Gunwalloe Fishing Cove via Poldhu Cove and Church Cove

Monday 10th October 2016

We had a fantastic 8 mile walk today along the South West coast path in glorious warm sunshine.  We have been visiting Cornwall in April over the last few years but this year we decided to see what it was like in autumn.  There seemed to be far fewer people walking along the coast but those that we did meet were very friendly and a few stopped for a chat, walkers are on the whole a friendly bunch! 

Poldhu Cove.

Church Cove.

Beautiful clear blue sea.

Signs of autumn are everywhere.

Porthleven Sands.  

We had a bit of trouble today finding a couple of geocaches along this stretch of the footpath, eventually though, the more persistent one of us succeeded!!  (and it wasn't me.... I had drifted and lost interest!!!)  The footpath in one place was very narrow and scarily close to the edge of the cliff with a sheer drop down to the beach, it wasn't great.  On the way back along this footpath we were overtaken by a cyclist on his mountain bike, who had ridden along the scary bit, he was either very epic or very stupid I can't decide which, but he seemed unperturbed by it when we had a quick chat.

A far more pleasant stretch of the path.

Portleven Sands, a vast stretch of sand with hardly a sole on it.

An old building that was used as a pilchard cellar, and just along the footpath were old winches used to bring the haul of pilchards up off of the beach.

Porthleven sands and Gunwalloe Cove.

Over the last couple of days we have seen  quite a few kestrels and today this one hovered directly over us,keeping his beady eye on something.   I didn't take this photo, my husband did with his fancy camera and I'm really pleased with it.

In the distance we could see a wind farm on the horizon, the turbines were rotating but slowly, there wasn't much wind at all today.

Back at Church Cove, this female kestrel was sitting on a post, fairly close, this time I took this photo!

Low tide in Church Cove.

We then walked back to Poldhu Cove and up the hill to our holiday cottage, a good 8 mile  walk done and dusted.

Polurrian Cove, Mullion

Sunday 9th October 2016

This afternoon we took to the South West Coast path for a short stroll to Polurrian Cove, a lovely small sheltered beach at Mullion.  We were extremely lucky with the weather again, blue sky and sunshine, the sea looked inviting so I had to have a paddle, well it would have been rude not to!

Looking towards Mullion Island.

I should have put something near this caterpillar to show it's size, it was quite a chunky number,and it was wriggling around in the middle of the footpath so we rescued it and moved it somewhere safer - I hope it didn't mind being diverted!

NB - Edited note!  I have looked this caterpillar up and it's a fox moth caterpillar. Apparently it overwinters under leaves and loose soil (it also said they are often seen basking in the sun on paths, well, they certainly are, I have nearly trodden on quite a few this week!)

The South West coast path.

Polurrian Cove.

Looks inviting, time for a paddle.

One of the nicest things about having a paddle is putting warm cosy socks back on, it's just a shame the sand has to be removed first, that was quite a game!

Mullion Island in the distance.

Boots back on we headed inland back to our holiday cottage for a welcome cup of tea.

There are still plenty of blackberries in the hedgerows, as well as

honeysuckle flowers and berries out at the same time, and

lots of wild fuchsias.

The weather forecast for tomorrow looks good, so fingers crossed we can have a day out walking along this beautiful coast.

Mullion, Cornwall

Saturday 8th October 2016

We arrived at our holiday cottage in Mullion, Cornwall late this afternoon in brilliant warm sunshine.  We made the most of the amazing view along the coast and the sunshine and sat outside, watching flocks of starlings and as yet unidentified little birds (we're on to it though) on the telegraph wires above us.  

NB The little birds are mainly linnets with a few meadow pipits in amongst them.

From this spot we watched....

......a kestrel (a female - with brown head)

with some very brave souls sitting above her!

It all suddenly got much louder when a kestrel turned up but funnily enough the little birds appeared to take very little notice of it.  Over the next hour the kestrel came and went a few times until the sun set but hopefully we'll see more of it over the next week.

