There are six species of the tit family of birds found in the UK but the blue, great and coal tits are the most common. Coal tits are the least colourful (grey with a black and white head). Both blue tits and great tits have green backs but great tits are larger with a black and white head, whist blue tits have a blue top to their head.
The farmland in this area with trees along the field boundaries provides an idea habitat for magpies.
The folklore about magpies collecting shiny objects has been shown to be an incorrect myth. A scientific study found that magpies are actually scared of shiny objects and actively avoid them.
The berries of holly contain a chemical compound very similar to caffeine. Only in very small doses is this a stimulant; in larger doses it is toxic. It is for this reason that you see holly berries on bushes rather than being inside the nearest bird. The birds have learned to wait until after the frosts have reduced the toxicity of the berries before eating them.
Holly was known in Cornwall as the holm (bush) and is the origin of the Holmbush area of St Austell and Holmbush Mine in Kelly Bray.
Blackbirds can be found in deciduous woodland, particularly where there is dense undergrowth. In the man-made landscape, hedges provide plenty of dense undergrowth and have consequently become a really important habitat for blackbirds. Moreover, many gardens have such a high density of hedges and bushes that they are able to support ten times the blackbird population versus an equivalent area of their natural woodland habitat.
The bright orange colour of the water in the brook could be the result of water seeping from a nearby mine.
When the acidic solution containing dissolved metals from mines (known as Acidic Mine Drainage) meets other water, it is diluted and the reduced acidity causes dissolved iron to precipitate out as orange or yellow hydroxides, colouring the water and sticking to anything in the watercourse. In the case of copper mines, copper stays dissolved in the water and at higher levels this can be toxic to wildlife, particularly fish.
Where there is a large amount of water coming from a mine which is not rendered harmless by natural dilution, reed beds have been found to be very effective in treating the acidic water. Plants and bacteria in the reed bed convert the dissolved metals into insoluble compounds that are trapped within the reed bed. There are even suggestions that the metals may be commercially recoverable after they have been concentrated in the reed bed over a period of time.
If you are crossing a field in which there are horses:
Evidence of windmills in England dates from around the 12th century and in Cornwall there are records of windmills as far back as 1296. Wind turbines may be viewed as the modern successor but actually themselves date back to Victorian times: the first large windmill to generate electricity was built in 1888 in the USA, and in Cornwall, a private house was lit using electricity generated by a wind turbine in 1890.
Navelwort grows on the vertical faces of the roadside banks as you descend the hill.
The succulent leaves of navelwort can be eaten and used in a salad. Older leaves become more bitter so the younger leaves are recommended. The crunchy stems can be added at the last minute to a stir-fry as an alternative to beansprouts. Care should be taken not to pull roots out of a wall when breaking off leaves.
On the opposite side of the lane is Chyverton Park.
Chyverton Park includes a house and landscaped garden both created in the 18th Century, replacing an earlier house and garden. The gardens are planted with 200 species of magnolia, making it one of the largest collections in Cornwall.
In the second half of the 19th century, West Chyverton mine employed over a thousand people and produced around 45,000 tons of lead ore in the period 1859-86. The ore contained 45 oz. silver to each ton of lead. Refining the silver was profitable at levels above 5oz per ton, but at this level, the silver was worth as much as the lead that it was separated from. The ore also contained high levels of zinc and when lead prices fell in the 1870s, this became the primary product of the mine. Small pieces of the lead ore can still be found on the tips and along the byway.
The footpath on the right leads through the mine tips, some parts of which have been colonised by vegetation including some nice orchids. The bare parts form a sandstone canyon that looks like something from Colorado or the Australian Outback and has to be one of the most eccentric landscapes in Cornwall.
If you see large birds of prey circling over the valley, they are almost certainly buzzards.
The buzzard family is quite closely related to hawks and consists of a number of different species which occupy different habitat niches (e.g. colder countries further north). The buzzard species we see in the UK is the common buzzard. This is one of the largest birds of prey in Britain with a wingspan of over 4 feet.
