Netting for mullet has been an important fishery at Sennen Cove for hundreds of years. In Edwardian times, up to 12,000 fish were caught at one time using seine nets hauled in from the beach. This traditional practice still continues and ten tonnes of mullet were caught in a single haul in 2015. However, the fishery has recently come under criticism as the fish aggregate in large shoals prior to spawning, and are caught before they are able to produce the next generation. It is, however, possible that the percentage of spawning fish caught by this method are sufficiently low that it is a sustainable practice. It is also possible that in the future, approaches similar to the National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow might be possible to achieve the "best of both worlds" where the captured adults are allowed to spawn in controlled conditions before being harvested for food, and the young are released after the benefit of completing the most vulnerable stages of their growth in a safe environment, boosting stocks beyond the levels of "natural" spawning.
There is a beach at Sennen Cove at all states of the tide but as the tide falls, a large area of white sand is revealed and the beach merges with Gwynver beach to form a mile of continuous white sand - hence the name Whitesand Bay (not to be confused with Whitsand Bay which is in southeast Cornwall, near Plymouth). The hard granite cliffs shed very little stone into the sand so it is formed predominantly from fragments of sea shells, particularly clam shells which are very pale in colour. The sand is similar at Porthcurno and Portheras Cove.
In Cornish, the bay is known simply as Porth Senan (Sennen Cove). The bay is backed by nearly 100 acres of sand dunes, trapped between the headlands of Pedn-mên-du and Aire Point which form an important habitat for rare insect species.
Gwynver Beach (sometimes spelt "Gwenver") is the northern part of Whitesand Bay which is isolated as a separate beach as the tide comes in. It is also the area of the bay most exposed to prevailing southwesterly swells and consequently the gently-sloping sand is one of the best surfing spots in West Cornwall.
The name Gwynver is said to be derived from "Gwynevere" from the Arthurian legend, but this is probably Victorian fancy. The name is almost certainly from the Cornish word gwynn (meaning "white"). The second word is likely to have an initial consonant mutation - a feature of Celtic languages - and could be verr (mutated from berr, meaning "short") or vor (mutated from mor meaning "sea"). Cornish place names expert Craig Weatherhill suggests "white sea", and this would be consistent with it being well-known (even in Early Mediaeval times) for surf.
Beside the cliffs at the top of Gwynver beach, members of the public noticed human bones in the sand and the Police were called. The bones were that of a large male and are thought to be from the grave of a drowned mariner who was buried here in the 18th or early 19th Century. Two buttons made from bone were also found which are thought to be from the sailor's clothing. Before a law was passed in 1808, requiring sailors to have a Christian burial in a churchyard, drowned sailors were typically buried on the cliffs near where they had washed ashore.
The Hottentot Fig (Carpobrotus edulis), was once classified as a Mesembryanthemum but as plant genetics were better understood, was found to be a close relative but in a different sub-family of the larger ice-plant family. They are called ice plants due to hairs on the leaves which refract sunlight and make them sparkle. The plant is native to South Africa and was originally grown ornamentally in gardens but has subsequently gone feral and settled on the coastline where it thrives in sandy soils, helped by its resistance to wind and salt. It forms a dense mat which crowds out other species and is therefore considered invasive.
Both Common Dolphins and Bottle-nosed Dolphins are quite frequently encountered off Cornwall. Bottle-nosed Dolphins are the species found in marine parks and are the saloon car of the dolphin world: quite large (adults are 7-12ft long), plain grey and tend to cruise at fairly low speeds though they can do short bursts of over 30km/h. Common Dolphins are their sports car cousins: a little smaller (adults are 6-8ft long) with a flashy hourglass-shaped "go faster" stripe of gold at the front and light grey at the back and can swim up to 60km/h. The considerable intelligence of dolphins includes the ability to learn new behaviours from each other and cooperate with other dolphins or even human fishermen to catch fish.
Red-and-black-spotted Burnett moths can often be seen feeding on nectar-bearing flowers alongside the coast path. The red colour is a warning that they contain hydrogen cyanide. The larvae normally create it by breaking down more complex cyanide compounds from the birdsfoot trefoil on which they feed. However they are also able to synthesise it themselves in environments where it isn't readily available from food plants.
As a wave approaches the beach, the bottom of the wave (which extends as far below the water as the crest does above the surface) starts to get close to the seabed and this begins to slow the wave down. As it slows down, its energy is transferred into increased height and the result is more closely-spaced, taller waves. The bottom of the wave now extends even closer to the seabed and is slowed even more. Eventually, the top of the wave outruns the bottom and the wave breaks. More sudden changes to depth allow the wave to get taller and steeper before it has time to break which is why "reef breaks" attract surfers.
