All life is here!
A walk along the SWCP reveals a technicolour dream-coast alive with natural encounters.
AN EXPEDITION AROUND England’s south-western tip offers a bewildering range of habitats from wildflowerstrewn cliff tops, to rock pools that are home to starfish, crabs and anemones. Towering cliff faces are breeding grounds for seabird colonies such as razorbills and guillemots, while north Devon’s Braunton Burrows is one of the UK’s largest sand dune systems, with over 470 species of flowering plant.
The Lizard Peninsula is Britain’s most southerly point and Cornwall’s sub-tropical climate brings exotic visitors such as ocean sunfish and leatherback turtles, while sightings of basking shark have hit record numbers this year.
Secluded bays provide shelter for colonies of grey seal, and you may well sight a pod of common dolphin or porpoise. Even more impressive is the chance to see the world’s fastest animal: the peregrine falcon that stoops on its prey at speeds of up to 240mph.
And there are conservation successes to celebrate. This year has seen a white-tailed eagle flying over the south coast of England and ospreys breeding in Poole harbour, while numbers of Cornish chough, a member of the crow family with a distinctive crimson beak, continue to grow slowly. And on the south coast of Devon the cirl bunting, has seen an impressive resurgence, its population growing from just 118 breeding pairs in 1989 to around 1000.
Walk the coastal path in summer and you can spot butterflies such as green hairstreaks and Adonis blues, small pearl bordered fritillaries, vibrant burnet moths and migrant clouded yellows. But there is something special about the 40 miles from Portland to Swanage, which represent almost the entire UK range of the Lulworth skipper. Walk in July and August for the best chance of seeing it on the cliffs overlooking Lulworth Cove.
Walk after sunset and you are guaranteed a very different experience. Rare species of horsehoe bat can be seen flying at locations such as Devon’s Berry Head nature reserve and Dorset’s St Aldhelm’s Head. You might spot the ghostly figure of a barn owl quartering over farmland at dusk and in mid-summer the magical experience of a hillside carpet of glow-worms or bioluminescent algae glimmering as you paddle in the sea.
Pack a snorkel and you can explore rich forests of kelp and swaying seaweed at the end of a long day’s walk. Dorset’s Kimmeridge Bay has a dedicated snorkel safari, and just a little further along the coast Dancing Ledge boasts a man-made pool for an immersive rock pooling experience.
And while not many people get excited about the decaying strandline of seaweed that runs along the beach, this represents one of our most vibrant ecosystems, home to invertebrates such as sandhoppers and lugworms that attract insectivorous birds and mammals. Beachcombing here will turn up jewel-like mollusc shells, discarded shark eggcases known as mermaid’s purses, and the bones of marine animals.
And there’s reason to walk it all again in the coldest months, when locations like the Exe Estuary become home to wintering flocks of avocet, curlew and lapwing.