Polruan to Polperro is a coastal

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI) and

Special Area of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

(SAC) in south-east

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, UK, noted for its

biological Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of ...

interest. It contains a wide variety of plant species and is a site for populations of breeding birds.

Geography

The site, notified in 1951, is located on the south-east coast of Cornwall along the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

, east of the town of

Fowey Fowey ( ; , meaning ''beech trees'') is a port town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, ...

. It starts in the west outside the fishing village of

Polruan Polruan () is a coastal village in the parish of Lanteglos-by-Fowey in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is bounded on three sides by water: to the north by Pont Creek, to the west by the River Fowey and to the south by the English Channe ...

and ends at the start of the fishing harbour and village of

Polperro Polperro (, meaning ''Pyra's cove'') is a large village, civil parish, and fishing harbour within the Polperro Heritage Coastline in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Its population is around 1,554. Polperro, through which runs the Riv ...

to the east, all within the civil parishes of Lanteglos and Polperro.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 201 ''Plymouth & Launceston'' The

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked Long-distance footpaths in the UK, long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harb ...

runs through the SSSI and the majority of the coastline is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

Wildlife and ecology

Flora

The SSSI and SAC supports various different habitats, including

shingle beach A shingle beach, also known as either a cobble beach or gravel beach, is a commonly narrow beach that is composed of coarse, loose, well-rounded, and waterworn gravel, called ''shingle''. The gravel (shingle) typically consists of smooth, sphero ...

es, maritime grassland,

scrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

, abandoned field systems and several cliff communities. For this reason this SSSI falls within Plantlife's ''Polruan to Looe Cliffs''

Important Plant Area Important Plant Areas (IPA) is a programme set up in the UK, by the organisation Plantlife, to provide a framework for identifying and maintaining the richest sites for plant life, possibly within existing protected areas; though the protection of ...

. The shingle beach habitat contains some flora that has a very limited coverage within Cornwall, as well as the rest of the UK. Examples include Babington's orache ('' Atriplex glabriuscula''), Ray’s knotgrass ('' Polygonum oxyspermum''), sand couch ('' Elymus farctus''), sea bindweed ('' Calystegia soldanella''), sea kale (''

Crambe maritima ''Crambe maritima'', common name sea kale, seakale or crambe, is a species of halophytic (salt-tolerant) flowering plant in the genus ''Crambe'' of the family Brassicaceae. It grows wild along the coasts of mainland Europe and the British Isl ...

''), sea spurge (''

Euphorbia paralias ''Euphorbia paralias'', the Sea Spurge, is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae, native to Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. The species is widely naturalised in Australia. It invades coastal areas, displacing local ...

'') and sea sandwort (''

Honckenya peploides ''Honckenya peploides'', the sea sandwort (UK) or seaside sandplant (Canada), is the only species in the genus ''Honckenya'' of the plant family Caryophyllaceae. Other common names include sea chickweed, sea pimpernal, sea-beach sandwort, and sea ...

''). The nationally scarce ivy broomrape (''

Orobanche hederae ''Orobanche hederae'', the ivy broomrape, is, like other members of the genus ''Orobanche'', a parasitic plant without chlorophyll, and thus totally dependent on its host, which is ivy. It grows to , with stems in shades of brown and purple, som ...

''), lanceolate spleenwort ('' Asplenium billottii'') and maidenhair fern (''

Adiantum capillus-veneris ''Adiantum capillus-veneris'', the Southern maidenhair fern, black maidenhair fern, maidenhair fern, and venus hair fern, is a species of ferns in the genus ''Adiantum'' and the family Pteridaceae with a subcosmopolitan worldwide distribution. I ...

'') can be found in within rock crevices along the cliff habitats. Various

calcicole A calcicole, calciphyte or calciphile is a plant that thrives in lime rich soil. The word is derived from the Latin 'to dwell on chalk'. Under acidic conditions, aluminium becomes more soluble and phosphate less. As a consequence, calcicoles grown ...

and

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

species are also present here. The limited areas of maritime grassland have an abundance of red fescue (''

Festuca rubra ''Festuca rubra'' is a species of grass known by the common name red fescue, creeping red fescue or the rush-leaf fescue. It is widespread across much of the Northern Hemisphere and can tolerate many habitats and climates. It is best adapted to w ...

''), also present within rock crevices and rocky ledges. Other areas of maintained grassland contain flora such as common bent (''

Agrostis capillaris ''Agrostis capillaris'', the common bent, colonial bent, or browntop, is a rhizomatous and stoloniferous perennial in the grass family (Poaceae). It is native to Eurasia and has been widely introduced in many parts of the world. Colonial be ...

