Caerthillian to Kennack

Caerthillian to Kennack
Site of Special Scientific Interest

Cliffs on the western side of the SSSI
Location within Cornwall
Area of Search Cornwall
Grid reference SW720140
Coordinates 49°58′58″N 5°10′51″W / 49.9829°N 5.1809°W / 49.9829; -5.1809Coordinates: 49°58′58″N 5°10′51″W / 49.9829°N 5.1809°W / 49.9829; -5.1809
Interest Biological/Geological
Area 141.1 hectares (1.411 km2; 0.5448 sq mi)
Notification 1951 (1951)
Natural England website

Caerthillian to Kennack is a coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall, UK, noted for both its biological and geological characteristics. It is of great botanical importance, with several Red Data Book of rare and endangered plant species being found on the site, as well as a breeding site for Cornish choughs.

Geography

The 141-hectare (350-acre) site straddles the south coast of the Lizard Peninsula, covering the most southerly point of the British mainland, from Caerthillian Cove in the west to Kennack Sands in the east, within the civil parishes of Grade–Ruan and Landewednack.[1][2]

The South West Coast Path runs through the SSSI and most of the coastline is owned by the National Trust.[2] The site falls partly within the Lizard national nature reserve and contains two Geological Conservation Review locations.[3]

History

The SSSI, first notified in 1951, was previously known as South and East Lizard SSSI. It was renamed after boundary expansions and deletions.[3]

The rocks off the coast are a notorious hazard to shipping and have led to numerous shipwrecks.[4] The Lizard Lifeboat Station is located within the SSSI.[5]

Geology

The area's bedrock is part of the Lizard complex, an ophiolite complex, and includes micaceous and hornblende schist that is overlain by serpentinised peridotite and gabbro with intrusions of granite gneiss.[3][6]

Wildlife and ecology

Flora

The site hosts an unusual assemblage of vegetation types and a large number of rare plant species due to the combination of a mild, moist climate that results from its proximity to the ocean; geologic conditions, including serpentine-derived soils which can constrain plant growth; and wind exposure.[3] Botanists have suggested that the site's climate is a more important contributor to its floral diversity than its geology.[7]

A variety of habitats exist within the site. To the south-west of the SSSI a number of maritime cliff communities exist which support vegetation such as sea aster, rock samphire (Crithmum maritimum) and sea thrift with red fescue, sea carrot (Daucus carota), Yorkshire fog, cock's-foot (Dactylis glomerata) and the nationally rare Scilla autumnalis being found further up the cliff profile.[3]

The eastern side of the site is protected from the prevailing westerly winds on the Atlantic meaning that less hardy plants are able to grow in areas of cliff scrub. Species include blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) common gorse (Ulex europaeus), wild privet (Ligustrum vulgare) as well as more woodland plants of common dog-violet (Viola riviniana), common honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum), hart's-tongue (Phyllitis scolopendrium) and red campion (Silene dioica).[3]

Three plants that are designated as nationally scarce, galingale (Cyperus longus), yellow-vetch (Vicia lutea) and bird’s-foot clover (Trifolium ornithopodioides), can be found in a disused serpentinite quarry at Church Cove.[3]

The only cliff woodland of the Lizard Peninsula is in the locality of the Devil’s Frying Pan, an old collapsed sea cave.[3][8] This woodland contains Cornish elm, Dutch elm and an intermediate variety of elm. Other inland woodland does occur around Poltesco.[3]

Red Data Book of rare and endangered plant species within the site include Cornish heath (Erica vagans), early meadow-grass (Poa infirma), fringed rupturewort (Herniaria ciliolata), long-headed clover (a subspecies of Trifolium incarnatum) and wild asparagus (a subspecies of Asparagus officinalis). There are only two populations of four-leaved allseed (Polycarpon tetraphyllum) to be found within mainland Great Britain, one of which exists at this SSSI.[3]

Fauna

The Cornish chough, a bird that breeds on the cliffs of the SSSI

A breeding pair of Cornish choughs (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), a rare crow–like bird in Cornwall, have produced clutches of eggs in a cave at Lizard Point, within the site.[9] In 2002 this pair was the first choughs to breed in the county in 50 years, with other pairs around Cornwall having bred since.[10][11]

References

  1. ↑ "Caerthillian to Kennack map". Natural England. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  2. 1 2 Ordnance Survey: Explorer map sheet 103 The Lizard ISBN 978-0-319-24117-2
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Caerthillian to Kennack" (PDF). Natural England. 1993. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  4. ↑ "South West Cornwall - The Lizard and Lizard Lighthouse". Seven Man Made Wonders. BBC. July 2006. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
  5. ↑ "The Lizard Lifeboat". Our station. Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Retrieved 2012-12-07.
  6. ↑ The Lizard, Camborne School of Mines Virtual Museum, accessed 5 December 2011
  7. ↑ John Proctor & Stanley R. J. Woodell (July 1971), "The Plant Ecology of Serpentine: I. Serpentine Vegetation of England and Scotland", John Proctor and Stanley R. J. Woodell, British Ecological Society (Vol. 59, No. 2), pp. 375–395 [388], JSTOR 2258319
  8. ↑ Weston, H; Staddon, J, eds. (2011). The Hidden Places of Cornwall (PDF). Plymouth: Travel Publishing Lt. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-907462-04-7. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  9. ↑ "Lizard Point choughs under 24-hour guard". BBC News Online. 22 April 2011. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
  10. ↑ "Site Number 3: The Lizard Peninsula". Plymouth University. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
  11. ↑ "Choughs in Cornwall produce 15 chicks". BBC News Online. 31 May 2011. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
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