NB - edited - I have read up on kestrels and they mainly eat mammals and only occasionally take small birds.

Starlings.

Many starlings with a kestrel sitting above them (top centre).

As it was getting dusky and we were moving back indoors a fox wandered by in the field in front of the garden, the photo isn't great but it was actually getting quite dark so the shutter stayed open for a while and things got a bit blurry!  

Then in front of us walked..........

..........this bundle of loveliness!

I'm really hoping we'll see even more epic wildlife over the next week but for now, so far so good, can't complain!

Studland And A Black Rabbit

Thursday 29th September 2016

After a dull and wet start today, this afternoon was much better, the sun came out and it was warm enough for t shirts again.  We parked at the Middle Beach car park at Studland and had a lovely walk along to Knoll Beach.  Before we went onto the beach we looked for and found a geocache near the Dragon's Teeth (which were built to impede the movement of tanks and mechanised infantry during the Second World War).  

 It made a change for us to walk along the beach at low tide and today's tide seemed extra low. Fortunately there was no sign of the thick piles of smelly seaweed that have been along the shore on our last few visits, the beach was surprisingly seaweed free!  

The dragons teeth above and below hidden amongst the ferns!

There were masses and masses of worm casts on the beach, this one I particularly liked!

There would have been crowds of people on this beach only a month or so ago, today however it was very quiet and very peaceful.

There were quite a few swallows swooping around above the sand dunes and just above the sea, I suppose they are gathering on the coast ready to fly off back to Africa soon.  We saw young herring gulls picking up shellfish, flying up high and dropping them so that they smashed on the stones and made it easier to eat. We also saw a couple of oyster catchers and a cormorant.

Late afternoon sun

Back at the car park, just as we were leaving I spotted a couple of wild rabbits, one the usual brown colour and one black!

I've seen black rabbits in the wild near Southampton before once or twice, but it's not something I've seen very often, it was nice to see it and it didn't seem too bothered by us either.  All in all a very pleasant afternoon at a lovely spot.

The Waverley Paddle Steamer at Swanage Pier

Friday 9th September 2016

Well, it's been a while!!  I've been doing lots of walking over the Summer since the last time I wrote on this blog back in June I just haven't found the time to do a blog.  I will hopefully catch up with a few of them soon.  Most of our walking tends to be in much the same places at the moment and I thought things were all getting a bit duplicated but now I have decided that even if they are the same the seasons change and places look different in different weathers, so on we go!!!!

Yesterday we walked into Swanage for a coffee in a cafe overlooking the bay and realised that the paddle steamer Waverley was moored at the pier and was shortly due to depart on a day trip along the coast and over to the Isle of Wight.  Swanage Pier is epic, it's like stepping back in time and it was great to get up close to the Waverley and listen to the Captain speaking to the passengers over the public address system about the upcoming trip.

The water was very clear and calm, looking towards the Waverley at the end of the pier.

We were lucky with the weather, the forecast was dull and cloudy but we had some warm sunny intervals, so no complaints here.

A young herring gull.

I have no idea why but I thought the Waverley was a lot smaller than it is.

A closer view of the paddle.

The Waverley reversing away from the pier and out to sea.

One out, one in........ the Poole Ferry was the next thing to arrive, it was all go!!!

For information on the Waverley see here

Sea Views at Anvil Point

Thursday 8th September 2016

This week it has been much quieter in and around Swanage now that the schools are back, we especially noticed this on a wander around Durlston Country Park.  As usual for Swanage it was quite windy, windy enough to produce little white horses on the waves out to sea so we sat sea watching and drinking coffee for a while, not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Looking towards Anvil Point.

There weren't many boats about!

There was a fair old  swell on the sea.

Anvil Point Lighthouse.

The Tilly Whim Caves, a nice spot for coffee - it was a good job we took it with us!

We walked on around Durlston Country Park.

Dry stone wall maintenance in progress.

A real end of Summer scene.

By this point we realised that our parking ticket was about to run out (having spent so long sea watching) so we had to get a wriggle on back to the car.