Wild About Cornwall: Mount Edgcumbe, Cornwall Today

It was disappointingly cold and grey when I opened the car door at Rame Head.  The warmth of the last couple of days, which hinted at the arrival of spring, had given way to a cold blast from the east.  The wind whipped across the headland gathering even greater velocity as it funnelled through the dip between the coastguard lookout and the ruined chapel on top of the promontory (from where the Spanish Armada was first spotted). 

Though I dare to describe the weather as grey I certainly can’t decry my welcome in the same terms because even before I made it down to the coastal path I had been entertained by no less than four of Cornwall’s most exciting birds.  First there was a pair of kestrels.  They were in their element hanging head first into the stiff wind, remaining motionless when common sense would suggest that they should be blown to smithereens.  A much bigger bird tried to mimic the nimble little kestrels but this one, a buzzard, just didn’t have the dexterity.  With less subtle movements to control its flight the buzzard was blown out of a hover by a sudden gust before flying nonchalantly away pretending it had intended to change position. 

As if they hadn’t noticed the activity below a pair of ravens flew high over the headland before one descended to sit high on a rock overlooking the entire scene.  The varied croaks and tumbles through the air of the second bird were no doubt intended to impress its mate but it looked as though I was the more bowled over.  Talking of being bowled over I think we were all taken aback by the arrival of a pair of peregrine falcons but none more so than the buzzard who was the target of their attack.  They obviously didn’t like seeing a larger bird of prey than themselves in their territory.  These two barrel-breasted hunters cut through the sky as if the air was motionless, starting from a height they stooped at speed and when one had completed its assault the other took over.  The buzzard, though larger than the peregrine, was ridiculously ill-equipped for an airborne fight with a peregrine, let alone two, and it knew it!  Doing its best to look unruffled the poor buzzard headed back for relative safety inland leaving the barren headland to the professionals.

After that I had expected the rest of my walk to be a bit of an anti climax but I couldn’t really get back in the car after just five minutes.  My plan was to walk the six miles, or so, through the Mount Edgcumbe Country Park to the stately home of the Edgcumbe family and so I set off, kestrels in tow flying like kites overhead.  First stop was the Cornwall Wildlife Trust reserve at Penlee Battery for which a small detour is required from the coastal path.  This reserve is at its most interesting in early summer since it is home to a wide range of grassland flowers including the pretty bee orchid which flowers in mid June.  Like much of the coast around here the vegetation is kept in check by a herd of Dartmoor ponies but in March the only obvious beneficiaries are the lesser celandines and dog violets which flower around the pony-bitten gorse bushes.  These ponies are kept here not only to benefit the environment but also for breeding purposes, an attempt is being made to maintain the purity of the Dartmoor pony through selective breeding. 

Returning to the coast path and rounding the bend by the rather eccentric grotto, an 18^th century modified cave used as a watch point, a different and softer appearance is created by woodland.  Not all the plants along the track, known as the Earl’s Drive, are natives in fact one of them, the laurel is now regarded as a bit of a pest because it is so invasive and dominating.  Like the laurel the Holm Oaks, which are common here, provide year round greenery but the ground beneath them is surprisingly barren.  In the deciduous sections of the wood bluebells, wild garlic and dog’s mercury were all in evidence if not all quite in flower yet and from the larger trees the drumming of a woodpecker rang out.

The picturesque villages of Cawsand and Kingsand offer an excellent opportunity for elevenses and then it isn’t much further to the landscaped parkland of the country park.  The area around Mount Edgcumbe has been the subject of human activity for millennia, the oldest feature is a Bronze Age barrow but there are other signs of activity such as that of the Vikings long before the park became the civilised and manicured environment that we see today. 

Approaching the formal part of the estate around the house of Mount Edgcumbe the first obvious sign of grandeur is the deer park.  Fallow deer were first introduced here in the time of Henry VIII in around 1515.  They have lived here ever since becoming ever wilder as they strayed onto other areas of surrounding land.  Today the deer are not so much fenced in on the estate as fenced out of the formal gardens.  The parkland, surrounding the formal gardens, is a rare habitat in Cornwall, the mixture of short grass and mature trees is loved by a particular group of species including the green woodpecker which is extremely common here.

The formal gardens bring with them a quandary for me because as a conservationist my reaction to non native plants has always been suspicion and usually dislike because they can cause damage to natural eco systems but when such plants occur in a garden setting such as at Mount Edgcumbe I can’t help but feel differently.  Here the rhododendrons, laurels, camellias and magnolias have grown for many centuries, since the 16^th century in fact, and ecosystems have grown up with them.  The gardens are richer in some native species than any ‘natural’ area will ever be, that doesn’t mean that I think we should plant more rhododendrons in wild places, definitely not and I think we are right to remove them from areas in which they are destroying native species, but we might as well enjoy them in places where they have occurred for centuries and can be controlled. 

In the gardens I heard blackcaps singing from the dense rhododendron thickets; jays screeched as they flew across the wooded garden; green woodpeckers were omnipresent, laughing maniacally as only they know how and great spotted woodpeckers were drumming to establish their territories.  I didn’t see any but I believe that lesser spotted woodpeckers also occur here.  This small woodpecker is similar to the great spotted but is about the size of a sparrow and its drumming is proportionately lighter, it lives higher up in the tree canopy of old trees and so needs a good range of aging tall deciduous trees in which to live.

It is clear that the estate is managed sensitively for wildlife because there is so much of it about.  In particular the old and dying trees are left in situ, where it is safe to do so and piles of rotting logs, so good for insects and fungi, can be seen throughout.  Access around the estate is almost unlimited and so the potential for walking is fantastic with great views over Plymouth Sound.  The only problem for me was that after milling around the house and gardens for a couple of hours I had to walk back to Rame Head but then if I’d have parked nearer to the house I wouldn’t have had that wonderful peregrine experience.

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