If you have a dog, going through the gate might be necessary to bypass the long drop from the stile into the field.
Otherwise, continue on the lane for a few paces to reach a path through the bushes on the right, immediately before the telegraph pole with a neighbourhood watch sign. Turn right onto the path, follow it to a stile consisting of a series of stone footholds down a high wall and descend into the field.
Unclip/re-clip the electric fence using the insulating handle and follow along the left hedge of the field to reach the bottom. Then cross the overgrown area to a wooden gate on the far side.
Where an electric fence crosses a footpath, it should either be covered by an insulating sheath (e.g. on stiles) or there should be a section that unclips with insulating plastic handles to allow access through the fence. Ensure that you re-clip this on passing through so animals cannot escape. The connecting cord/spring between the handles is often conducting so avoid touching this and be aware of any dangling rucksack straps.
The Ramblers Association and National Farmers Union suggest some "dos and don'ts" for walkers which we've collated with some info from the local Countryside Access Team.
Do
Don't
The path here is graded silver and not cut by default so if it is getting seriously overgrown, please report it to Cornwall Council so they can request for it to be cut.
To report an overgrown path, on the directions screen in the app tap on the ☰ menu next to the direction number for the problematic path (or tap on the direction number on the map screen to get the ☰ menu) and select Report Footpath Issue. The app will use the direction number to work out the parish and path number at that location and then create an email to Cornwall Council’s Countryside Team so they can contact the relevant Parish Council. If possible, take photos and attach them to the email as that will help the countryside team to see how bad it is and prioritise it.
Footpaths in Cornwall are graded "gold", "silver" and "bronze" (bronze paths are normally dead-ends that don't link up with other paths).
For parishes that take part in the Local Maintenance Partnership, gold paths are normally cut routinely once or twice each year. Routine cuts on gold paths are typically done in May/June, and any second cuts are usually in July - September.
Paths graded as silver are cut at the discretion of the Parish, so these in particular need to be reported to the Parish Council (via the Countryside Access Team - countryside@cormacltd.co.uk - who have the contact details for each parish council) if they start to become overgrown. Also gold paths which happen to be in parishes who don't participate in the scheme are less likely to get a routine cut, but the Countryside Team can cut these themselves if they get badly overgrown.
Newts are members of the salamander family, which dates back to the Jurassic period. The newt species you are most likely to encounter in Cornwall is the palmate newt. Great crested newts aren't found in Cornwall at all. Common newts, contrary to their name, were only ever found in the far east of Cornwall and have become rarer over time. In recent years, the newt population has declined in the UK overall due to pollution and destruction of their habitat. Old farm ponds with good weed cover make good habitats as newts prefer still water to fast-flowing streams.
The lakes and surrounding wetlands support a range of aquatic life including dragonflies and damselflies.
Their two sets of wings beat out of phase, and the frequency, amplitude and the angles of each set of wings can be controlled. This allows dragonflies to hover in a completely stationary position for over a minute, perform extravagant aerobatic manoeuvres and even fly backwards.
The jay is a member of the crow family recognisable by the flash of electric blue on their otherwise brown body. Their natural habitat is woodland, particularly oak.
Like squirrels, jays collect and bury acorns as a winter food store. Once jays were the main means by which oaks colonised new locations as a population of 65 jays can bury (but not always find again afterwards) half a million acorns in a month. Jays prefer to bury their acorns in open ground which is an ideal spot for a new oak tree.
Callestick Farm near Ventongimps has been farmed by the Parker family for a number of generations and has been making ice cream since 1989. They were the first ice cream to be awarded Red Tractor status for animal welfare and land management. The small fields, wide margins and ancient hedges provide a valuable habitat for insects, small mammals and ground-nesting birds. Their ice cream is made from the milk from their small herd of dairy cows and their sorbets are made with water from a spring which rises on the farm.