''), common bird'sfoot trefoil (''

Lotus corniculatus ''Lotus corniculatus'' is a flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae. Common names include common bird's-foot trefoil, eggs and bacon, birdsfoot deervetch, and just bird's-foot trefoil (a name also often applied to other ''Lotus'' spp.). It ha ...

''), common cat's-ear (''

Hypochaeris radicata ''Hypochaeris radicata'' (sometimes spelled ''Hypochoeris radicata'') – also known as catsear, flatweed, cat's-ear, hairy cat's ear, or false Taraxacum, dandelion – is a perennial plant, perennial, low-lying edible herb often found in lawns. ...

''), common dog-violet (''

Viola riviniana ''Viola riviniana'', the common dog-violet, is a species of flowering plant in the family Violaceae, native to Eurasia and Africa. It is also called wood violet and dog violet. It inhabits woodland edges, grassland and shady hedge banks. It is ...

''), common milkwort (''

Polygala vulgaris ''Polygala vulgaris'', known as the common milkwort, is a herbaceous perennial plant of the genus '' Polygala'' in the family Polygalaceae. Description The biological form of ''Polygala vulgaris'' is '' hemicryptophyte'' '' scapose'',Pignatti S ...

''), common knapweed (''

Centaurea nigra ''Centaurea nigra'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, and is also known as lesser knapweed, common knapweed, black knapweed and bell weed. It is native to central Europe, and has been introduced to temperate North America ...

''), common restharrow ('' Ononis repens''), ribwort plantain (''

Plantago lanceolata ''Plantago lanceolata'' is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It is known by the common names ribwort plantain, narrowleaf plantain, English plantain, ribleaf, lamb's tongue, and buckhorn. It is a common weed on ...

''), sweet vernal-grass, yarrow (''

Achillea millefolium ''Achillea millefolium'', commonly known as yarrow () or common yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Growing to tall, it is characterized by small whitish flowers, a tall stem of fernlike leaves, and a pungent odor. The plan ...

''), woodrush (''

Luzula campestris ''Luzula campestris'', commonly known as field wood-rush or Good Friday grass is a flowering plant in the rush family Juncaceae. It is also one of the plants known as chimney sweeps or sweep's broom because of the brush-like appearance of their ...

''), wild thyme (''

Thymus serpyllum ''Thymus serpyllum'', known by the common names of Breckland thyme, Breckland wild thyme, wild thyme, creeping thyme, or elfin thyme, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is a low, usually prostrate subshrub formin ...

'') and

Yorkshire fog ''Holcus lanatus'' is a perennial flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae. The specific epithet ' is Latin for 'woolly' which describes the plant's hairy texture. Common names include Yorkshire fog, tufted grass, and meadow soft grass. In Nor ...

(''

Holcus lanatus ''Holcus lanatus'' is a perennial flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae. The specific epithet ' is Latin for 'woolly' which describes the plant's hairy texture. Common names include Yorkshire fog, tufted grass, and meadow soft grass. In Nor ...

''). Also present in the grassland and grassy embankments are the nationally scarce slender bird'sfoot trefoil ('' Lotus angustissimus'') and hairy bird's-foot trefoil ('' Lotus subbiflorus''). Large areas of unimproved grassland can also be found within the site. These contain a very wide variety of species within the good-quality, neutral grassland and are considered very nationally scarce as well as being exceptionally rare for Cornwall.

Fauna

The site contains many

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s including the uncommon

scarlet tiger moth The scarlet tiger moth (''Callimorpha dominula'', formerly ''Panaxia dominula'') is a colorful moth belonging to the tiger moth subfamily, Arctiinae (moth), Arctiinae. The species was Species description, first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1 ...

(''Callimorpha dominula'') and the nationally scarce

pearl-bordered fritillary The pearl-bordered fritillary (''Boloria euphrosyne'') is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae found in Europe and through Russia across the Palearctic to the north of Kazakhstan. Description The adult butterfly is orange with black spots on ...

(''Boloria euphrosyne''). Pasture areas within the site supports the scarce hornet robberfly (''Asilus crabroniformis''). Numerous breeding bird colonies can be found, with examples of the

Red Data Book The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...

species

Dartford warbler The Dartford warbler (''Curruca undata'') is a typical warbler from the warmer parts of western Europe and northwestern Africa. It is a small warbler with a long thin tail and a thin pointed bill. The adult male has grey-brown upperparts and is d ...

(''Sylvia undata'') and

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...

(''Falco peregrinus'') being recorded on the site.

References

{{SSSIs Cornwall biological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cornwall Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1951 Special Areas of Conservation in Cornwall National Trust properties in Cornwall Cornish coast Polperro