Padstow Flora and Fauna

I've recently had a week in Padstow, Cornwall and it is my first trip this far South West. It is known to be a fairly mild climate so as well as a general look at the nature I was interested to see what flora was still about.

I'd expected to find the trees a bit thin on the ground and Hawthorn was arguably the most common then Oak, Ash and Sycamore with the occasional Beech, Chestnut etc seem to be the general makeup. There were a lot of fruits around with Haws, Hips and Blackberries being the main ones, but the  most noticeable thing however was just how many different types of flower were still out to be seen, and most of them were in decent nick too.

There were late stalwarts like Yarrow and Ragweed on show, but equally I saw flowers such as Cleavers and Meadowsweet out at an unseasonable time of year. the full list is: Meadowsweet, Evening Primose, Cleavers, Nipplewort, Heather, Yarrow, Ragweed,  Dandelion, Self-heal, Bladder Campion, Honeysuckle, Bramble, Fennel, Clover, Hawkbit (I think...Confusing family), Wild Carrot, Mayweed, Toadflax, Buddleia, Soapwort, Pineapple-weed, Sea Aster, Ivy-leafed Toadlfax, Daisy, Hedge Bindweed, scarlet Pimpernel, Groundsel, Sow-Thistle, Thrift, Cornflower, Hogweed, Red Campion, Ox-eye Daisy, Speedwell, Herb Robert and Ivy (which the flying insects were loving.

 

We saw a decent amount of non-floral nature activity too. One specific thing that I noticed was that the  coast near us was made for Turnstones (above left) but we only ever saw them around the harbour wall eating food that had been dropped. The bulk of the sightings came when we went out on an inflatable Sealife Safari boat with Fulmar, Gannet, Grey Seal, Porpoise, Peregrines, Curlews, Oystercatchers, Ringed Plovers, Egrets, Grey Herons and Bottle Nosed Dolphin sightings. I've made up a Dolphin page here because we were lucky enough to have a pod swim with us at one stage.