The beach is known either as Nanquidno or Nanjulian beach. There are some grassy areas just above the rocky beach which make good picnic spots. According to some sources, the beach is reported as being sometimes popular with naturists. Given that the beach consists entirely of granite boulders, this seems unlikely to be comfortable, especially in strong sunshine when the rocks can get rather hot.
The settlement of Nanjulian was recorded in 1428 as Nanshelen and is thought to be from the Cornish word elin meaning "elbow", as well as the word for "valley". The name perhaps refers to the bend in the course of the river and its associated valley near Nanjulian Mill where it turns to meet the sea.
The settlement of Nanquidno was first recorded in 1327 as Nansgwynyou. The name is based on the Cornish words nans (valley) and gwynn (white).
The settlement of Gurland was recorded in 1314 as Gorlan. The original name is from the Cornish word cor-lann which means "fold" or "enclosure" which has undergone a consonant mutation from the soft "C" sound to the hard "G" sound.
Every part of the dandelion plant is edible and is high in Vitamin A and higher still in Vitamin K. The leaves can be eaten in salads, though their bitterness is not to everyone's taste. However, the bitterness can be reduced by blanching: drop the leaves into boiling salted water and remove after a minute and quench in ice-cold water to prevent the leaves from cooking.
The collared dove is a fairly easy member of the pigeon family to recognise. The clue is in the name: they are pale with a thin black ring at the back of their neck.
Before 1930, there were no collared doves in Western Europe and the most easterly part of their range was Turkey and The Balkans. Within just 20 years they colonised most of continental Western Europe and in 1955 they bred for the first time in Britain. They have since become one of the top 10 most common birds in British surveys.
Their rapid spread seems to be down to both their ability to make epic journeys of over 400 miles and their ability to breed all year round if the weather is mild. They will even start building a new nest whilst there are still chicks in the current one, and take breaks from incubating eggs in the new nest to nip back to the old nest to feed the recently fledged young. They feed on seeds and grain so arable farming has provided a supply of food.
The hill to the left is one of the two hills in Cornwall called Carn Brea. The more well-known one with the Basset Monument on the top is at Camborne. This one is close to Crows-an-Wra.
Buzzards can often be seen (and heard) over the valley.
Buzzards breed once they reach 2-3 years old. During their breeding season in spring, male buzzards create spectacular aerial displays to impress females by soaring high into the air and dropping suddenly towards the ground. The birds then pair for life.
One of the runways for Land's End Airport can be seen on the hill on the left.
Land's End Airport was set up in the 1930s to support a route between the Scilly Isles to the mainland. Until 2014, all the runways were grass resulting in waterlogging problems in the winter. Two of the runways were tarmacked so they can be now used all year round.
On a calm day you may be able to see the wreck of the SS Beaumaris.
The SS Beaumaris was torpedoed 2.5 miles northwest of The Longships in February 1918 by a German U-boat. All the crew apart from the captain and a radio operator left the ship in lifeboats and were guided into shore by the Sennen lifeboat. The captain managed to run the ship onshore in Whitesand Bay and the top of the wreck now breaks the surface at low tide.
A number of prehistoric implements were found during the 20th Century in the fields alongside the road including a stone axe head and a barbed arrowhead.
The Longships Lighthouse is located just over a mile off Land's End on the highest of the islets known as Carn Bras. The original tower built in 1795 was 40ft high, perched on the 39ft high rock but despite the lantern being nearly 80ft above the sea, it was sometimes obscured by the huge waves off Lands End. A new taller tower was therefore constructed starting in 1869 and completed in 1873 and was manned until 1988. The current lantern emits a white flash seaward, but red-tinted glass colours the light for any vessel straying to the headlands to the north or south.
The settlement of Escalls was recorded in the 13th Century as Eschall. It is thought to be based on the Cornish word als, meaning "cliff".
The common name "foxglove" dates back many hundreds of years but the origin is unknown. The "gloves" almost certainly refers to the shape of the flowers, and the Latin name Digitalis (finger-like) is along similar lines. The curious part is the "fox" and many different suggestions have been made as to where it came from. It is possible that it is a corruption of another word. One suggestion is "folks" which was once used to mean "fairies".
There are over 30,000 miles (more than the distance around the earth) of hedges in Cornwall, many of which are based on distinctive local styles of stone walling. Consequently, often what a Cornish person calls a "hedge", most people from outside the county do not recognise as a hedge, resulting in some foreign translation needed for walk directions.