The walk continues to the right at the junction.
Beforehand, you can make an optional diversion on the lane to the left to Healey's Cyder Farm, returning here afterwards.
From the junction here, follow the lane past Callestick Farm and continue for half a mile to a crossroads.
Healey's Cyder Farm is located near Callestick. The family-run business was established in the 1980s and is now largest cider producer in Cornwall with over 3000 apple trees. Only wind-fallen apples are used to make their cider and they have won many awards.
Their best known cider is Cornish Rattler - a crisp cloudy cider that has a strong cult following in Cornwall with sales steadily increasing over the last few years. Rattler is distributed by St Austell Breweries and thus available on tap in many of the pubs throughout Cornwall and is now also available in bottles in many supermarkets. The "original" version is 6% and very refreshing to drink by the pint which can result in rapid onset of singing Cornish Anthems, followed not long after by loss of the ability to play the accordion to accompany said Anthems; a 4% draft version has just been released to avoid the need to go to sleep half way through the evening, or for your nominated accordion player.
The UK produces nearly two-thirds of all cider in the European Union and by volume of alcohol, the excise duty on cider is lower than any other drink. Cider has had a huge resurgence in popularity over the last few years and three in five adults now drink it.
Cider is part of the Westcountry heritage and this includes a tradition dating back to the early Middle Ages known as the "Orchard Wassail" where an offering of bread and cider was made to the apple trees and incantations were recited to promote a good harvest.
Cornish ciders beginning to achieve popularity outside the county include "Cornish Rattler" from Healey's cider farm (distributed by St Austell Ales) and "Orchard Cornish" cider (a joint venture between Cornish Orchards and Sharp's Brewery). In the interests of research, both have been extensively tested and deemed very refreshing and conducive to the recital of incantations.
Donald Healey was born in Perranporth and owned a number of businesses there including a garage where he also worked on cars for racing. He became famous in the 1930s as a racing driver in the Monte Carlo Rally and miraculously surviving his car being obliterated by a train on a level-crossing. He later gained fame as a car designer, resulting in the Austin Healey sports car. With the wealth that he accumulated, he bought Trebah House on the Helford River. His descendants set up and run Healey's Cyder Farm.
Ventongimps moor is one of the best places in Cornwall for damselflies, dragonflies, butterflies and moths with over 100 species being recorded. It also supports a number of rare bog plants including the sundew. The boggy habitat is formed due to the layer of peat resting on a layer of clay, trapping water beneath the moor.
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.
Ventongimps is a name that has clearly become mangled over the years. It was once known as Fentengempes. Fenten is the Cornish word for "spring". In Cornish, words starting with a "k" often change to a "g", depending on the word in front, and therefore the second word could be a variation of kemper, which means "confluence". There is a substantial river confluence a short way to the north of the small settlement of Ventongimps so it could be a reference to that, or there are also a number of small springs that join the river.
Underground, the iron is in the form of sulphide compounds known as pyrites. When these come into contact with water and air in the mine, chemical reactions occur to form iron hydroxide compounds and sulphuric acid. The oxidation of the pyrites depleted the oxygen levels in the mine and increased the temperatures. At Duchy Mine in Treamble, just 20 fathoms from the surface, the air temperature was recorded in 1881 at 51°C and it was impossible to keep a candle alight due to the lack of oxygen.
The lead ore found in Cornwall is a form of lead sulphide known as galena which often contains an appreciable amount of silver. This was first smelted to produce "argentiferous lead" and then the silver was separated by a process known as "cupellation". The molten alloy of the 2 metals was placed in an oxygen rich furnace which caused the lead, but not the silver, to oxidise. The lead oxide was then absorbed into a calcium-rich material such as the ash from bones or seashells, leaving the liquid metal silver on the surface of the "cake". The lead oxide could later be converted back into lead by smelting it with charcoal.
