabis. A name of "holy rope" has also been used for it which may be another reference to hemp.
Porthbeer Cove is a sandy beach dotted with serpentine boulders. At high tide the sand is covered and the beach is just boulders. As the tide goes out, the sand is revealed but if swimming here, be aware that the isolated boulders can still be hidden beneath the water.
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