Around 50% of the hedgerows in the UK have been lost since the Second World War. Although intentional removal has dramatically reduced, lack of maintenance and damage from mechanical cutting techniques such as flailing are still causing deterioration of the remaining hedgerows.
Some Cornish hedges are thought to be more than 4,000 years old, making them some of the oldest human-built structures in the world that have been in continuous use for their original purpose. They act as vital miniature nature reserves and wildlife corridors that link together other green spaces. This supports hundreds of species of plants and tens of thousands of insect species, many of which are vital pollinators for arable crops.
There are 2 sparrow species in the UK but only the house sparrow is common in Cornwall.
Since the 1970s the UK house sparrow population has declined to less than half with an even greater loss in urban areas. Consequently the house sparrow is now listed as a species of high conservation concern in the UK. The exact causes for the decline are not known although a number of likely factors have been identified. In the countryside a reduction in aphid populations due to changes in farming practices is thought to be significant whereas in urban areas a loss of suitable nesting sites, roadkill and a more intense level of predation by cats may be significant. Since 2008 the population seems to have stabilised but no-one is quite sure why.
It's thought that as well as the word "rose" coming from Latin (rosa), the "dog" part of "dog rose" may have also come from Latin: the Roman naturalist Pliny attributed rosa canina to a belief that the plant's root could cure the bite of a mad dog. It's been suggested that the belief might be based on the resemblance of the thorns to canine teeth.
Bamboo is a member of the grass family. Like grass, it can spread through underground stems. This combined with its dense growth makes it able to out-compete many other species. The largest species of bamboo can grow over 100ft tall!
In March 1967, the oil tanker Torrey Canyon was on its way from Kuwait to Milford Haven with a full cargo of 120,000 tons of crude oil. The ship took a short-cut passing close to Land's End and struck the Pollard Rock on the Seven Stones reef. Attempts to refloat the tanker were unsuccessful and as it began to break up, the cargo of crude oil was released which at the time was the most serious oil spill and costliest shipping disaster that there had ever been. Despite efforts of the military to burn off the oil by dropping aviation fuel and forty-two 1000lb bombs (25% of which missed) onto the wreck, and incendiaries similar to napalm onto the slick, the oil contaminated 120 miles of Cornish coastline. Large amounts of dispersants were used to break up the oil which were themselves quite toxic. The environmental disaster resulted in the death of 15,000 seabirds, and tar from the spill could still be found on Cornish beaches during the 1970s and 80s. Ironically, the remains of the ship in 30 metres of water have created an artificial reef which is now covered in kelp and is a haven for marine life.
The evening primrose family of plants originated on the American continent and were introduced into gardens in the UK in the 17th Century. They are colonising plants, capable of growing on sand dunes and waste ground and so some have spread into the wild. One plant can produce 150,000 seeds in a year.
The flowers open in the late afternoon (hence the name) and last only one day. Their pollen is held together by threads which prevents day-flying bee species without the necessary specialisations from collecting it. This is targeted at moths which forage in the evening and are attracted using a lemony scent.
The sandy soil along the coast is able to support plants more commonly seen on chalk downs such as cowslips, due to the sand being comprised of small fragments of shell (calcium carbonate). The majority of the soil in North Cornwall is acidic, particularly towards Bodmin Moor, so sand from the beaches was used extensively to improve the soil fertility for farming.
The name "thrift" has been suggested to arise from the plant's tufted leaves being economical with water in the windy locations where it is found. It's common all along the Cornish coast and in April-June produces pale pink flowers, hence its other common name: "Sea Pink". The plant grows in dense circular mats which together with its covering of pink flowers gives rise to another less common name: "Ladies' Cushions".
Whitesand Bay faces west so the sun sets over the sea from here.
The sun looks white in space. Here on Earth it looks yellow because colours from the blue-violet end of the rainbow are scattered more so the rays of light reaching us directly from the sun are missing more of those colours.
As the sun gets lower in the sky, its light passes through more of the atmosphere to reach you. Even more of its blue and violet light is scattered, so the colour of the sun goes further and further towards the red end of the rainbow.
The main Sennen Coastguard Station was built in 1812 and initially consisted of a row of eight houses, a fuel house and a store which housed the rocket cart and rescue equipment, close to the steps where the coast path climbs the headland. The Sennen station was closed after a reorganisation of the coastguard service in the early 1980s, and the Lands End coastguard service now operates out of Polgigga, on the main road to both Sennen and Gwennap Head.