Lead was one of the earliest metals discovered by the human race and was already in use by the start of the Bronze Age - in fact part of the "Stone Age" probably should be called the "Lead Age". Not only was it abundant and relatively easy to extract, it was extremely versatile, being easily molten, moulded and was corrosion resistant.
Lead's major downside was discovered quite quickly - lead poisoning was well known about by Roman times. Nevertheless, lead's usefulness outweighed any scruples, particularly in times when there were lots of other things to die from.
The ancient Romans used lead for making water pipes and this continued until 1970. In hard water areas, limescale soon lined the pipes, preventing lead dissolving into the water. However, areas with acidic soils, such as Cornwall, would have been much more prone to lead poisoning from water pipes.
Since the 1970s, the use of lead has stopped for water pipes, paints, fuel additives and solder. By 2016, over half of the lead still produced was used for batteries, mostly for cars, and this is now in decline as new battery technologies are being developed.
Although fruit-flavoured ice deserts are known to have been consumed by the elite at least as far back as the 2nd Century, the use of cream to make a frozen desert is thought to have been developed in Italy in the 16th Century. By the 17th Century, "Cream Ice" was a popular royal dish in England.
During the Industrial Revolution, the ice cream machine was created and ice carried by ship from Norway was used to chill it until mechanical refrigeration was invented at the end of the 19th Century.
The ice cream cone is thought to be a Victorian English invention, first recorded in Mrs Marshall's Cookery Book in 1888.
"Cornish ice cream" is made with clotted cream and was popularised by Kelly's.
Kelly's Ice Cream began with an Italian who settled in St Austell in the 1890s. His son-in-law took over the business and had the first ice cream van - a horse and cart.
He changed his Italian surname (Calicchia) - and the name of the business - to "Kelly" as this was easier for English people to pronounce. The first motorised ice cream van was converted from a milk float in 1928. By the early 1950s they had a fleet of 40 vans all over Cornwall.
The business moved to Bodmin in the 1970s and, following large investment from a new parent company, by 2015 it had become the sixth largest ice cream manufacturer in Britain.
Sundew has evolved a way to supplement the limited nutrients it gets from the acidic moorland soils, by eating insects that it catches on its sticky hairs which are the botanical equivalent of flypaper. Once it detects that an insect has landed, its folds more sticky hairs in towards the insect to ensure that its prey is completely glued down before releasing enzymes to digest it. It has been estimated that each plant catches around 2,000 insects per summer.
Squirrels are rodents, closely related to chipmunks and slightly more distantly to dormice. The word "squirrel" originates from an ancient Greek word meaning "shadow-tailed", referring to the bushy tail of a squirrel. A family group of squirrels is known as a "drey" (also the word for a squirrel nest). A group of unrelated squirrels is known as a "scurry", though squirrels tend not to hang out in groups.
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.
Compared to red squirrels, grey squirrels are able to eat a wider diet (including acorns), are larger so can survive colder winters, and are better able to survive in the fragmented habitats created by urbanisation. They are also thought to be carriers of a squirrel pox virus which they usually recover from but has been fatal to red squirrels, although red squirrels are now also developing some immunity.
To date, culling of grey squirrels has not reversed their domination of woodland habitat and alternative approaches such as planting food with contraceptives are being explored as a means to control the population. The theory is that infertile squirrels can compete for food against fertile squirrels, whereas culling can create a glut of food resulting in a higher number of squirrels surviving which replace those that were exterminated. Natural predators such as goshawks or pine martens also remove more grey squirrels than red squirrels. This is because red squirrels are more savvy having co-evolved with the predators so for example they recognise the scent of pine martens and actively avoid areas with this.
Squirrels assess each of their acorns before burying them. If an acorn is too light (which suggests it might have a hole), the squirrel will eat it immediately rather than risking it going mouldy.
