Cornish Nature

The birds are singing, bumblebees are flying & the primroses are flowering suggesting spring is almost upon us, and that perhaps the coldest weather is now behind us. However back in January and early February it was a very different story, with overnight temperatures as low as minus 10 C, and daytime temperatures struggling to better 2 or 3 C for long periods.

Very unusual for Cornwall! Here is a gallery of images from that unusually cold start to the year.

On the 30th May 2008 during a trip to Windmill Farm on the Lizard peninsula I did my usual circuit of all the dragonfly hotspots within the reserve, including the bunded northern scrapes. These bunds may not be the most attractive of features to have around a pool but they are a clever use of the material which had been excavated in order to create the pools in the first place, in that they make an effective windbreak around the entire water body.

A taste of spring has come early to the sleepy village of Godolphin Cross in West Cornwall. The winter climate here is generally much milder than the rest of the United Kingdom and over the last month or so I have heard half a dozen or so Common Frogs – Rana temporaria croaking away first thing in the morning even though temperatures have frequently been around 0C or under as daylight approaches.

Updated 15th January 2009

The visit to Par Beach Pool by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust Photographic Group on the 23rd November 2008 was new territory for me, and when I arrived there I once again had misgivings about a meeting which was based around such a popular place with Joe Public.
However our guides, David Chapman & Nigel Climpson, had already planned to move to nearby Spit Point on the western fringe of Par Sands for the first part of our visit, which at the time was sheltered from the strong winds that were building up.