Granite formed as a molten blob of rock beneath the surface, underneath millions of tons of other rock. As the granite cooled, it cracked, mostly vertically due to the pressure from above. Hot water circulated through the cracks, reacting chemically with the rocks and depositing minerals. Over millions of years, the softer rocks above were eroded and the pressure from the weight of the rock above was released, causing horizontal cracking in the granite. The result is cubic blocks where the rough edges have been gradually smoothed by weathering.
Gunnera looks like giant rhubarb but the leaves stems are spiky. It tends to favour damp places as quite a lot of water is needed to supply its huge leaves.
The plant has a symbiotic relationship with cyanobacteria which live between its cells. The cyanobacteria, also known as "blue-green algae", are photosynthetic and also supply the host plant with nitrogen which allows it to colonise poor soils.
Sea holly is an unmistakable blue-green spiky plant which seen at the top of some beaches in summer. Despite its appearance, it is unrelated to holly and is actually a member of the carrot family.
Sea holly has a number of adaptations to survive in arid sand dunes. Its waxy leaves minimise water loss, the pale colour reflects sunlight and the root system can extend downwards for two metres to find less salty water. In dry conditions, the level of chlorophyll is reduced and so the bluer the plant becomes.
The plants are also known by the common name eringoes which stems from the Latin name for the Genus Eryngium. In Elizabethan times, they were believed to be a strong aphrodisiac and were mentioned in Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor":
Let the sky rain potatoes; let it thunder to the tune of Green-sleeves, hail kissing-comfits and snow eringoes, let there come a tempest of provocation...
The chough is a member of the crow family, with striking red legs and a red beak. They are also recognisable from feathers, spread like fingers, on their wing tips. It was known as the "Crow of Cornwall" and appears on the county coat of arms. The birds have a loud, distinctive "chee-ow" call which is perhaps best described as resembling a squeaky dog toy! Once you've heard it a couple of times, you'll be able to recognise them from the sound long before you can see them.
The name "chough" is from the bird's call although this is not that accurate as "chough" is more like the sound a jackdaw makes (a very short "chu"). Locally, choughs were known as "chaws" which is a better representation of their (much longer) sound.
The old Cornish name for the bird is Palores, meaning digger, which is thought to be a description of it rooting for invertebrates.
The scientific name (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) means "fire crow" which is likely to be an allusion to its red bill and legs. This possibly also relates to the birds' mischievous reputation during the Tudor and Elizabethan periods for stealing lighted candles or embers and dropping these onto roofs, which were generally thatched in Cornwall at this time.
In the 1800s, many choughs were killed by "sportsmen" and trophy hunters. Also around this time, grazing livestock were moved to inland pastures where they could be more easily managed. The result was that the cliff slopes became overgrown and choughs found it increasingly difficult to find suitable feeding areas. By 1973, the chough had become extinct in Cornwall. In recent years, clifftops have been managed more actively which has included the reintroduction of grazing. Choughs have returned to Cornwall by themselves from colonies in Wales or Ireland.
After several decades of extinction, a pair of choughs settled in 2001 on the Lizard Peninsula. Since then, the birds have successfully bred and been joined by a few more incoming birds, and the population has steadily grown and spread further across Cornwall. Each Cornish chough is fitted with one leg ring in the colours of St Piran's flag and two other colours on the opposite leg to identify them.
If you think you've seen a chough, take a photo if possible and email choughs@cbwps.org.uk to report the sighting. This will help the "Chough Watch" team keep track of the growing population.
During the breeding season (beginning of April to the end of June), chough eggs and chicks are very vulnerable to predators (including dogs) and many young birds die in their first 6 months. You can make a substantial difference to their chances of survival and to increasing Cornwall's chough population by keeping dogs on leads along the coast and also by avoiding naming exact locations if you post photos on social media during this period.
Spurges are small plants with bright green, fleshy leaves with pointed tips that can be found on sand dunes in Cornwall. They do well in areas of fairly bare sand without much other vegetation so can be found along the edge of paths where other vegetation has been worn down.
Sea spurge has quite spiky leaves and grows up to a foot tall. It's particularly noticeable in December and January when other vegetation has died down. The stems are red at the base and green at the top and have leaves all along their length.
Portland spurge is less of an upright plant. Its stems are red and bald for most of their length which is the easiest way to tell it from sea spurge. It was named after first being identified on Portland where it turns out to be not that common. However it does seem to be pretty common at Perranporth if a more appropriate name is desired. It flowers from April to September. The leaves at the end of the stems form little cups with a tiny yellow flower in the middle.
The plants are related to petty spurge (milkweed) found in gardens. Milkweed is also known as radium weed as the sap is said to kill rapidly-replicating cells and so it has been used as a traditional medicine for skin cancers.
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