In order to later find the nuts that they've buried, squirrels need to be organised. Some species of squirrel have been studied and found to structure their hoards by type of nut e.g. burying all their acorns under one tree and all their conkers under another. This is equivalent to us organising all the veg onto one shelf of the fridge to make it easier to remember where to look for them.
As well as forgetting where they buried some of them, squirrels may also lose a quarter of their buried food to birds, other rodents and fellow squirrels. Squirrels therefore use dummy tactics to confuse thieves by sometimes just pretending to bury a nut.
Squirrels eyes are positioned on the sides of their head which allows them to spot predators approaching from behind them. When a squirrel spots a predator, its runs away in a zigzag pattern. This confuses many of their predators but unfortunately it doesn't work well for cars.
Young squirrels suffer a high mortality rate in the wild and less than one in three make it to adulthood. The ones that do, live on average for about 6 years, although a lucky one can live to about 12 years old. In captivity, where there are neither predators, cars nor cold winters to contend with, they can reach 20 years old.
By using their tail as a parachute, squirrels are able to survive falls from high trees. This allows them to attempt risky jumps between treetops that don't always work out. They are one of the few mammals that can (but not always) survive an impact at their terminal velocity i.e. if a squirrel jumped out of an aeroplane, it may well survive.
In urban areas in cold countries such as Canada, a black form of the grey squirrel is more common which is able to withstand the cold better both by retaining more heat and also having a slower metabolism. In wilderness areas where predators are more common, the black squirrels don't seem to do so well, perhaps because they are less camouflaged against trees than the grey ones.
Robins are able to hover like kingfishers and hummingbirds and use this skill when feeding from bird feeders, which they are unable to cling to.
Robins are also able to see magnetic fields. Receptors in their eyes make magnetic fields appear as patterns of light or colour which allows them to use the Earth's magnetic field for navigation. They only seem to use their right eye for this as the left half of their brain (linked to the right eye) does the processing.
Unlike many birds that just sing in spring, robins sing nearly all year round. In fact during winter if you hear birdsong, it's most likely to be a robin. Despite how cute robins look, they are actually very territorial and the chirp is an aggressive warning to any would-be intruders not to even think of trying it. When robins don't sing, this a sign that their body fat reserves are low and they are conserving what little they have left until food becomes more plentiful.
The tradition of robins on Christmas cards is thought to arise from Victorian postmen wearing red jackets. Consequently they were nicknamed Robins.
The Cornish name for the bird is rudhek from rudh = "red" (in Cornish, "dh" is pronounced like the "th" in "with"). Cornish place names like Bedruthan, Ruthern and Redruth are all based on the colour red.
The two most common pigeon species are the wood pigeon and feral pigeon (domesticated rock dove). Wood pigeons are larger than rock doves. Rock doves have an iridescent green/purple patch on their necks whereas adult wood pigeons have a white patch on their neck (although this is not present in young birds).
The feral pigeons living in urban areas are descended from rock doves that were originally domesticated as a source of food. Dove cotes were built to house quite a large number as there is not much meat on a pigeon. Later, these domesticated birds were also used as carrier pigeons. Escaped birds have thrived in the food-rich urban landscape where the stone buildings resemble the rock outcrops they have evolved to nest on.
Despite their native habitat being woodland, wood pigeons are able to thrive wherever there is food. They have fared better than most birds with intensively-farmed crops and are particularly fond of oil seed rape. They are able to hoover up food quickly (up to 100 pecks per minute) and stuff large amounts into their crop (e.g. around 150 acorns!). They then digest this overnight.
During the 21st Century, wood pigeons have been migrating into urban areas where garden feeding has attracted them. There has also been an exodus from parts of the rural environment where changes to farming practices (e.g. daffodil growing or energy crops) has made fields less attractive.
There is no biological distinction between "pigeon" and "dove" although "dove" seems to now be used for the more elegant species and "pigeon" for the more unexciting ones. Due to the Norman ruling classes, it's relatively unusual in the English language for the French/Latin word to be the vulgar form and the Norse/Germanic word to be the "posh" form. It's is likely that the reverse was true in mediaeval times: pigeon meat was considered super-posh and the French word was used for the young, tender birds of the species that were eaten.
