Botany in Dunes and Clifftops, Cornwall Early May 2023

 I thought it would be a good time to visit the site for Mountain Everlasting near Perranporth. I had seen them last year, but was disapoointed with the photos of these tiny plants, so I intended to try and put that right. So in the first week of May I headed off and if I had time I would perhaps explore some clifftop areas too near Perranporth Airfield, where this plant had been found many years ago.

It didn't take long to find them on the dunes, they form large patches of silvery hairy leaves that stand out from 50m away. Here's a series of photos of this lovely, rare little plant. It has male and female flowers on different plants.

Antennaria dioica

Of course, Spring is the time for annual plants to flower and the dunes were full of Mouse-ear species. It can be tricky sorting them out as many are very small. Sea Mouse-ear was the dominant species, which mostly has only 4 petals so is easy to distinguish. I looked hard for any with 5 petals and sure enough I found a patch. Close examination of the hairs and bracts showed the plant below to be Little Mouse-ear, the flowers only about 5mm across.

 

Cerastium semidecandrum

The first Eyebrights were in flower, a hemi-parastic species that steals some of its nutrients from nearby plants. They are often hard to identify, but this one below was obviously Western Eyebright, given it had 4 flowers around the stem, all opposite. They can quite tall, up to around 10cm or so, but rabbit grazing keeps them small.

Euphrasia tetraquetra

Portland Spurge is a coastal plant, often found in dunes and sea cliffs in Cornwall. It has a prostrate habit and as the plant ages, the stems turn a crimson red. The bracts underneath the "flower" structure are shaped like a pair of Ace of Spades from a card deck, the lookalike Sea Spurge doesn't have them shaped like that and rarely turns red. Look also for  prominent single vein on the leaf undersides.

Euphorbia portlandica

In my last blog, I featured Heath Milkwort, explaining that it had opposite leaves at the base of the stem and liked acid soils. The one below looks very similar, but it is Common Milkwort, found on neutral to calcareous soils. It has larger, alternate leaves all the way up the stem. Sand dunes here are slightly calcareous as there is a proportion of shell grit within it, shells being made from calcium of course. Note that the flower colour can be blue, white or pink.

Polygala vulgaris

I was pleasantly surprised to come across a large patch of Small-flowered Buttercups by a sandy, but damp path. It's an uncommon annual plant, but it's popped up quite a bit this Spring, probably due to the wet April. Note how the plant avoids longer grass areas completely.

Ranunculus parviflorus

Below is the habitat for Mountain Everlasting, the silvery patches being made up of hundreds of plants.

Of course, I found plenty of other species, but I will move on now. From here, I made a short drive to an area by Perranporth Airfield and surveyed the coast path and public footpaths in that area.

 

Close to the car, I found carpets of Heath Pearlwort, a lovely little plant, like Procumbent Pearlwort but on steroids with much larger petals. Having said that, they are still only about 8mm across and have the habit of reflecting light and bleaching out a decent photograph.

 

Sagina subulata

Where the path skirted the airfield, I found Smith's Pepperwort in flower, about 20 plants. It's uncommon, but almost always coastal or coastal arable, though I did find it once on a rural Cornish lane.

Lepidium heterophyllum

Hairy Greenweed was common along the cliff coastal path, interweaving in and out of the other flora. It's not only found at The Lizard. It can be confused with Dyer's Greenweed but that flowers a month later and lacks the hairy keel petal and stems.

Genista pilosa

Sea Campion is a common coastal plant around much of the UK, but this was the first time I had seen one completely lacking red pigment (anthothyacine deficient or leucistic). It certainly looked odd, and the normal coloured ones were nearby. I guess it's due to a gene mutation. I don't know if this is found elsewhere apart from Cornwall and Devon. If this was a Bee Orchid, it would be called var. chlorantha and people would come from miles around to see it.

Silene uniflora var albiflora

Pale Dog Violets have been recorded here in the past, but appear to have dies out, at least for now. The species needs distubance to germinate like a fire or earthworks, so they might come back in the future if that happens. They frequently hybridise with the more numerous Common Dog Violet, which dotted the area in a bewildering array of colur forms.

I found a plant that perplexed me and spent an hour trying to work the one below out. Heath and Pale Dog Violets have also been recorded here in the past, so there were several hybrid possibilites with this plant. I eventually concluded it was just a Common Dog Violet after all.

To determine tricky violets like this one, you really need the BSBI Viola Handbook, which has a wealth of information on each Viola species (includes Pansies) and their hybrids.

Viola riviniana

I came to the area of clifftop where the Mountain Everlasting had been found, I think from memory, about 1996. Unfortunately, I found the area had mostly scrubbed over with a sward way too high for them to compete. It needs cutting, grazing or fire to see if they might still come back from a buried seed bank. 

What I did find though, were about 100 flowering Heath Spotted Orchids. This took me by surprise, as usually they don't start flowering until June. As usual, there was an amazing display of petal colours and patterns.

Dactylorhiza maculata

 

Below are the same plants, but photographed from above. 

A change of perspective often gives good results, give it a try.

There has been a worrying lack of insects this Spring, so when I see some I can photograph, I do so. I suspect the sudden massive decline to be caused by last year's drought, combined with habitat loss, pollution and excessive use of herbicides in agriculture.

Hairy Shield-bug - Dolycoris baccarum

Common Green Shield-bug - Palomena prasina

A view of the area's industrial past, a cap over an old mine shaft, now taken over by Gorse and Thrift.

So ended my second trip out for May. Of course, what I didn't know then was that it wouldn't rain again for another 4-5 weeks. I think the plants knew it and many flowered weeks early to set seed before drought got to them. Amazing how plants do that!

Take care

Dave