Sycamore is a member of the maple family which is why the leaves look a bit like the Canadian flag. Although sycamore doesn't have the striking red autumn colour of other maples, the young leaves and developing seeds are a vivid red colour which is caused by similar red anthrocyanin compounds.
Research suggests that sycamore was common in Britain up to Roman times but then died out due to the warming climate apart from some mountainous regions such as in Scotland. During the Tudor period it is thought to have been reintroduced from southern and central Europe by landowners looking for a rapid-growing tree for their estates and was found to be salt-tolerant - essential in Cornwall.
Sycamores like moist soil and the young trees need a lot of water (equivalent to an inch of rain per week) to get established. For this reason, sycamores are very often found along streams or in low-lying meadows that collect water. Once their roots grow deep enough, the mature trees can withstand drought by tapping into underground moisture.
Sycamores leaves can sometimes be seen with black dots. This "tar spot" fungus reduces the efficiency of the leaves slightly but overall seems not to harm the tree significantly. The fungus overwinters on fallen dead leaves and its spores are released in spring to infect new leaves.
Since its reintroduction, sycamore has spread widely as the seeds are extremely fertile and able to grow just about anywhere where the ground is sufficiently wet. In particular they can grow within the shade of the parent tree, creating dense cover that crowds-out other species. In some areas it is regarded as an invasive weed.
Sycamore flowers are pollinated by flies such as bluebottles rather than the wind. Within the female flower, two of the carpels (reproductive parts) are fused together. These develop into the pair of fused seeds with their "wings" at an angle. When the seeds fall, this creates the "helicopter" action that allows the seeds to be caught and carried by the wind as they slowly spiral downwards.
Sycamore seeds contain a biochemical compound known as hypoglycin A which is poisonous to horses. If a horse eats large numbers of sycamore seeds, this can cause a muscle condition known as Atypical Myopathy. In the most extreme cases, the horse can die from a heart attack.
Sycamore timber was traditionally used for milk pails as it does not impart any flavour or colour. It is still used today for kitchenware and is recognisable by the light colour and fine grain.
For such a widespread tree, the oak is surprisingly inefficient at reproducing naturally. It can take 50 years before the tree has its first crop of acorns and even then, the overwhelming majority of the acorns that it drops are eaten by animals or simply rot on the ground. Squirrels play an important part by burying acorns and occasionally forgetting a few which have a much better chance of growing than on the surface.
The older an oak tree becomes, the more acorns it produces. A 70-80 year old tree can produce thousands. Acorns are high in carbohydrates and as well as being a staple food for squirrels, they are also a really important food for deer and make up a quarter of their diet in the autumn.
Tannins are natural preservatives. The reason why red wine keeps much longer than white is that the grape skins that give the red colour also contain tannins. Oak leaves, wood and acorns all contain a high level of tannins. When wine is aged in oak, the wooden barrels release more preservative tannins into their contents.
The (leather) "tanning" process got its name as it involved extracting the tannins from acorns or oak bark and soaking these into animal hides over 1-2 years to preserve them. From the brown oak juice containing the tannins, the colour "tan" was named and from this the expression "sun tan" arose.
The high levels of tannins in oak make large amounts of oak leaves or acorns poisonous to cattle, horses, sheep, and even goats, but not to pigs as they were domesticated from wild boar which were adapted to foraging in the oak forests, like deer. Acorns were also eaten by people in times of famine. The acorns were soaked in water first to leech out the bitter tannins and could then be made into flour.
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.
Oak was often associated with the gods of thunder as it was often split by lightning, probably because an oak is often the tallest tree in the area. Oak was also the sacred wood burnt by the druids for their mid-summer sacrifice.
Full page maps cannot be printed due to copyright and terms of use.